Today a very revered and respected senior friend of mine, who encourages a lot to me to write more and better, suggested the captioned topic to me.
He has lived the life to the fullest but on his own terms. He has also stayed away from the rat race of chasing materialistic goals. Therefore, coming from him, I mulled over the topic throughout the day and towards the end thought it best to express my views on this very challenging but topical theme in the form of a Hindi poem. It captures the essence of not only my life, but that of many of us and the reality is that in our effort to assess how much is much, we end up sacrificing the most precious thing that our life offers us – happiness! Inspired by my own poem, may be I will change gears now to chase happiness in the remaining part of my life rather than amassing materials which may never seem too much!
बचपन में ख्वाहिश थी एक छोटी खिलौना कार की
और भरपूर माँ बाप के प्यार की
तब छोटी सी कार भी बजट से बाहर थी
समय कुछ ऐसा था कि प्यार से ज़्यादा फटकार थी
जैसे उम्र बढ़ी चाहते बढ़ती गई
ज़रूरतें ठीक थी, ख्वाहिशें बढ़ती गई
कमाई हज़ारों से लाखों में पहुँच गई
लेकिन ख्वाहिशें कमाई से एक कदम आगे रहीं
मारुति से जी न भरा मर्सिडीज़ की चाह रही
फ़्लैट तो अच्छा था पर नज़र बंगले की राह पर थी
अफ़सर तो मैं काफ़ी बड़ा हो गया
पर टाप पर पहुँचने की होड़ में दौड़ता गया
भाग भाग के अब थोड़ा थक सा गया हूँ
पर करोड़ों की चाह है कि थकती नहीं
How much is much के चक्कर में ऐसा फँसा मैं
इतना पाकर भी यह चक्री रूकती नहीं!
Thanks Malik Sahab for provoking me to write on this topic.
Arvind Arya blog 
हर बार की तरह बहुत अच्छे विचार,
और कविता तो है बेमिसाल,
मैं तो कुछ भी नहीं,
क्यूं बना दिया मुझे साहिबे बेकमाल,
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Aap sahi maayne main bekamaal hain
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Pl read बा कमाल instead बेकमाल
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Bakamaal
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Such an insightful piece Arya Sb. It is definitely the result of quite a bit of introspection, executed with innate talent and huge dollops of courage and honesty. The good thing is that the rat race exists only so long as one is on the treadmill. The moment one steps off, the pressure, competition, angst, frustrations etc. melt away like ice on a hot plate and leave one free to pursue wellbeing which comes from doing things that bring both happiness and meaning to one’s life.
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I am amazed that you could not only read but understand this piece of poetry that had a mix of Hindi and Urdu words. Your appreciation has definitely given me courage to write more – from my heart! Thanks
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Sir, very appropriate and apt for most of the people these days. Knowingly or unknowingly we form a part if the rat race. And at times it really feels that we were happier when the salaries were in lesser digits, we could amazingly manage to save even from that. Somehow, the much that comes does not proportionately bring equivalent of happiness. If it could the things would’ve been so different.
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