What are the greatest pleasures of life? Here is a tentative list –
Physical:
- Sexual pleasure
- Getting good food when famished
- Getting cool clean water when thirsty
- Getting to a cool shady place when one is hot and sweaty
- Feeling the warmth of sunlight on a very cold day
- Getting a chance to take a shit or a leak when the urge is overwhelming the senses
- Smelling a rose (or whatever flower you fancy)
- The smell of the earth when the first drops of rain fall
- A good body and head massage when tired
- A good work out
Perceived pleasures:
- Getting a raise
- Receiving genuine praise
- Work well done
- Putting check marks against a long to-do list
- Well fitting clothes (especially when someone else appreciates them)
- Watching a good movie
- Watching re runs of Friends (especially if you catch an episode that you have not seen earlier)
- Curling up with a good book (with the sound of rain out side your window)
- Spending time with family – especially my 3 year old nephew
How many of these pleasures actually involve money (except maybe getting a raise)? Zilch. Then why do we willingly forsake these pleasures in the pursuit of money? Come to think of it, the lesser you earn the more likely you are to enjoy the above things. Good food is good food. A poor farmer sitting down to a meal of dal roti after a hard day’s toil in his fields derives as much pleasure (if not more) from the simple act of eating than a rich millionaire sitting down to his wine and beluga caviar. Everything is relative. This is not saying that money is a bad thing. On the contrary. A minimum amount, assured every month is critical for happiness and peace of mind. But isn’t it just a means to an end? If making the means our life is not stupidity then what is?
My favorite hero is a guy called Jack Reacher (by Lee Child). I have all the books by this author and plan to purchase every future book on the day of publication. This man, Reacher, an American, possesses only a tooth brush, an ATM Card and his passport (he buys cheap clothes when he needs a change and simply dumps the worn pair). When someone asks him weren’t Americans supposed to be affluent, he says "I'm a rich man. To have everything you need is the definition of affluence." Brilliant philosophy. He spends his time exploring the United States and doing any work that comes his way for his upkeep. This is, obviously, an extreme example. But come to think of it what does one need money for? Every living person earns enough for food (or s/he would not be living in the first place). Every one earns enough to cover his body with clothes (we don’t see many naked people around, do we?) The biggest need for money is actually when a loved one falls sick and needs treatment. But ultimately money doesn’t save lives. Or else the Birlas, Tatas and Ambanis would live forever. A reasonable health insurance policy should see us through. Then why do we go to office at 7 in the morning and toil till 7 at night – day in and day out? Why do we spend most of our lives thinking about career moves or getting the next degree or becoming the VP of the company? We plan, plot and think so much about our futures that we forget to live properly now. We truly don’t know whether we would be alive tomorrow, still we ignore the now for the morrow.
How many of us really do what we are passionate about? We might delude ourselves in to thinking that writing pages of code so that Reebok’s sales inventory is fool proof is my passion, but is it? It is said that just before death our entire life flashes before us – what are the things that we are likely to remember at that time? Who are the people who would cry the hardest when we are no more? Our boss? Then why do we not do enough for those who truly love us? When was the last time any one of us had hugged our mom or dad and said I love you?
People spend their lifetimes in this grind in the vague hope of having a lavish retired life. What would we do with all our moneys and our plans when our lives become a struggle to reach the loo on time before we piss in our pants?
