As a teenage girl, I was always fascinated by the amount of money some of my classmates had as their pocket money. They were always flaunting their riches in school and trying to be the eye candy. Social media catered as a platform for them to show off their dresses, cars and exotic vacations with their families during the breaks.
I was envious of the fact that they had all the money they wanted and could afford the best of everything. Not only were they dropped to school in their luxurious cars but also they brought their shiny new gadgets to classes as well. They were always surrounded by others who wanted to be their friends.
It was that time of my life when I was so naïve I could not decipher the difference. Now, when I can see the difference clearly and can understand the true meanings of life, I cherish it and love what I have experienced and what I have got.
Things are not as easy for these rich kids as it looks from behind those glass mirrors that make everything shiny and attractive. After, spending a month with some of the girls for my photobook, I got an insight into their lives and came across some of the ugliest truths of their lives.
“All these years, we were told that money can buy anything and if you ever need anything in life just ask for all the money you need. You can have everything that you want,” she told. However, money cannot buy relationships and the estranged relationship that she had with her father was just an example. In one day only, I noticed the atmosphere of their house, it was so tensed I felt suffocated there. And it is not a surprise that these rich kids spend thousands of money on drugs and alcohol in the bars to de-stress themselves.
Love and compassion was something they are always trying to search for and are missing in their lives. Parents hardly had any time for their kids and giving their kids credit cards was all they could offer to them. Dancing all night to the groovy music with some strangers in a pub of a five-star hotel was all they could to fill the emptiness in their lives and to free up their mind from the daily struggles that they face at home.
When they have all the money they want in their lives, they do not have any further aspirations in life. Spending their parents’ money is all they have got to do in their lives. Resorting to drugs, drinking and smoking is all they have left to do to suppress their demons and quest for more. After basically living the life of a rich girl for a month, visiting their homes, going to places with them and partying with them, I realised the reality behind everything glittery.
Through this photo essay, I discovered that they might be living in a glass palace but not in a Barbie world after all.
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