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!