Some kinda rich

[This is a direct lift from Thejo's blog! Friend, you can claim a trackback.]

An oft-repeated line from a 60s Tamil song roughly translates to "there are crores of people who are worse off; consider that, and seek solace." This is a part of those solace-seeking measures. There are 5,139,715,394 people in the world who draw a salary that is lesser than mine. Here's where I stand (according to The Global Rich List).

I'm the 860,284,606 richest person on earth, which puts me in top 14.33%.

However, the way the site calculates one's position is flawed. It converts salaries into exchange rate dollars. I would be better off if it were considered in real terms i.e PPP-converted terms. That would put my rank at around 430 million, pushing me into the top 8%. Damn, I say, what self-conceit!

I'm only reminded of this classic sonnet by Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Ozymandias of Egypt

I MET a traveller from an antique land
Who said:—Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.