As a child, we were always pampered to laugh, smile and gleam with a happy glow. The shriek of joy of a child, always lightened up the air around . We were seen as the stars of the family , the stars of the future world. Learning , growing , evolving ,  we had innumerable dreams for our life . One day we see a dancer and decide that we want to be dancer ahead. Next day we hear about Kalpana Chawla and decide that we want to be a heroic astronaut . Soon we discover our love for music or art or poetry and decide to be an artist instead . Hmm. Such innocent dreams of juvenility . Even though the platform kept on changing, there’s one thing common in all these dreams – A passion . A happy heart. And a sparkle in your eyes while you think about it . We used to see ourselves doing something we love , and link our future to  it .  It was always about doing something in our life because we want to , rather than because we have to .

Whatever happens to these dreams nowadays? Do they really come even half as true ? Why are those sparkling eyes which saw wishful dreams of vibrant colours , now forced to look upon a desk in some corner of an office everyday ?!

Let me tell you . Soon enough technology , infrastructure, intelligence, discovery , science , etc.etc. envelops our world with their glory and here’s where the race starts . The race .The race to excel, not be excellent . The race to score points , not knowledge . The race to earn materialism , not a living . The race to growing old, not growing up .

If you don’t believe me , ask yourself- If we are better off in this fast paced mad rush world, with all the ‘development’ and stuff,  then why was the standard of living, the happy stress-free atmosphere , the clean green world, etc.etc. seen only by our ancestors when all of this was not there? Why were our ancestors living a rich life , even without all the novel innovations and upgradations , and we living a poor life (comparatively) despite having everything we could ask for? Why do we see a strong cheerful aura and an uplifting smile in our grandparent’s eyes naturally , while we have to remind ourselves how to smile everyday ?

Because there’s one difference between our mentality these days and the mentality that lived in the traditional times. Earlier people took things easily . They knew the meaning of the words, ‘health-is-wealth’ . And they knew how to keep themselves healthy , happy and successful . And hence their richness in lifestyle .

But in the past few years, we have entered an era of the mind . And only mind . No feelings, no emotions, no positive outlooks, no good health and honestly, no good wealth also .

Nowadays, if you try and question the ethics being disregarded in a commercial world, there comes the dialogue , “ It’s just business.. no place for emotions!! ” I pity those people who are living in these false myths. If development is so called increasing , why are we seeing the quality of life decreasing ? We might have reached the moon , but is it really solving the purpose ?  I doubt. We think we have become very ‘modern’ . But at what cost ?

There’s more to business than just give and take !! The sad truth is that nowadays, it’s more of a take , and less of a give thing. On the name of providing services , businesses are actually only minting money. It’s one thing to say that you are providing something worthwhile to the world, and one thing to actually witness it . Would you still say that business is just plain business and nothing else ?

My uncle once had an interview with the Kingfisher owner, Vijay Mallya , and was stunned to hear that even after being a multimillionaire business tycoon , he calls himself the most unhappy man in the world. Unbelievable?

We could view it as something like this – there are two people. One man is a simple artisan , living life on his own terms, chirping around selling paintings and spreading laughter in a park while making a living . And there is another man, slogging , working hard day and night, forgetting the world,family,friends behind and leaving everything aside, while making stingingly huge money everyday.  Whom do you think has a better and truly richer life ? Answer lies within .

Doing a little thing, but doing it with your heart, is anyday more productive than doing a way bigger business handling 100 brands , while one can barely handle himself and his stress life .

My father amusingly says how, even after getting admitted in an IIT institute during college (which was like a dream come true those days ) , he somehow took the life boggling risk to leave the campus , because he realized he didn’t see himself doing this for his future . He realized that when you’re at something , either do it passionately , and with all your heart, or not do it at all.  I have been taught to respect myself enough to walk away from anything that doesn’t truly make me feel alive. And I resepct my father for this . He realized the true meaning of living .

When will those days come when aspiring minds, while thinking of a business plan , think of something that increases the richness of a nation by building happiness, success, peace and glory, than thinking of what makes the most money and gets him profits ? Instead of analyzing what could increase the  economy and finances , when will people start doing business that rather increases the productivity , an optimistic air around and actually make people’s lives better? There are companies that serve to make lives better , spreading joy, healing , contentment , laughter , etc. , and I’d say these are the ones doing real business, since it is actually increasing the charm of a nation , witnessing happier people with a better quality of life!! Rather than a company merely exchanging goods and services blindly in the name of commerce.

In doing something that makes you happy and also spreading happiness , technically too, investment is lesser and returns are way more!! Makes sense, isn’t it?

Its high time people realize the true way of working of the world than assuming myths about today’s commercial driven and money minded world.

It’s funny and ironic how people work so hard to live happily, and in the process , sacrifice all that makes them happy! We should vision a world where we follow our heart, not the crowd. Because that’s where we can find the true essence of living.

The Lie We Live – a video of truth. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipe6CMvW0Dg