I deserve to be expelled from bloggers list for the long sabbaticals I take with no particular reason. Thanks to blogspot and my readers who walk with me. I am here again J
I feel like writing but often feelings dont get reflected in writing well. Not many interesting episodes to key down in the last month. While I really want to write and have started to write, I have not much clue on what to write. So please do not expect much out of this post, unless I switch to some REALLY interesting topic without my intent.
It is 11:16 am precisely, a Wednesday pre-noon. 3 hrs past my entry to office. I see grey cloudy skies thro’ the tinted windows across my cube. Nice weather, not much work, what better can be a time to blog? Still be warned not to expect much out of me today :)
Ok - here I get. Let me talk to you about the happiness funda. Sometimes I get into this self-introspection mode, let me show u a bit of that "ME".
I often repeat these questions to my friends, specially the ladies, - How long(more) do you want to work? Are you such a techie that you work for the satisfaction that it gives? Are you one who doesn’t want to let go the knowledge you have earned investing your father's money and ur time on education? Make big money? Kill time? Well, not sure if I am really interested in knowing their replies, but I do want to see if I am normal like anyone else. So I do ask, for the questions I posted above are my reasons to continue working.
While the other reasons stand justified, "making money" sounds little off-the-shelf, though most % of working people do so to make money, a big one. And the reason that everyone does give is "a pursuit to happiness". Let me not argue for the million population, but speaking for myself, I have never been in a situation where I have felt the want for something. I do have good memory which my mother boasts often. She says I remember times from my childhood which she doesn’t. Well, that shouldn’t make you call me a tale-teller. If I trust my memory, from the age of 3, I have never been disappointed at any point in time with the lifestyle I have had. My father and mother, both worked in decent firms, but I have never heard them discuss their pay in front of us, as kids. Ignorant of what they earned, I always had a pampered life, just a thing line behind getting spoilt. We had our regular goodies, new clothes on every occasion worth mentionable, more-than-needed school/college accessories, cycle, bike and car as we grow with our parents. Whenever someone went out of town, it was a mandate that they get us something. We would not even look at their tired faces as they return back, but constantly gaze at their bags to see what was in store for us. Birthdays demanded 2 pairs of clothes, one for the birth "date" and other for the birth "star" which very rarely coincided. I don’t remember a time when my father and mother refused to give me money when I asked for. Infact they did so before I could go to them. They knew when I needed money to buy books, to treat friends, to go shopping for my personal stuff etc.
And today when I see, I earn fairly more than what my parents earned over years. And it gets better with every passing year. For the moment, it’s just the two of us at home, no major family responsibilities, no 3rd person to share money with, ofcourse we do have the household stuff to be taken care of. Maybe now I buy clothes without reason, buy new bags just because I find them good hanging in front of shop, buy fruits and vegetables and see them getting rotten by days and trash them finally, pay a huge sum for the maid servant, spend just as much on one salwar-suit as I would have spent for 5 earlier. It’s not just me, my parents' lifestyle, on the other hand has changed equally. It’s definitely way better than what it was years earlier. I am not trying to use my blog space to maintain my expense account; the point I am trying to analyze is - is there a better satisfaction quotient with bigger money, bigger and better things, stylish life? While big money allows us to experience the best that life has, it closes our senses to savor life's little pleasures. Money does matter upto a certain phase of life, where one has to worry about the basic luxuries(need is a term long forgotten). Once we have enough to waste on what we want, having more money wouldn’t make a big difference in life. We may afford a vacation in Malaysia, but that wouldn’t buy the happiness that a country side cottage can bring us in India.
SO, let me get back. Why do I work? I hope I am convinced not to say “ make money” J. Easy to say, lets see!!! I might still say I work to make money. But money defining happiness quotient is still debatable!!!
