Navigating needs and wants in our lives

A need is obviously different from a want. A want is born out of desire and is always based on aspiring for something big,that is, more than what is normally needed to satisfy oneself at some point in time. For example,if one wants to have dinner, one can have an ordinary meal of dal and roti with some rice at home. The hunger need is very much satisfied, and there is obviously a point at which one can eat no more. In fact,doctors do advise us to have light dinners. But imagine eating out at costly restaurants or the five-star hotels. One would have to shell out a huge amount of money to have this dinner, more so, if the family consists of five people. One would have to part with several hundreds or even thousands of rupees.The end result is the same- we are no more hungry,but the ways of achieving the same are very much different.

Well, no one -- even the mighty rich -- eat out for dinner, every day, but the example was just to illustrate the difference. However, when wants multiply beyond a particular point, there is always conflict, more so, if the sources for additional income to satisfy such wants are just not there.

In fact,in our Indian custom,reducing the wants of life, and living a simple life is advocated for achieving the vital work-life balance.From whatever one hears about the Western style of living,it is very obvious that people living in such societies do not have the vital work-life balance, as they do not understand what it takes to be spiritual, or to stick to certain values or religious customs. Indian spiritual gurus have become very famous in the West for this precise reason -- they teach the Westerners "Art of living" and all that.

Be that as it may,there is this vital question: what should we do? Well, we need to strike a perfect balance. If not for anything else, at least to keep the economy going and rolling all over, we should have some wants, but adopt perfectly legal means to achieve the same. For instance, if we would want to upgrade from the Maurti 800 and aim for a better car, most of us would dispose the old one for whatever best price we would get, and go for a fresh loan, which is now anyway available. The real imbalance in the society occurs only when we adopt illegal means to achieve the same end -- for example, if we indulge in corruption, by misusing our official position. In fact,corruption is our worst cancer, and this happens inspite of all our spritualism.

My take is that we should compulsorily stick to our religious customs and particular cultures, as they teach us some values. We learn to respect others, do something for them, make a sacrifice here or there, and also make the best use of all our available resources. Our needs are somehow met, and we do make any amount of sacrifices to achieve something big. There is this story of a mother who did her best to educate her son, and all she did was to sell iddlis in a Chennai slum. Somehow, she was able to collect the resources to see that her son completes his engineering from the BITS, Pilani. Not content with that, the son goes on to do an MBA from the prestigious Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.He is now the proud owner of a chain of restaurants. Imagine this lady who just about satisfied her basic needs but saved for her son's education. There are hundreds of thousands of such stories. So, we do have it here in India.

However, the brash and sometimes arrogant ways of the youngsters, now in their twenties and thirties, who earn fat salaries, is a cause for concern. In their mad rush to satisfy all their wants, they do not just seem to be bothered about the need to save, or to care for others who are less fortunate. The need some counseling to achieve some balance between a want and a need.

There are many times, when we can fix a buget for a want, scale it down to some extent,by buying brands that cost somewhat less, and utilize the rest of the money to do some good to the society. This can happen with expensive furniture, cell phones, washing machines, home theatrers and such other wants.

Hence, navigating the needs and wants is a delicate act. We should teach some values to our children. We should ourselves realise the value of money and not waste on satsifying needless wants, more so, when we have other things to do with such money. Since the cost of education is never ever going to come down, it is wise to cut down on some wants and save the money for higher education of our children.

It is very much in our hands to strike a balance between a need and a want. What is required is a serious thought, and a great deal of openness and transparency in our families.

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