Happiness is a slippery fellow! Give him the barest minimum, he readily accepts and comes home. But pamper him with a little excess of anything, he hesitates and runs away! It is a paradox, a conundrum that cannot be easily cracked.
Growing up, parents did not indulge the children as we do today. Spending was strict, both as a principle and the strain on the purse. Occasions to celebrate were marked and limited. Hence, it was with great fondness that we looked forward to incidents where the purse strings were loosened and indulgence was permitted. Sometimes, it was as simple as the purchase of an ice-cream cone. The rarity of the enjoyment created the magic. We savoured it, one lick at a time and competed with the sibling to prolong ones own cone for much longer than the other! The impish delight to enjoy the last few licks, with extra zeal, while the other looked on, salivating silently, was a moment to cherish!
Contrast this with today's picture, where every weekend visit to the mall, is a time to binge. The refrigerator is stacked with ice-cream in buckets. Often, it goes unnoticed and has to be junked because it has remained much longer than the expiry date! It is a problem of plenty. We do enjoy the ice-cream even today. Except, that it has become common place and to that extent, the joy-quotient has plummeted by several notches.
There was a time when TV was black-and-white playing a single channel. Programs actually came to a close at night and it was only the next evening, you could watch TV again. Often, there was only one home with a TV and the entire neighbourhood gathered together to watch their favourite shows. The weekly round of "Chitrahaar", soaps like "HumLog" and the mythlogical adaptations of 'Ramayan' were awaited with great excitement. The collective enjoyment made the happiness-index soar sky-high even if you watched only half the program because the power went off mid-way! Everyone watched the same programs and came fully prepared for lively and heated discussions at school the following day. Contrast this with today. We have lost track of the number of channels on TV. As far as movies, serials and Cricket go, everything is available simultaneously, just a twirl of the remote away. The endless choice and variety have spoilt us. We cannot recall that one film or that special Cricket innings, that left a mark for life! Discussions over TV programs cannot be conducted with the same gusto because everyone watches a different channel, a different program. And the joy-score in all this? It has taken a definite hit.
Today, it is easy to spot an eye-catching dress online and have it delivered home. Suddenly, you feel the urge to have a rasgulla, and in a few clicks of the mobile, it is on the dining table. It is all easy and affordable no doubt. We miss the point- the accessibility has made everything bland and ordinary. It has robbed us of that indescribable eagerness to look forward to a new dress, which was bought once a year during Diwali. Purchase of crackers was limited and just enough for everyone at home. But the happiness grew many fold, when you painstakingly separated the "100-wala" into individual elements so that you could prolong the enjoyment, one cracker at a time...the entire day.
Recall the excitement and trembling fingers with which you ripped open the envelope to read that fortnightly mail from home? Or hurrying to make that 5-minute trunk-call from a public phone booth, to a loved one, after 10 at night because it was cheaper? Often, even conversation was impossible, because the phone-line was poor; still, you longed to hear the ring of that distant voice! There was so much to say and so little time! And when someone returned home after a two-year "foreign trip", you scrutinized their face in total amazement, for their features had changed so unrecognizably, during the interim period! Now, social media has made it easy, in fact, too easy. We can stalk someone on an hourly basis, regardless of where he is. The flip side is the loss; loss of that extra zing!
That said, what is the takeaway from this? We cannot go back to Stone Age in our quest for happiness. The older generation is also prone to exaggeration. The narration is often suspect, because with each retelling, they claim to have enjoyed even more! Conversation centered on "those days" leaves us feeling helpless since we can do nothing about it, stranded as we are, in today's time and age!
But one thing is clear- over indulgence sedates the mind so that it loses its keenness and its heightened ability to enjoy. The more we willingly limit our indulgence today, more the happiness, when such a special occasion automatically presents itself.
A mansion needs more than 2000 sq ft, multiple floors, a garden and a swimming pool. Happiness needs none of this; a 700 sq ft home is good enough. The choice is ours.
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