The festive mood is on with Diwali round the corner. I remember, as a kid I used to wait for Diwali like anything. The reasons for this wait were just not because it’s the time to have holidays or to burst crackers or to have sumptuous food. But the biggest reason was, it used to be a time to buy new things viz. clothes, utensils, furniture etc. Many of us must have heard our parents saying “We will buy a new car or a new fridge on Diwali”. Those were the times when most of us did not have much money to spend and hence people used to wait for Diwali to buy things they needed.
Today also we follow the tradition of buying stuff on Diwali but wait a minute – do we really buy what is needed or we buy what we want??? Confusing isn’t it? Before we go ahead lets understand the difference between a NEED and a WANT.
NEED is something one cannot live without. If I were to say Food, water and shelter is a need, it would be a lame example. Today mobile is a need, internet is a need. So need is something which is a basic requirement of our lives today.
WANT is something we would like to have. If food is need, eating ice cream or chocolate would be a want. If mobile is a need, I-phone 6 would be a want.
For instance in today’s world, it is difficult to survive if you don’t have an internet. Internet was a luxury 10-15 years ago. And hence needs and wants change with time. A want today may become your need tomorrow.
With Diwali just a few days away, the shopping spree is on. All of us are in spending mood; after all its Diwali. And even if we refrain from spending the advertisements or the discounts would not let us do so…. Look at the newspapers who have more of advertisements of merchandise of all kinds and less of news. Why it is that flipkart, snapdeal or amazon etc. are coming up with mouth-watering discounts just before Diwali? It’s only to tempt us to fulfill our wants in the name of Diwali. However this fulfillment would make us happy only for a while. And then we would have a NEW WANT. Remember wants are never ending.
Just a while ago, I received a What-app message. I thought I should share with you:-
It gives me an insight that things we WANT might not be of our use even once or twice. The sole reason is that it is not something we really NEED and hence these things do not become a part of our daily lives. So from now on, just think do you actually need it before you buy anything.
Mahatma Gandhi ji once said – “the world has everything what you need, it just can’t provide for all your wants.” In the end, this Diwali make sure you have planned enough for your future needs before you land up spending on what you want.
