How small money can give big happiness
Life is made up of small moments of excitement and happiness. Some simple reasons to smile and feel elated keep on presenting themselves every now and then. It can be the smile of an infant, or the first step of a toddler; or good news of success and achievement. These ordinary things reaffirm our faith in the fact that life is beautiful and the world is full of reasons to be happy and grateful.
Who can forget the lure of the lucre! Who doesn’t feel thrilled if some money comes one’s way unexpectedly and without any effort. The thrill may be shortlived, but we all enjoy easy money coming along, more than our hard-earned money.
Childhood was a time when
the tinkling sound of coins was enough to create a thousand dreams in young minds. Banknotes didn’t hold any value for us and our world was built on the touch of metal in the hands; the clinking sound and weight of the coins in the pockets; which were no less than a treasure for us.
During the summer vacation, our maternal grandfather would gather all kids around and give each one a handful of coins of mixed denominations, randomly out of his pouch. As we counted the coins and calculated their value, the one getting the highest was a hero and the one with the least would sulk and wait for the next day.
We children always cursed the person who had invented that round earthenware called gullak or the money box, which gobbled up all our coins. We regretted every coin that we slipped into it, with no chance of retrieving it except by breaking it; which would have invited reprimand or even thrashing from mom. Those metallic piggy-banks with a lock and key were a welcome change as we could cheat ourselves by stealing our own money every now and then. The money thus saved gave us a feeling of being rich with siblings eyeing each other’s money all the time.
We all had our own ways of spending that money, enjoying snacks with friends; buying dresses, footwear; purses or accessories. Sometimes a film magazine would stealthily sneak into the pile of books and copies stacked in the cupboard.
I remember my two sons, like all young children of their age, were always enamoured by the sundries displayed during festival events and were tempted to have everything. It was Diwali Mela at Sector 17, Chandigarh, and they wanted to buy everything right from a belt to goggles to a wallet. Instead of succumbing to each and every demand of theirs, we decided to give them Rs 50 each (it could buy a lot in those days). So excited with the amount, they took a round of the whole area, but came back emptyhanded as they ‘did not find anything worth buying’ and pocketed the money for future use. How smart! This is how small money can give big happiness to people. Not only youngsters, even the grownups can’t remain untouched by this simple joy; whether it is winning in tambola, or teenpatti or any other money game.
Even in the sunset years of life, any increment coming one’s way from any source is always welcome. My 87-yearold mother, who is getting family pension, keeps asking us, “DA di instalment nahi laggi? (Hasn’t the government announced the next instalment of dearness allowance?)”
THE THRILL MAY BE SHORT-LIVED, BUT WE ALL ENJOY EASY MONEY COMING ALONG, MORE THAN OUR HARD-EARNED MONEY