What rules our life in modern times? What makes us a loser? Recently a columnist has said, “If you don’t have money you are a loser”. Is it so? As the DLF IPL ended and the amount of cash flow it generated, money looks to be a ruler everywhere, even in sports. Now cricket too has to be entertaining, extravagant, and brand endorsement friendly. No one is a loser, they said at the end of it. Does that mean since all parties have made profits at the end of the tournament it is a huge success?

I look at the face on currency notes of India, that of Mahatma Gandhi and wonder, “How much money does a man need? And what for?” Most widely circulated face today on the currency notes, preached austerity and showed solidarity to millions of Indian poor by wearing hand spun piece of cloth and giving up world of comforts to lead an ideologically rich, non-violent march for freedom, peace, truth and equality. Not only Gandhiji look at all religious and national leaders; they all preached and talked about good human values, high spiritual life and had renounced worldly comforts at some point of time in their lifetime. Be it Ram, Jesus Christ or Gautam Buddha or many other faces worshipped today, they had chosen a path full of hardship to reach enlightenment and help mankind evolve spiritually. Even then there were poor and hungry people, but maybe their life was not money-centric.

All hoardings in our life seem to be enticing us to earn and splurge. Easy loans, EMI life is forcing us into a trajectory revolving around money. It is a consumer-friendly world after all. Maybe we need to get out of this ‘consumer’, ‘customer’ mentality before we lose other goals of life. Apart from income generation maybe we can think of re-generating greenery around us, conserve instead of splurge. Apart from harvesting cash, we can harvest rainwater, have seeds and grains in banks for a change. Give small loans to poor kids in neighbourhood for setting up text-book library or a medicine bank. These movements are taking place in small ways somewhere or the other and it doesn’t need much to take it further. Instead of damning the way of modern life or the modern world or the politicians, we all have to take small initiatives ourselves.

A small interesting anecdote: Once I had met with a near fatal accident and could have died because I didn’t wear a helmet. I went to see a neurosurgeon and was damning the state government for not making helmet compulsory for two-wheeler pillion riders as well. I remember the doctor smiling and commenting, “But ma’m, the head is yours, why should the state government worry about it?”

This is our life and we can make informed choices to help ourselves overcome fuel, food, climate change, inflation, poverty and other daily crisis together.