KEEP IT SIMPLE…

 KEEP IT SIMPLE…18th August 2009.

Every once in a while, a news headline captures your attention and causes you to reflect on the values you hold dear. I was reading Herald on a Monday morning, when a story printed in the “Quirky News” column touched my heart. A certain lady in Nigeria had won a lottery. When asked what she intended doing with the money, she said she’d give it to the first female beggar she happened upon. The story went on to say that when she did give the money, the female beggar “screamed with delight. She thanked her benefactor profusely and promised to start a food retail business immediately.” The story ends with a lesson for us all. It says and I quote “before she went away with her money, the ‘new’ millionaire gave handfuls of money to other beggars on the street.”

The world is obsessed with consumerism these days. Our lifestyles have become so cheap. Everywhere we look for bargains and discounts so we can buy more to hoard more. The more we seem to have, the more we seem to want. Credit cards have opened the world to unrestricted and impulsive buying of stuff that will remain in the closet or on the shelf for years after the novelty is over. Immediate pleasure is the mantra of the day for most of us.

A wise old lady once told me with a twinkling in her eye, “If you want less, child, you will have more.” I couldn’t quite figure out her mathematics. Less=More? As a mother with four children and a single income, I tried to work this magic with the active co-operation of my dear hubby. Feeding and clothing four kids really forces you to live a simple life. The common phrases heard by our children are “We can’t afford that.”, “You already have two pairs in the closet.” and “Maybe later.”

“Buy one get one free” is the slogan of the manufacturers and we are their suckers. A pack of chips for Rs 10 gives you a cheap toy that won’t see another day once your child has his way. It will eventually give your child a lot of flab to carry around, besides a high bill for BP once he crosses the safe limit as an adult. The slogan ought to read-“Buy one get one Sickness free.”

Freecycling. How I love that word! Know what it is? I read about this for the first time in Herald. If you have something you don’t need, like an outgrown pair of jeans, and someone has something you really need like a pair of shoes he’s outgrown. Well, you exchange - no money involved - and both benefit. It sounds like the ideal recipe for a simple life, definitely worth a try! There’s even a website called freecycle.org and you can join a local freecycling group. Another thing I love is a jumble sale coz it helps me give things away and simplifies my life. But beware: don’t go to a jumble sale to make purchases unless you have your head firmly on your shoulders. You could land up buying six ties for Rs 107 - that’s enough rope to hang yourself with.

Reduce, reuse, recycle! The 3 Rs of the Eco-Education World! First, check if you really need it:second, try to find a way to reinvent it once its use is over; and third, if you can’t do that, give it to someone who can use it. So easy to do, so easy to teach to others too! The garbage issue has raised a stink in Goa. So many fingers are pointed at the municipalities, but thrice the number those should be pointed at us, the consumers, for isn’t it our garbage after all? If we follow the 3Rs in our own homes and stop dumping outside, won’t that help?
On a short holiday to Mangalore once, we lived in a home that had no beds. There were a cowshed and a tiny garden. The garden had fruits and vegetables to feed the family, cowdung was used for fertilizer and milk from the cow consumed; the vegetable waste fed to the cow and her calf; brooms were made from the coconut leaves; even the roof was thatched with palm fronds. They only had to buy rice, wheat and other essentials from the market but they would make abolim and jasmine garlands to sell, and so earn enough to sustain their simple lives.

I’m so glad for the economic meltdown (although I fear the job-seekers union will stone me for this statement). Once people realise that it’s for their good and begin to simplify their lives, we’ll see less cars on the roads. We’ll have less people in gyms and more doing laps in the community gardens, less credit cards swiped at malls, less queues outside ATMs. Our families will finally have fathers coming back home at reasonable hours.

So in this world of consumerism, how you choose to live your life will determine the kind of person you will be. Live a simple life, and less will always give you more. More money to spend on time out with the family, more time to do fun things with your kids and more love in your home and neighborhood. Let’s hope the meltdown will melt hearts to a new way of thinking.