“Ingratitude is the essence of vileness” - Immanuel Kant, German philosopher.

This quote is applicable every time someone fails to be thankful for the things they have in their lives, be it being thankful to god, their parents, their friends or even non-living things they possess. This very thought came to my mind when I saw people especially youngsters quoting on social media, “Life to jhand ho gayi hai” (Life is wasted.). 

Taking a step further, comparing your life to others just because they have something which you do not. Let’s get straight to the point. If you have ever said that ‘your life is wasted’, even as a joke, I want you to put your life before your eyes right from your childhood. Let’s talk about how ‘Jhand’ your life is.

Did you starve every day for your meals or suffer from malnutrition because of not having a balanced diet? Did you sleep on footpaths because you never had an actual home to live in?? Were your parents not there to take care of you when you were a kid? Were you bound to wear the same clothes year after year even when they have turned ragged? Are you penniless?  I am sure you are not, since you have the privilege to sit idle and post these quotes from your smartphone. Ask yourself these questions. If your answer is ‘Yes’ then I am in no position to talk about your life nor can I imagine the pain you have been through. I have never gone through any of the situations above and would absolutely fail even to imagine the hardship you have faced but what if your answer is ‘No’? Even when you have a life showered with happiness and joy, you express sorrow nonetheless. That is a sign of being ungrateful. Have you ever asked yourself, “Why am I not content?”, “What is it that I have been whining over?” and at the end, are these things worth crying for? Saying “zindagi jhand ho gayi hai” nowadays has become something as simple as saying “hello”.

Appalling as it might be, a 14 years old said this to me last week because he had to stay at home and attend his classes on Zoom. Sometimes I think our parent’s generation did nothing wrong by reprimanding us because our generation is really confused about what is right and what is wrong. I am not being judgmental here but when you express unhappiness for something so trivial, you disrespect the blessings you already have. Mocking your own life when you are endowed with luxury and showered with love means you are disrespecting your parents and your God.

Think about it, Your life is ‘Jhand’ because your friend gets a girlfriend and you don’t? Lockdown is declared and your life has become jhand because you have no access to a liquor shop? You have WiFi at home and your life is jhand because you have to bear with your school teacher or manager on video calls? Last year I saw a girl who didn’t want to take medicines because she could taste them at the end of her tongue and didn’t like the taste. People die every day because they can’t afford medicines and this shithead gets tons of them with just a snap of the fingers. People don’t have houses of their own, they starve for days and here you are, revelling delicacies every single day. Most of the people cannot afford primary education for their children but you are fortunate enough to study and have the means to get a job you desire. Repeat these lines till you get the meaning of it.

Are these even reasons to cry for? If you really want to achieve something, how would whining help? Either stop whining and be happy with what you have or jump out of your bed and focus on what you want and have the courage to make sacrifices. But again, you want to work hard but you don’t want to get out of your comfort zone. I think the problem with our generation is, we connect everything with having money. If we have money then Life is good and if don't, life is a waste.

You want to buy a car because your co-worker recently bought a brand new car. You want to save money too but you don’t save it. The reason is very well known to you. Your salary is 25K per month, you do not live with your family. Rent is 5K, meal expenses are 5K approximately, maid’s salary, laundry, electricity bill,travelling expenses, unnecessarily buying something online, sum upto another 5K and you still have 10K in your hand. Now you want to save that money but at the same time you have to sink in bottles of beer, alcohol and what not. Every weekend this story continues. I don’t need to tell the prices as you are very well aware of it. There are four weekends and every weekend you just have to drink, don’t you? The month has not ended yet and you have a three figure number in your bank account. Kya karenge itni dhan raashi ka aap? Now you wait avidly for your salary to get credited. Next month the same story repeats and then you wonder how to buy a car? Think. 

I’ll share an experience of mine with you. Once I went with my friend to her flat. It was last week of December 2018. One of her roommates went broke in the third week of the month itself and he had to borrow money from others for the expenses during the last week. As usual he was telling others how badly he wanted his salary to be credited in his account. After 2 hours he received an SMS from the bank that his salary has been credited. He was immensely happy and within 5 minutes he ran to us to show the concert ticket worth 2000 rs he just bought. I was nonplussed, 2 hours ago this person was whining because he had no money, he had borrowed money from others, he was supposed to return the money and now he seems to have completely forgotten about that. This is what we are doing wrong. He should’ve thought about what he went through last month. He should’ve considered spending less money this month than that of the last month. Let me tell you he is the reason I gave you the example of buying a car. Whenever I see him wearing Tshirt quoting famous dialogue 'Apna time ayega!', I can't help but laugh. I remember that meme where the time is saying, "Main nahi aa raha bhai tere paas"'. He wants a car, but there he goes spending loads of money on concerts where he cannot even see the performers. Aaise kaise chalega bhaiyya? Well don’t make me a feminist here, didi’s are no exception. 

Everything has a limit. You want to celebrate? Drink occasionally and just because it’s a weekend, it doesn’t mean it’s an ‘occasion’. What’s the point in drinking so much liquor which causes ill effects on your body? You spend money on the things which are not needed to you. consequently there will be no savings and you come to your previous statement, 'life is wasted'.

What I want to tell you is you need to sort your priorities. Want something? Work for it. Don’t want anything? Then be happy with what you have. Not everyone is fortunate enough to have a life like you.

Now you will say you don’t have the right to talk about what we are doing and what we should do but still I will tell you to look at your salary and the savings you have in your bank account then tell yourself what you are doing and what you should do. Know your needs and unnecessary demands because remember, it’s totally in your hands whether to put in efforts or to make your life worse than yesterday and better than tomorrow.

Thank you for reading,

Tejaswini Yadav – gryffinpuf11@gmail.com

Little help: Preeyonuj Boruah – axelblz1@gmail.com