I get amused whenever I see people who try to save every paisa they earn and end up missing the moments they live in. I am amazed by their belief and confidence that sacrificing this moment would make things better for the future. And in most cases those things generally turn out to be pretty materialistic and even worse when they arrive at that futuristic point, they would have turned their attention to something even more futuristic and missing the moment again.
Though I have come across many of that sort, I got totally pissed off last week when one of my friends avoided eating out just because it is costly. The costly dinner came out to $12 per head which amounts not even to 0.33 % of his monthly income. Of course he knew that it would be coming around that range only. This act of alone didn't force me to write this post, but a series of quite silly acts. For instance, he didn't want to travel 3 extra miles in the car for getting fresh vegetables, worse he consoled himself that a week old (believe even more) dry Spinach was fresh indeed. There are many more and I don't want to waste my time prodding into everyone of them deeply.
I am not against the habit of saving, it is a quality which all of us must develop. I believe we, Indians, are masters in the act of savings. These days, maybe I am seeing it now only, I see lot of people trying to hoard every single rupee the earn. They don't mind missing out beautiful places, events, parties, even good food, in short to be miserable in all aspects of life just for the sake of saving.
That made me wonder what the hell are they saving for? Because most people of these sort, I have come across, don't come from poor families but from families which have a decent standard of living and some wealth. When you dig a bit deeper, you could see Indians save for 3 important things,
1. Buying a house. Perfectly right, Home sweet home. Having one's own home will give a sense of satisfaction, especially when you live in it. But is everybody buying a home which is affordable?
Not quite so, they invest in a house in a busy or posh area of the city which will make both husband and wife pursue on their jobs under all circumstances for repaying the loan. As a result they fail to spend quality time among themselves and their kids, worse in many cases they don't even understand their kids. When at last they settle, life would have passed along and in some instances there are some irreparable damage in the families.
And one thing which I constantly hear when discussing this topic is that this is the best form of investment and security.
I haven't seen many who sell their homes when in times of need, I have seen only homes bequeathed from parents to Children.
2. Buying and hoarding gold saying it's the best form of security. Passing it from generation to generation and also continue the process of removing credit from the system and keeping it safe in bank lockers. This is worser than the first one because in the first one you at least get something tangible but this one is something absurd.
3. Marriages - The amount of money people invest in marriages is something which is so big these days. In most of the cases the entire family of the bride will be nervous, tensed and anxious that the marriage should go smoothly, in the process missing out to enjoy the occasion. The occasion for which the bride's parents should have started saving from the day the girl was born. Isn't it absurd that you spend all your life saving for an occasion and not able to enjoy it when it comes. Do we really need such big marriages? Can't we make them simpler and more happier? For these days, the photographer has made marriages a kind of civic ceremony, a place which is meant for shaking hands and giving pose to the photo with an smile which turns out to be artificial on many occasions.
On a lighter note, I would like to have my marriage where people come, sit down and chat among themselves about whatever they want. Whereas me and my better part will move across the entire hall meet up with people, have a lively chat and move on. Would it be better?
These 3 things I won't say aren't worth spending the way we are doing right now.
In Tamil, we have a saying, "நாய் பெற்ற தெங்கம்பழம் போல" literally translated becomes, "Just like a coconut in the hands of a dog.". What it actually means is that a Dog cannot eat a Coconut but it simply won't accept it, instead it will keep on rolling the coconut and carry with it to everywhere it goes. Neither the coconut nor the dog's time end up being useful.
Makkale there are many beautiful things out there which are not worth sacrificing for these three. Do go and chill out at times.
