The world has transformed phenomenally over the past two decades, courtesy of digitisation of communication that has made life faster and easier. Saving money and time has been the primary objective. But do all people spend the time they save meaningfully? People are still in a mad rush for what they often do not know. While the majority of people have to toil for hours to earn a modicum of income for feeding themselves and members of their families, there are the privileged who wallow in wealth and still hanker after more. What do they do with the limitless money at their disposal?
Well, the world's richest persons live in luxury unimaginable for the ordinary mortals. They have homes and villas that can shame the grandeurs and facilities of the emperors of the past centuries. Most of them have their personal jetliners, costliest cars and yachts. Men like Warren Buffet and Bill Gates are however somewhat different in their living styles. They spend a significant portion of their wealth on humanitarian and welfare programmes for the poor all across the globe. They would not hire Hollywood stars to grace the wedding of their sons and daughters like Mukesh Ambani, the richest person in India.
The problem with wealth is that it has a tendency to flaunt itself. Not all of those who possess enormous amount of money can keep their cool. The nouveaux riches in particular take the ugly demonstration to its limits. In a world intrinsically tempered with voracious consumerism, there is indeed a mad rush for every material comfort and consumption. So intoxicated are the people with consumerism that its baneful impact has corrupted not just the human behaviour but also the mind and people's thought process.
Thus human beings have become prisoners of their own mental block. They do not find small joys in small things. A child with a pure soul can derive immense pleasure from seeing a dung beetle pushing and rolling a ball of dung far larger than the insect's size. The tiny tot may burst into laughter when the beetle turns turtle in its effort to push the ball harder. Or, just imagine the wonder a child feels at its first meeting with a dragon fly or a butterfly. Both these flying wonders are of many colours, sizes and shapes. They are fragile too. While dragon flies rest on leaves and branches or even a wire, butterflies are restless and flies from one flower to another as if they have no time to lose.
Few people today feel that their children should have regular contact with the bounties of Nature. They should be made familiar with trees, birds, flowers and insects all around. What a pity, even the babies reluctant to eat meals are kept engrossed with either cartoons on TV screen or pictures of a smartphone! This was, however, not so mechanical five or six decades ago when cell phone and its improved type did not capture people's life.
A child did not look for the virtual entertainment. His/her conversation and deep bond with Nature kept the innocent being busy. There were wild flowers and fruits which awoke them early in the morning because to reach the spot where such priceless and savoury gifts awaited them must be reached before everyone else. Then the inquisitive boys among them would look for bird nests to see how the winged couple hatch their eggs and when the chicks emerge to open their mouths to receive the food their parents have brought for them. To discover a dove's nest at an unlikely place so frequented but not noticed before surprised them.
Then there were joys of which they were the lords because the first time they learnt to fashion a kite independently or with guidance from an elder gave them the sense that they were on top of the world. Flying such kites turned into a passion for them. There were also heartbreaks when their favourite kite snapped the string to depart into oblivion. Yet their childhood was full of activities. They played traditional games such as gollachhut, dariabandha etc. But then they also had monetised their make-believe commerce they arranged with garlands of hijal flowers or bungles from the long and soft flower sticks with flat mouth coverings of shell or snail called chomti serving as currency. Or, what about throwing stones at beehives and running away from bee stings!
Last but not least, the young ones were particularly euphoric about village fairs. Flutes, beautiful clay dolls and small knives to peel mangoes were the main attraction for boys and bungles and lace for girls. They were happy to visit such fairs held on the occasion of Chaitra Sannkranti (last day of the month of Chaitra and Pahela Boishakh and even throughout Boishakh. Gone are those days when children were happy with the barest minimum. Now is the time to accumulate material possessions and not only the adults but also children have lost their souls to materialism and consumerism.
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