It was the house warming ceremony of one of my dear friends, yesterday...
He was bold enough to construct a house having a contemporary design dipped in striking colours. I had great respect for his boldness, considering the fact that these days , the aesthetic requirements of a majority in Kerala is the same.... beat the neighbours' house in looks and aesthetic appeal, even if it means tearing own pockets...
This guy had the guts to create an abode that suited his likes and he did not worry about the average appreciation levels of the society. I was happy for him. Happy coz I could feel the sense of pride and euphoria extra-ordinarily radiating from his face. It sure must be a great feeling to own a house, for I have seen this feeling in many faces during housewarming ceremonies. (Unfortunately in spite of designing 250+ houses, I still couldn’t enjoy the luxury of that pride till now. Hope that day comes along soon). I am reminded of the sentences in most of the vastu scriptures, where it is said that owning a shelter is one of the best blessings , a man can have in his lifetime. How true, it is..
All we work and toil is after all to meet the three basic needs(viz food, clothing and shelter ..if u missed the lesson in your primary classes). Though, these days most of us work not just to own these, but to increase the QUALITY of these needs.
This tempts me to think louder whether our basic needs are increasing? Perhaps, the so called ‘fast pace’ in modern life, can be attributed to man’s thirst to increase and improve the quality of his needs outside the basic need bracket.
I may not be totally wrong, if I identify a new set of needs which have emerged as ‘basic’ in the contemporary world.
He was bold enough to construct a house having a contemporary design dipped in striking colours. I had great respect for his boldness, considering the fact that these days , the aesthetic requirements of a majority in Kerala is the same.... beat the neighbours' house in looks and aesthetic appeal, even if it means tearing own pockets...
This guy had the guts to create an abode that suited his likes and he did not worry about the average appreciation levels of the society. I was happy for him. Happy coz I could feel the sense of pride and euphoria extra-ordinarily radiating from his face. It sure must be a great feeling to own a house, for I have seen this feeling in many faces during housewarming ceremonies. (Unfortunately in spite of designing 250+ houses, I still couldn’t enjoy the luxury of that pride till now. Hope that day comes along soon). I am reminded of the sentences in most of the vastu scriptures, where it is said that owning a shelter is one of the best blessings , a man can have in his lifetime. How true, it is..
All we work and toil is after all to meet the three basic needs(viz food, clothing and shelter ..if u missed the lesson in your primary classes). Though, these days most of us work not just to own these, but to increase the QUALITY of these needs.
This tempts me to think louder whether our basic needs are increasing? Perhaps, the so called ‘fast pace’ in modern life, can be attributed to man’s thirst to increase and improve the quality of his needs outside the basic need bracket.
I may not be totally wrong, if I identify a new set of needs which have emerged as ‘basic’ in the contemporary world.
1. gadgets(the i-pods, the i-phones, the laptops , etc). You are brutally counted as a primitive amongst the generation, if your celphone doesn’t claim 2MP camera, Bluetooth and MP3player and a host of other features. Lucky and wiser are you, if you are able to ignore such benchmarks and able to take judicious decisions based solely on your requirements.
2. Travel- Travelling in buses/autos can take you to your destination, but you have better gains if it is on your own sedan. Not just travel, but the class and type of travel mode that you select , i believe, has become a need(just like the difference between being clothed and being clad in a Tommy Hilfiger outfit)
3. Entertainments - taking a vacation at an exotic location, enjoying a movie at a multiplex, enjoying a glass of wine with frndz at the happening place in town, dining at a premier restaurant with family/relatives , having membership in the town’s social clubs.... the quality and frequency of all these entertainment options is decided chiefly by one thing.... money[ another major factor is time.. I know a handful who have money to enjoy these but sadly don’t have time(or they r disastrously failing to find time)]
May be, the list is incomplete. But isn’t it the right time to think of expanding the repertoire of basic needs.. You have the say.
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