It was a tiresome day today. As I was about to wind up, I was eager to get back home. Although, I did not plan to do anything particularly interesting at home, just the thought of sitting back and relaxing with a cup of hot tea was quite enticing. Figured it would be an easy passage after that till bed time.
But, as is the case these days, after enjoying my tea and a hearty chat with my wife, I felt stuck. Yes ... stuck. I do not know if feeling 'stuck' can be classified as an emotion, none the less the emotion was getting quite overwhelming. So, I got in my new SX4 and went for a tide on Palm Beach road, hoping a new set of wheels might set my life back in motion again.
On the road, all alone, my thoughts drifted. And, I do not know why, a conversation I had with my grandpa some time back caught my attention. He has lived a full life, my grandpa ... worked hard to make a living ... became a collector ... saw his children grow up and reach new heights in personal and professional life ... dispensed his wealth amongst his children and is witnessing the same with the next generation as well. Come what may, he is stoic as ever. Having achieved so much, he is entitled to be proud of himself and to live his remaining days in class and comfort. But, as long as I can remember, he wears faded white clothes, walks in worn out chappals and sleeps on the floor. His simplicity draws many people towards him for advice, both within and outside the family. Undoubtedly, I admire his thoughts and way of life immensely.
So, under a star filled Hyderabad sky, early last year, after taking his advice on my marital thoughts, I asked him his secret mantra. After a brief pause he replied," I never hurried myself into anything. And that is because I never over-valued two things, TIME and MONEY". Pearls of wisdom seldom are easily understood. How can one achieve so much by not valuing time and money, the two basic drivers of modern living, I thought. I have been pondering over his words ever since.
After doing some research on Time and Money, I was still unable to understand my Grandpa's views. There is ample evidence in human history to support my thoughts too. When man understood the cyclical pattern in nature, he started planning his days more effectively. He began to be more productive at hunting and gathering first and much later in cultivating crops after having understood the cyclical patters of seasons. In effect, he began to 'Time' his activities optimally. No wonder, periodic events and periodic motion have long served as standards for units of time. In modern science a second is defined in terms of periodic radiation emitted by caesium atoms. 60 seconds is one hour, 24 hours a day and so on. Imagine human evolution without knowing these seconds, hours and days!
Add some more years to human evolution after discovery of time, man become so good at 'Timing' his activities, he started having surplus resources. More cattle than needed, more food than required. He began to trade the surplus in what is known as "barter" exchange. As time went on, pieces of paper and metal coins began to be exchanged for goods and vice versa. Man discovered money. Money was the promise of comfort. Whatever one needed, money could buy it. Life was made much simpler. Imagine survival without a penny!
Summarizing, conceptualizing Time led to resource surplus which in turn necessitated the concept of money, and money has made human life much simpler. Time coupled with Money, has set the manual "Human Machine" in to an automatic mode. There is always less time in which more money is to be earned. The energy released during conversion of Time in to Money is what is driving human engine today.
Back in my SX4, during my supposedly serene drive on palm beach road, I kept encountering red traffic signals. No car in sight but I still had to stop, which irritated the hell out of me. "Traffic Signals, What and idiotic concept", I thought to myself. That is when the mystery unraveled. Grandpa's pearls of wisdom started making sense.
Traffic signal is a concept devised by man to maintain orderly traffic flow. It helps motorists to fulfill their task of going from point A to Point B safely. So traffic signals are facilitators to a smooth journey and not the end aim of the journey itself. People don't get on the road in search of traffic signals, do they.
Just like traffic signals, Time and Money are concepts devised by man to facilitate orderly and meaningful life. However, the great tragedy of modern life is that man is inseparably wired to these concepts, so much so, that he equates his life with time left and money earned. In his quest to solve the Time-Money conundrum, man has deluded himself in to believing 'time is money' and money is life. To put things in perspective, the situation is not much different from all the motorists stopping at each traffic signal, squabbling over the ownership of the traffic pole, uprooting it and putting it in their cars and moving on to grab next one. Lunatic behavior. Man is turning lunatic because of is slavery to the very concepts invented by him, Time and Money.
So the mantra is, don't hurry yourself for lack of time and push yourself to earn money quickly. Instead focus on living a meaningful life. Do this and you will find there is sufficient time to earn sufficient money to facilitate your comfortable living. And my Grandpa's a living example of this.
Closing thoughts: I saw an interview on BBC recently. A Russian astronomer on board a spaceship orbiting earth was airing his views. Amongst many things, the most disconcerting aspect for him about living in space was seeing 11 sunrises and sunsets in a day. When asked how did he cope with this, he replied, " I set my watch to Russian time and work from 9.00 a.m till 5.00 p.m. daily. I have to earn my salary, don't I?". I guess he is at the point of no return now!!!
But, as is the case these days, after enjoying my tea and a hearty chat with my wife, I felt stuck. Yes ... stuck. I do not know if feeling 'stuck' can be classified as an emotion, none the less the emotion was getting quite overwhelming. So, I got in my new SX4 and went for a tide on Palm Beach road, hoping a new set of wheels might set my life back in motion again.
On the road, all alone, my thoughts drifted. And, I do not know why, a conversation I had with my grandpa some time back caught my attention. He has lived a full life, my grandpa ... worked hard to make a living ... became a collector ... saw his children grow up and reach new heights in personal and professional life ... dispensed his wealth amongst his children and is witnessing the same with the next generation as well. Come what may, he is stoic as ever. Having achieved so much, he is entitled to be proud of himself and to live his remaining days in class and comfort. But, as long as I can remember, he wears faded white clothes, walks in worn out chappals and sleeps on the floor. His simplicity draws many people towards him for advice, both within and outside the family. Undoubtedly, I admire his thoughts and way of life immensely.
So, under a star filled Hyderabad sky, early last year, after taking his advice on my marital thoughts, I asked him his secret mantra. After a brief pause he replied," I never hurried myself into anything. And that is because I never over-valued two things, TIME and MONEY". Pearls of wisdom seldom are easily understood. How can one achieve so much by not valuing time and money, the two basic drivers of modern living, I thought. I have been pondering over his words ever since.
After doing some research on Time and Money, I was still unable to understand my Grandpa's views. There is ample evidence in human history to support my thoughts too. When man understood the cyclical pattern in nature, he started planning his days more effectively. He began to be more productive at hunting and gathering first and much later in cultivating crops after having understood the cyclical patters of seasons. In effect, he began to 'Time' his activities optimally. No wonder, periodic events and periodic motion have long served as standards for units of time. In modern science a second is defined in terms of periodic radiation emitted by caesium atoms. 60 seconds is one hour, 24 hours a day and so on. Imagine human evolution without knowing these seconds, hours and days!
Add some more years to human evolution after discovery of time, man become so good at 'Timing' his activities, he started having surplus resources. More cattle than needed, more food than required. He began to trade the surplus in what is known as "barter" exchange. As time went on, pieces of paper and metal coins began to be exchanged for goods and vice versa. Man discovered money. Money was the promise of comfort. Whatever one needed, money could buy it. Life was made much simpler. Imagine survival without a penny!
Summarizing, conceptualizing Time led to resource surplus which in turn necessitated the concept of money, and money has made human life much simpler. Time coupled with Money, has set the manual "Human Machine" in to an automatic mode. There is always less time in which more money is to be earned. The energy released during conversion of Time in to Money is what is driving human engine today.
Back in my SX4, during my supposedly serene drive on palm beach road, I kept encountering red traffic signals. No car in sight but I still had to stop, which irritated the hell out of me. "Traffic Signals, What and idiotic concept", I thought to myself. That is when the mystery unraveled. Grandpa's pearls of wisdom started making sense.
Traffic signal is a concept devised by man to maintain orderly traffic flow. It helps motorists to fulfill their task of going from point A to Point B safely. So traffic signals are facilitators to a smooth journey and not the end aim of the journey itself. People don't get on the road in search of traffic signals, do they.
Just like traffic signals, Time and Money are concepts devised by man to facilitate orderly and meaningful life. However, the great tragedy of modern life is that man is inseparably wired to these concepts, so much so, that he equates his life with time left and money earned. In his quest to solve the Time-Money conundrum, man has deluded himself in to believing 'time is money' and money is life. To put things in perspective, the situation is not much different from all the motorists stopping at each traffic signal, squabbling over the ownership of the traffic pole, uprooting it and putting it in their cars and moving on to grab next one. Lunatic behavior. Man is turning lunatic because of is slavery to the very concepts invented by him, Time and Money.
So the mantra is, don't hurry yourself for lack of time and push yourself to earn money quickly. Instead focus on living a meaningful life. Do this and you will find there is sufficient time to earn sufficient money to facilitate your comfortable living. And my Grandpa's a living example of this.
Closing thoughts: I saw an interview on BBC recently. A Russian astronomer on board a spaceship orbiting earth was airing his views. Amongst many things, the most disconcerting aspect for him about living in space was seeing 11 sunrises and sunsets in a day. When asked how did he cope with this, he replied, " I set my watch to Russian time and work from 9.00 a.m till 5.00 p.m. daily. I have to earn my salary, don't I?". I guess he is at the point of no return now!!!
8 comments:
in effect you are saying : be content with what you get.
Intresting - coming from a person who has the time to set out on a casual drive in a petrol car (Rs. 63/ltr.)
What my Grandpa intends to say is, use time and money to achieve meaningful goals ... and not to define your goals in terms of time and money!
They are means to an end .. not end in themselves.
A lot can be learnt from the astronomer's statements. He is at a place where time has lost its relevance (11 sunrises) and money has no significance. This makes him feel like a fish out of water and he tries to get back to normalcy by looking at his watch and imagining salary being credited to his account.
Setting his goals in terms of time and money is precisely what he was doing. Not so smart or ambitious, is it??
precisely - instead of losing it with the sunrises or sunsets that fellow has a reference point - the office time and the sal for which he is finally working. Otherwise an ascetic (or a lunatic for that matter!) are always considered to have blissful lives.
What ur grandpa says is true - but if u can, try and find out if there has been a change in view over 50 years, did he still think the same when he was say 30, also in an era where 'consumer' did not exist and there were lesser temptations.....Rachit
Rachit .. maybe u will find out some of ur answers if u figure out what words of wisdom u will give to ur grandson 30 years hence ...
And about grandpa's changing thoughts with time .. his father couldn't afford a book on cost accounting for him and he became a collector. A world full of opportunities and temptations awaited him. He spent the extra income in educating his brother-in-law, who is a retired banker these days.
All I can say is this ... Wisdom tends to transcend Time and Money!
ok... see me in 30 years!
I feel old already... Thank you my friends...
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