"Rat Race"-Materialism

First up this is an article which may seem silly to a lot of you. I have been thinking about this for a long while now but due to this and that have always put off putting it to words. We all have taken the “rat race” of success as a permanent fixture in our life and made our peace with it. Last year I bought a new phone (finally!) and in January I watched the movie “3 Idiots” and this two incidents makes up the crux of what I want to say here.
Ok first on the phone. I am a 20 year old guy who is still completing my education. The phone in question I am talking about was in the pipeline for a long time (I have been saving up for quite a while so it was a big deal to me!). After getting the requisite amount and much tormented soul searching I finally decided on a model and went ahead and bought it. Now as I lay down admiring my new phone I suddenly got stuck by guilty feelings. Why did I get a phone (as such there was nothing wrong with my old phone!) Why did I spend so much on the phone? (There were other cheaper models) and so on and so forth and to assuage my mind I came up with a variety of arguments none of us actually made sense. I justified it as a treat for spending so many years away from home. It was a gift for moderately good results in my undergrad studies and so on and so forth. The truth was although I might have needed a new phone the driving force behind my selection was a need or desire to “be cool” and “fit in” Now as such there is nothing wrong with all this! I mean all of us have certain wants and we strive to fulfil them. As long as we are able to achieve all this and without causing troubles to anyone it should all be fine. And to take another different approach we are still contributing in some way or the other to the economy (if you want to look at it in that way!)
No I do not have any problems with any of this contention! What I have a problem with are the reasons by which these needs and wants are driven? What in the first place prompted me to for a new phone (when functioning wise my old phone was still good!). The truth is most of our needs today are driven by a false want. To put a more technical term to it “Demonstration effect”. We as a race have become more and more materialistic in nature. We want something because someone else has it. Driven by the “mall, pub” hopping culture we are increasingly driven to have the need for something for the simple reason that their neighbour or friend has it. Half the things we buy will either be not used properly or go to waste all together. We buy things simply for the reason that it’s the cool thing to do. We are in a race with ourselves and with the world. And that I think is the real “rat race” We need to make a niche for ourselves, we need to get accepted by our peers, we need to have the latest in gadgets and gizmos and that is the real rat race! Unfortunately in our endeavour to look cool we may well be losing something that is central to us. “Our identity”
Now coming to the movie “3 idiots” I know that most of you have already watched it so I will not spend time singing its praises. As much as you might hate to admit it the movie is an excellent portrayal of the education system as seen in Asian nations and it gives you a very clear reason for the existence of the “rat race”. As “Boman Irani” so eloquently put it “Life is a race, if you don’t run fast you will be left behind or get squashed in the stampede”
Well I am no “Amir Khan” But I would still like to state my disagreement with the above statement. Life is a race but only because we let it be a race. It is a race because that is how we have been brought up in our outlook. We have been taught to look at this world in either “black or white” while we conveniently forget about the huge grey matter that lies in between. I am not pointing fingers at anyone. I am just stating a point of view. We need to make a niche for ourselves, we need to get accepted by our peers, we need to make our identity and for all this we are in a race. We are in a race for all this. We are in a race with ourselves as well as with the world. But mindless running in this race is leading to us loosing something more important. We are losing “OURSELVES”.
In “3 Idiots” Boman Irani tells us how the “koyal bird” lays its eggs in another bird’s nest and how as soon as they hatch the small koyal birds destroy the eggs of the other bird. And what does the other bird do? Well it generally keeps faith and goes about its business,
We also need to have faith. We need to have belief and understanding. We need to believe and understand that although life may be a race it is not always important to come fast. As Sometimes we learn our greatest lessons in defeat.