NEED Vs DESIRE

I need to do this; I need to do that! And, I need to write this today!
Life is revolving around satisfaction of basic necessities. ‘Someone said, ‘Cause of every need is for the cause of satisfaction of such need!’ Well, desires are always beyond the basic necessities or needs. The moment you satisfy one desire, another will crop up. Can we distinguish need and desire? May be desire is a greedy version of need!

I was staying away from my family some time when I was transferred from Mumbai. At the new place an acquaintance enquired about me, to which I said, ‘I am fine. I have every thing I need for a person living alone; good house, a vehicle and food that I make for myself’. This acquaintance said, ‘well 'man do not live by bread alone'!

Most of the time, we are contented with mere satisfaction of basic or bare necessities. Of course, one can eke out a living with the fulfillment of bare necessities, if one needs to do just that, like in today’s world; completing a basic Engineering degree!

I met a friend having a lavish lifestyle. Any new gadget in the market will be seen at his home within a week. I gently prodded him by saying that ‘you not only have desires but really go an extra mile to fulfill them’. His reply was interesting; he said that unless you satisfy your desires as they come up, they would never give you another opportunity to accomplish them. ‘Each and every desire has a timeframe, for e.g., you will not want to ride a motorcycle at the age of 50 as you would like to do when you were at 20’!

I had a childhood friend with whom I visited a restaurant. He repeatedly ordered a dish he liked for 3 times! He is a kind of person that, if he liked coffee, he would not hesitate to order it again!
I met him again after several years. He told me about his son who had the habit of sharpening pencils using sharpener until the pencil is reduced to a bit. To curb his habit, he gifted a box full of pencils and half a dozen sharpeners. Result, the boy learnt to use sharpener judiciously on his own! Incidentally, I also noticed that the friend has shifted to a finicky diet regime now!
In short, needs arise due to basic necessities, whereas desires are triggered by ‘basic instincts”!
• Needs are static or constant whereas desires are dynamic;
• Needs are boring where as desires are invigorating;
• Needs are a few whereas desires are plenty;
• Needs are repetitive in nature whereas desires are innovative;
• It is essential to fulfill needs whereas it will be nice to satisfy desires;
• If need is a shelter, desire is like multiplex!


After all, you need shelters as well as multiplexes in this world!

Impromptu....

Impromptu is an attempt to render a song or a speech without any preparation or referring to any text or written script.

Thesaurus explains the word impromptu as something Spoken, performed, or composed with little or no preparation or forethought: ad-lib, extemporaneous, extemporary, extempore, improvised, offhand, snap, spur-of-the-moment, unrehearsed. Informal, off-the-cuff.

Most of us would get in to a situation when you are asked to say a few words in front of a gathering, a formal or informal group.

I observe that in earlier days, i.e. prior to the invasion of internet and computers, impromptu speeches were quite common and people were not uncomfortable doing it. But now with social networking sites making people glued to their seats in front of lap tops/computers, the changes in life style have almost made them recluse and not ready for such adventures like addressing a gathering. Even if pushed to make a speech, they make awkward attempt and fail to impress the crowd.

Impromptu is also a wonderful word as it can be used as an adjective, adverb or even noun! Impromptu means improvisation. Therefore, a person attempting it should have creativity. But to say that creativity can be only with a select few and not with all is simply wrong. Every one can make an impromptu, with a little bit of effort.

We have heard lot of folklores which are nothing but impromptus! Something which happens on its own without any special preparation, pre-meditation or prodding can be termed as impromptu. In a way, the revolution that happened in Egypt is also an impromptu!

My own attempts at impromptus have been fairly good but there were occasions when I could not make a free flowing speech as well. I have now learned to use a technique whereby if the topic is not really a comfortable one, dwell around it by frankly admitting my lack of knowledge, in a self-deprecating way, to make it interesting!

Well, the topic I chose to write was not prompted by anybody or pre-planned but popped up simply like the word itself, an "Impromptu"!

keys keys

World of Competition. Ask your children what it means to know all the keys? They cram a lot of information in their tiny heads that it would be next to impossible for even adults to emulate them.

As parents, teachers, managers, we all know how to ask questions! Never for once we blink to think the plight of those to whom we direct those questions, whether they are supposed to know the keys to those questions or not?

Whilst we know that no one will have keys to unravel the future, but the fact remains that the 'Present is the key to the past'; at least this is what the Geologists tell us. So do we hear a famous song, saying, 'future is not us to see.. que sera sera!'

On this valentine day, I think that only pure love can be a key to the heart of beloved!

Never in my life have I seen any other place abound with shops making duplicate keys. I used to wonder why so many shops are here only for making duplicate keys. Then I realized that the key is for comfortable living! Yes; many keys are used for one home so that the family members, when they return first, can open their door!

Keys are so important that one has to safeguard it from being misplaced or lost. Insurance will not pay in a burglary loss, if original keys were found to be used to gain access.

For any lock you may have duplicate keys, you must safeguard the spare key from un-authorized access. I find two or even three set of keys are provided by the manufacturer of Locks and safes. Whilst this may be useful in an emergency, one has to be careful that the duplicate keys are not reaching the wrong persons.

Well, KEYS ARE KEYS TO SAFE LIVING. LIKE ELECTRONIC PASSKEY or PASS WORD, ONLY THE OWNER SHALL HAVE THEM IN HIS CUSTODY!

எ BUCKET FOR contentment

A friend met me recently and started telling me a story. In a village people would be seen carrying bucket in hand in large numbers. Every day,they walk 4 miles to the 'big lake' to bring a bucket full of water to their homes. During their journey back home, the bucket full of water will spill along the way and, by the time they reach home, they will hardly have any water left in the bucket.

Fed up with this perennial problem, the entire village assembled at a place to discuss the issue. They decided that they will create a channel from the lake to their village and also dig a community well at their village were the water can be collected. One year of hard work was agreed as contribution for each family member. After one year passed, the villagers became the talking point for the rest of the country men.

The friend went on to say that our routine, 9-5 job is like carrying a bucket, which is our usual rut. At the end of the month you are left with hardly any residual amount which you can count on for support during an emergency. His story and the comparison really convinced me about the futility of our 9-5 jobs. What is the alternative? I asked him.

Here he gave an option to enroll myself into a pyramid scheme, narrating many more success stories. Although I agreed that there will be good possibility of an early mover to greatly benefit from the scheme, my own conscience somehow did not favour the idea, as it kept me telling that the weaker links in the chain would be affected.

I then took a vow that whatever be the situation, I shall never enroll into a pyramid scheme till 'I kick the bucket'!

I am quite happy with the little 'bucket' that I have, despite the inadequacy or limitation it may have. I convince myself by reassuring that buckets are enough to save lives... like the fire bucket you see in Malls, public places or in Cinemas!

A bucket somehow reminds me of the limit of contentment, basic necessities and thrifty life stye!