For Mahmood, everyday is a long day. He gets up early in the morning to attend his BBA classes, which lasts till the afternoon. That done, he heads towards the tuition centre where he teaches commerce subjects until ten at night. After a quick dinner, he settles down to his studies, and it’s seldom that he sleeps before one in the morning. The only son of his parents, Mahmood has high ambitions and likes a luxurious lifestyle. Once he figured that his parents couldn’t afford to send him to a prestigious institute, he set out to find a scholarship. Alongside he found a job so that he could contribute to his household finances as well cater to his personal needs such as a swanky cell phone and a wardrobe.

“I get a sense of achievement and financial independence with what I do.Unlike my friends, I don’t have to ask my parents for pocket money for every little thing that I crave.”

The young lot of today is slowly discovering the virtues of earning money during their academic years. A number of them give tuitions/coaching to juniors, some work at restaurants, while others make good use of the internet and design web pages. A few are enterprising enough to bring in ad revenue by offerings to host commercial sites. Young people with a flair for fashion—and who have some capital—have ventured into wardrobe designing as well and are actually able to generate a decent enough revenue. A lot of credit for the trend to earn extra money goes to the kind of lifestyle that youngsters nowadays like to adopt. The spread of consumerism in Pakistan has meant that the choices in life have increased manifold. Luxuries have turned into necessities, more so for youngsters. They want their Playstation, video games, other various flashy gadgets, tickets to the movies and branded wear that few parents can afford.

Exposure to the world outside, courtesy the internet and the explosion in satellite television has put pressure on parents who have to cope with demanding children. Predictably, the standard answer to most demands is, ‘earn-it-yourself’, which is exactly what youngsters have begun to do.

Yasir is one such example. While money isn’t exactly an issue at home, the 18-year-old’s spendthrift lifestyle had his parents worried, and so, a condition was suggested: if you want the latest MP3 player, or the PS2, you have to earn it, literally. Resultantly, Yasir is now coaching his juniors on how to use computers.

But his parents are happy. “He has finally stepped into the real world and has started to take responsibility,” says Yasir’s mother. “Although I don’t expect him to shoulder the burden of the household, he should at least be in a position to realise the importance of money, because one day he will have to run a house,” she says.