Bengaluru CEO says ‘ungrateful’ relative flaunts Europe success, has forgotten his roots
A Bengaluru CEO has shared a candid story about a relative whose career he helped shape, only to be met with “zero gratitude” after the relative got success
A Bengaluru-based entrepreneur has shared a candid story about a distant relative whose career he helped shape, only to be met with “zero gratitude” after the relative achieved overseas success.

The founder and CEO said that he and other family members helped out the relative at several points. However, when the said relative landed a job abroad, he began to act like a “self-made man” and showed zero gratitude to the people who had helped him on his journey to success.
Bengaluru CEO on ungrateful relative
In his X post, the Bengaluru-based CEO said that the relative was an average engineering student, often carrying backlogs and completing his degree with just 50 percent marks. “He did engineering largely because of family and peer pressure,” the CEO said in an X post.
After completing his degree, the unnamed relative came to Bengaluru in search of a job. The CEO managed to get him a few interviews by calling in personal favours, but the relative did not even attend a single interview.
“He said he did not have the confidence to face an interviewer,” he said in an X post.
Eventually, another family connection helped him land a back-office role in a supply chain department. However, the relative reportedly showed little initiative to improve his skills, spending most of his time browsing news portals at work. Meanwhile, peers who joined after him advanced in their careers, while he remained stagnant.
From sloth to success
When the relative realised how his career had stagnated, he came to the CEO for advice.
“Slowly, reality started hitting him. He came to me for advice. I did not mince words. I told him clearly that if he continued like this, he would soon lose the job and have to go back to his hometown,” the X post said.
The relative did change. For one month, he lived with the Bengaluru-based founder as he prepared for an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) course.
“I took care of him while he studied 16 to 18 hours every day preparing for the exam,” the CEO recalled.
Finally, the man managed to clear the ERP course and landed a good job with a major IT services firm. “His confidence grew. He became a skilled ERP consultant and even started running independent training sessions on weekends,” said the post.
No gratitude, overseas boasts
The relative eventually landed a job in London. He went from a small-town boy with few skills to a top employee working for some of the world’s biggest companies.
However, while his journey was admirable, his attitude less so.
Today, according to the CEO, his relative acts like he alone is responsible for his success. He shows no gratitude to the relatives who helped him when he was struggling.
“After 7 to 8 years in Europe, he now thinks he is completely self made and shows zero gratitude toward those who helped him along the way. Every time he visits India, he talks about being a globe trotter and how tired he is of visiting one country after another.
“He now carries his Europe job as something that makes him an expert to give unsolicited advice to everyone!” the Bengaluru-based CEO said of his relative.
Reflecting on the situation, the CEO said it highlights a broader challenge. “Many Indians who grow up with a scarcity mindset struggle to process what they see as outsized success. Boasting about foreign life becomes a way to feel important,” he noted.
ABOUT THE AUTHORSanya JainSanya Jain is an Assistant Editor with Hindustan Times Digital. She has nearly a decade of experience in covering offbeat stories that speak to the everyday experience - from viral videos to human interest copies that spark conversation. Her interests stretch across business, pop culture, social media trends, entertainment and global affairs. Before joining Hindustan Times, Sanya spent two years with Moneycontrol and five years with NDTV. She holds an undergraduate degree in English literature from St Stephen’s College, Delhi, and a master’s in journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications, Mumbai. Sanya has a sharp eye for spotting emerging trends and looking for newsworthy angles to elevate viral posts into meaningful narratives. She was the first one, for example, to cover Narayana Murthy’s remark on 70-hour work weeks that sparked a national conversation. She is equally at ease writing about business leaders as about the common man, about issues of national importance and memes that amuse social media. Sanya enjoys speaking with content creators, newsmakers and entrepreneurs to transform everyday moments into engaging, slice-of-life stories that resonate with readers. When she is not working, Sanya can be found curled up with a good book. Born and raised in Lucknow, she has spent the last several years in Delhi. She is deeply interested in animal welfare and now spends a lot of her time running after her destructive orange cat.Read More

E-Paper













