Category: Miscellaneous

19 Nov 2022 21:37

Joined:	10/12/2016
Level:	Diamond
Points:	109208

Points:	5

They were contented with so little

When I was in my school I usually visited my village periodically to take certain household items for my grandmother who lived there alone. That time there were no facilities, no roads, no electricity, no water, and people simply managed their lives with the natural resources whatever they had in that small place. We were living in the town and had at least common municipal water facilities that is one water tap in one cluster of houses but did not have electricity.
There were many old people living in our village who had never gone out. Their children who were having small jobs, working outside, sent them money and periodically visited them. These people survived on the little agricultural products they had grown in the land around and on the money that their children sent them.
That time the old people in the village passed their time in various activities in the household and also in the religious matters. They had a simple life limited to the village boundary and they seemed to be contented with what they had.
Today when I see the facilities we have and the surroundings where we live, we cannot compare it with what those people had at that time. But the interesting thing to note is that we are neither contented nor satisfied with what we have and I have seen many people complaining about their lives that they do not have this and do not have that.
Have you also observed such a difference of mindset between the earlier generations and present generation?

#767112

20 Nov 2022 01:32

Joined:	04/11/2014
Level:	Diamond
Points:	77090

Points:	5

Being brought up in towns and cities, I have not exactly seen village life. But in cities too, a generation back, life was entirely different from what it is now. I have seen my grandmother lead a very simple and ordinary life with very few wants. She didn't have any TV to watch, radio to listen or any newspaper to read. Neither did she have any refrigerator or any other electrical appliance. She used to do her cooking on an earthen chulha. It was only after my parent's and uncles, aunts' insistence that she ultimately took first a kerosene stove and then a gas stove. Having no much engagement during the whole day, most of her time was spent on puja rituals. What to say about the elderly, even life was a pretty ordinary one then for us too. Things are, however, entirely different now. With prosperity and easy availability of a host of modern gadgets, our lives have become too dependent upon them, From what I have heard or read in the papers, even villages are these days not spared. There is a huge demand for consumer goods in the villages as well and no one be it the elderly or the youngsters are aloof from the touch of modernity. Of course, it is all natural that from generation to generation there will be a huge difference in how people think, act and live. Things will be again different a generation from now. It is all part of evolution.

Patience and perseverance pays

#767115

20 Nov 2022 08:48

Joined:	02/06/2009
Level:	Diamond
Points:	145277

Points:	5

There is a big difference between people of those days and people of these days. During my childhood days, we were not having a power connection in our house. Many people were using public toilets instead of private toilets in their houses. But they were never unhappy. They used to be happy with whatever little they had. I have seen my grandmother ( My father's mother). She never felt unhappy or discomfort in cooking on a stove using firewood. Sometimes the firewood used to be very wet and they were emitting a lot of smoke and not giving flame properly. But she never complained. Those days people were satisfied with whatever they had.
These days, if gas is not there. nobody will cook in the house and order food from outside. People are having money. But there is no satisfaction. They still complain lack of some facilities. There is a sea difference in the mindset of people of those days and these days. Those days people used to be very content with whatever they had.

drrao
always confident

#767124

20 Nov 2022 12:34

Joined:	25/11/2014
Level:	Diamond
Points:	43269

Points:	5

What the author has indicated was the real life for the people having minimum wants and their lives were smooth. They did not have any modern gadgets or kitchen appliances so as to get comforts of the modern life. But that was the story of the past and in the current times, we could observe a lot of changes even in the village lives. In the urban areas, at least in my village, there was no electricity connection twenty years back but now, there is always power supply except a few days for maintenance and other activities. We could see the village people enjoying flat LED TV, Smart Phones of Samsung, Apple or other reputed brands. Their children are receiving best educations in the nearby public schools competing the kids of cities in that respect. Earlier the people in the villages lacked resources but now, they are better off due to opening of various opportunities leading them to earn significantly.
In terms of LPG connections, the people in the villages are not lagging behind. They have the fridges, washing machines, laptops and other modern accessories similar to the matching lives of the cities. Hence the yesteryears are within our memories only and the same is not reflected now.

#767245

24 Nov 2022 11:49

Joined:	02/01/2012
Level:	Gold
Points:	51591

Points:	5 (₹ 3)

I think it is a matter of having more to choose from. In the earlier days, the resources were limited. People then had very less to choose from. They were aware of their limitations and could not afford to cross the lines. But things are different today. There are so many options available from which we can pick and choose according to our liking, convenience, availability, and affordability. Take a refrigerator for example. There are so many variants in the market and we can choose the one which we like. The question of contentment arises only when our choice stands above our affordability or other facilities. Suppose we want to buy a 42-inch LED TV but don't have enough space at home to accommodate the same and so we settle for a smaller size. Here, we may not feel content because we wanted a bigger TV. So, contentment is related, in addition to the factors mentioned before, to our desires, choices and the possibility of getting those facilities.

'Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all'.
-Aristotle

They were contented with so little

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