A Revealing Conversation

In a world taken over by the materialistic and consumerist ideals and lifestyle, a breath of minimalistic ideal is hard to find. A survey conducted in our VEL-700 class strikingly showed that most of the individuals, in the classroom, wished to earn manyfolds more than they could potentially spend. The activity aptly displayed the aspired materialistic lifestyle. To get a better context to our results, I ventured into the streets to meet with people from the lower economic strata, and asked them their monthly income, struggles and most importantly their way of being happy, if at all; given the dearth of money. To my surprise the experience was enlightening as well as humbling to some extent.

“ Mujhe ab paise nahi chaiye…”

Jay Kumar Yadav, a short-statured person, dressed in a shabby blue shirt, with a dust trodden trouser clung to his loins says, “ All of my life’s objectives are complete, I just work to stay healthy, and I love to interact with people.” Yadav ji looked well past his prime, with scattered salt and pepper hair, a face wrinkled by his age. However, he bore a welcoming and youthful smile. When asked about his secret of happiness, he exclaimed, “Maine apni poori jindagi imaandari se gujari hai, kisi ka ek paisa nahi mara. Aaj mere bacche aachi naukri kar rahe hain, main isi me khush hun. Beta imaandari bohot badi cheez hoti hai.” I listened to him with keen eyes, I asked him, “Aap kitna kama lete hain aur aap kitna aur kamana chahte hain?” To which he twitched his whiskers, mockingly he replied, “Mujhe ab aur paise nahi chaiy, koi iccha nahi hai. Itne me hi main bohot khush hun.” Yadav ji’s remarks left me thinking, rather introspectively. Yadav ji had run away from his home in Bihar in the year 1998, he worked at several places in Delhi, before settling in Jia Sarai as a Vegetable Vendor. His occupation, seemingly small and miniscule, was large and sufficient enough for him to not only make his ends meet, but also to keep him happy.

“Khush hona ek abhyas hai...”

Sawan Soni, the security guard at the back gate of IIT, was in his early thirties. He had come from Bihar, in search of job opportunities in Delhi. Along with his deep navy and light blue shirt, he wore a large smile on his face. When asked, he said that he lived in Greater Kailash at his relative’s house, which apparently was not theirs. I curiously asked him, “Aapke hasi kya raaz kya hai?” to which he said, “Khush hona abhyas (practice) hai, mera swabhav hi aisa hai.” It felt unbelievable; such a wise and philosophical outlook was not something that I expected from a person of such humble background. When asked about his monthly income, he replied that he manages his family and himself with a meagre sum of twenty-two thousand rupees. Managing to be happy with that sum felt like he had discovered some ‘cheat code’ in life. I earnestly asked, “Aap 22 hazar me kaise guzaar lete ho?” Staring at my keen eyes, he beamed, “Sir, main aadhe se jyada paise apne bacchon ke padhai aur poshan pe laga deta hoon, jab wo English me padhta hai toh main khush hota hoon. Aur paison ka kya hai, waha pe Adani soo nahi padhte, paise se khushi nahi milti.”

A sense of calm took over me. I folded my hands in a namaste gesture, bidding him a goodnight. I realised, despite working at nights, his optimistic worldview had filled his life with light.

A secret to happiness that nobody can take away

Too often we are unhappy with our lives, we do not realise that, things that we wish for are not even a prerequisite to be happy in the first place. If we look one step further, we realise that our desires of immense material success have been fuelled and perpetuated by the consumerist society that we live in. Experiences such as these give us a context to the ‘need’ and ‘greed’ part of our lives. Finally, contrary to our common perception, people from such humble backgrounds are very humane with idealistic values. People like Yadav ji and Soni ji possess a secret to happiness that nobody can take away from them.