Anything in abundance kills the desire. To enjoy things we need to consume in moderation. Like say sipping Darjeeling Tea slowly and enjoying every bit of the aroma.
The root of this thought is the observation of a wide spread problem these days, which young parents with toddlers are facing. These tiny toddlers don’t show much interest towards food, and I have seen parents trying all the gimmicks to fool them to submission, so that they somehow swallow it.
This problem is faced by new generation parents who are economically well-to-do. Every fruit and all types of chocolates are at their disposal. In fact these toddlers got these food items in abundance before they are actually hungry and before they develop the natural craving. And this abundance has killed the desire.
I remember as a kid, we used to get a Five Star chocolate as a present once in say 3-4 months. And we used to relish it slowly. We were not supposed to open and swallow in public, where we got it, as it was against the manners. So we had to wait to reach home. And that wait was killing… The chocolate used to almost melt in our tight clutch. It was the heat of the craving which was more responsible for the melting… (Exaggerating a bit ! ) And as soon as we got the first chance, we used to swallow the first half quickly, and then the senses of an economic child alerted to save the next half for some later time, may be half a day. And the wait and then the relishing was worth it. :-)
And the matter did not end there. The gold or silver aluminum wrapper was made smooth, and preserved in a favorite book, so that it can remind of the happiness, till we were presented with the next chocolate, God knows when.
Now compare this feeling, with the feeling of our kids who get a chocolate, whenever they want. Sometimes before they want…
And this general philosophy also applies to the other things we get in abundance these days.
As kids, do you remember how we waited to go to a movie ? The whole process was like a celebration. And then the best part was having potato chips, which we had to share with a sibling or a friend during movie interval. Well that was also so much fun. :-)
And we waited for new clothes in festivals, which we used to flaunt shyly, with people appreciating how neat and charming we looked.
We can get back the fun in many things by consuming in moderation.
What do you say ? :-)
Mahtab Syed
5:23 pm Feb 15 2008
2 comments:
crisp, precise and to the point. very good blog on a very relevant issue. I was thinking on similar lines for past several years. some of the observation which i had are very close to your thought. Take for example my buying a bike and a car. I clearly remember, I was very very happy for almost 6 months after buying my bike.(until i hit an old lady unfortunately:(.) But after buying a car, which should have given me much more pleasure, I was happy just for 2-3 days. After that, traveling by car was just a normal routine. Same is true about shopping. There were times when i used to look for clothes for weeks, if not for months. Now, I never go out specifically to buy clothes.
Now the important part is conclusion. What conclusion we draw from these observations? Can we say that lack of facilities is good for happiness of people. That is something to which i have not been able to find answers.
Thanks for your comments Gyan. :-)I feel the conclusion we can draw is to earn decent amount of money, but still not live in Abundance.
The rate at which we elevate our life style should be moderated. And then we can find extra money with us which can be given in charity to the most needy, whom we encounter every day in a metro like Bangalore.
And we can keep on learning and doing new things, which do not have a heavy cost factor, like painting, learning music, travelling on a low budget.
So this is like adding fuel to your life, before the happiness of small things in life wanes away... :-)
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