TAKE ME TO THE KABOOTAR KHANA

 

“Don’t let the Joneses dictate your life.

Their happiness might not be what you need.”

Unknown

 

Recently, during one of our PD (Personality Development) sessions, I was explaining to the young participants the meaning of the phrase ‘Some Things In Life Don’t Move’. I had decided to keep this as the title for the forthcoming book. The book was about Values in life… How some of our Values guided us just as lighthouses did for ships sailing in the seas…

There was a young boy by the name Vihaan. I had taught his mother, uncles and aunts 35 years ago, when I had just started my classes at this place. Their family dealt in furniture, and I  had bought five moulded chairs from them. Suddenly, I looked at 16-year-old Vihaan and said to him, pointing at the chair I was sitting on, “Beta, do you know how old this chair is?”

Vihaan was clueless. I looked at the class and said, “I had bought it from Vihaan’s family store 35 years ago. I had bought five chairs. I still use them… They are so durable and comfortable.”

Well, Vihaan wasn’t born when these chairs were born, and his own parents were of Vihaan’s age, then. Before our young ones could wonder what connection these chairs had with the subject of our forthcoming book, I said this: “If comfort and durability are what I look for while sitting on this chair, then, I am extremely happy with this chair… Whether I sit on a sophisticated chair worth Rs. 50,000 or continue to use this one (I had paid Rs. 450 each) – sitting is sitting… Rest is all a story I create in my mind. So, some things in life don’t move – don’t change.”

There was another 16-year-old whose parents had gifted him a mobile phone worth Rs. 1,60,000. In the same batch, there was another young boy whose father worked as a watchman earing a salary of Rs. 8,000 per month (for a 12-hour-plus  duty). I was trying to sensitize these young kids, saying, “Look sweethearts, you don’t need such luxuries to feel happy in life… You need to find your happiness in simple, durable things. You need to be sensitive to those around you who are less privileged.”

God alone knows, how many would understand the depth of those words…

There is a wedding of another young boy happening around us… Visibly, money is gushing like water on this wedding. I know, it’s their money, and I have no right to raise my eyebrows…

I am just remembering the three young boys in our ‘Personality Development’ sessions – and the five chairs that have served me for thirty-five long years…

“Money doesn’t grow on trees,” I keep telling young ones, “Value money, and look for value for money.”

In the endearing comic strip (1913-1940), Joneses were the invisible neighbours whom McGinis struggled to keep up with. We all are the McGinis and we all are trying to keep up with our neighbours – Joneses… knowing very well, that their happiness is not what we ‘need’ in our lives…

Congratulations and blessings to the just-married…

 

GERALD D’CUNHA

 

Pic's.: Pixabay

 

Video: The Kiffness