How much is enough?

A good question. I don’t know about you, but I invariably raise this query frequently and get beaten almost every time. In hindsight, I realized that I was not serious enough for a response. Had I been, things would have been clear and my bank balance in the first place would have been a shade better than what it was thus paving the way for truly wealth creation avenues.

For instance, let me calculate how many times I picked up a few magazines and copies of books at airport lounges and supermarkets and paid unblinkingly. Almost on every visit. Considering the fact that I travel at the drop of a hat, it tells huge business for bookstores. Or put it differently, more outgo from my purse. Or put it even better: less savings.

Did I read any of those tomes? You bet, I did. I love reading to the core. On second thoughts, do I really need to read all those stuff that I lay my hands on? This question I refused to answer as reading, in my reckoning, is a joy forever. I read, re-read and re-read at various intervals. Suppose I don’t buy and read, what will happen? Nothing. Absolutely nothing will happen. Heavens won’t fall. Sun and moon won’t give up their daily schedules. Perhaps I may be less informed compared to the past.

As a zen follower succinctly put it, ‘we often want more than what we have now. More money, more gadgets, better furniture, a better house, a better car, more clothes, more shoes, more success”. More, more and more. Greedy, did you say? It is not out of place to rope in none other than the Father of Nation – our own Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi a.k.a. Mahatma Gandhi to throw light on the enough. Did he not say that it is easy to satisfy the need of every human being on earth, but not the greed? Maybe he is not of the mark. But, honestly, who listens?

Open your wardrobe and count the number of shirts, pairs of pants, neckties, kerchiefs, jackets. The list, no doubt, will be long. List out the talcum powder tins, eau de cologne sheesas, deodorant cans, facial packs, combs, bottles of gel that occupy your dressing table or combing area near the huge mirror on your cupboard or washing room. You will truly be embarrassed. What you have discovered may clothe more than half a dozen human bodies.

The debate on ‘how much is enough?’ will be unending. Not because, there is no answer is in sight, but because we are confused about the definition of ‘enough’. Does it mean bare necessities of life? asked Vinod Varma as we were moving around a spanky hypermarket with loads of anxiety to buy and wads of currency to the hilt.

The perfect definition of ‘enough’ maybe this: Enough means having enough to live, enough to be happy and enough to thrive, as one pundit put it. Yes, it is very subjective. Quantification of anyone of these elements (live, thrive and happy) is a tough job and it varies from person to person. One’s station in life – age, profession and ambition, hobby etc – determines the enough puzzle.

Recently I bumped into a friend who was curious to know whether it would be advisable to park his savings in a particular equity. He already has a decent portfolio that gives sizeable dividend income year after year. Besides he is gainfully employed and makes a decent package which does not force him to dip into his dividend income earned and lying dormant in his savings bank account. Though hale and hearty and kissing sixties, he could not figure out on risk.
For me, the question was whether he has ‘enough’ in his kitty or not? If yes, why take a risk? Of course, it was not difficult to decipher what the issue was: his inability to quantify what constitutes ‘enough’.

He hastened to explain and dispel my misgivings. It is not that his needs are not fully met. “They are,” he pointed out and added, “It’s my children’s needs I am trying to fulfill. Their needs keep multiplying while mine is shrinking.”

Today’s younger generation – even school-going children – sport mobile phones, wear branded clothes off school, party at slick restaurants for birthdays and special occasions, drive or prefer to be driven around in latest models, attend coaching classes that charge exorbitant fees, watching movies at multiplexes or on DVDs or on giant screens at home. Reason: peer pressure. If parents of ‘X’ or “Y’’ can afford, why not you, papa? is an inevitable question. And understandable, too.

Parents in a perpetual fix. By the time they come – at least, they claim – out of this chakravyug, their offspring force them to return to the same game of satisfying unending demands.

Enough is enough. I mean, enough to the onslaught of troubles. If one can define ‘enough’, then he/she can alter one’s lifestyle. How? It’s simple: less demand means need for less money. If so, then one can rework one’s priorities in life: less work, more leisure. Sounds philosophical? Can’t help it.

I don’t know about you. But I have decided. For the time being at least. Maybe for the next three months, let me take time off – thus giving some time for yourself at my cost to mull over the imponderable. Enough!