Titles: Job feels like a lottery. (Chelvani) Once the farm-labourers of an oppressive zamindar revolted. Then the zamindar said to the laborers, 'The land is mine as far as you can see. But from today you all own my land! You can complete as much land as you can by going round and round all day from morning to evening.' Early the next morning the farm-labourers started running. Some got 1 bigha and some got 2 bigha of land. But a laborer ran far and wide all day in the temptation of getting a large land. Finally, when evening came, he could not complete the circle and died panting and exhausted. After all, he could only get 6 feet of land to bury his body? Tolstoy's story 'How Much Land Does a Man Need' shows mankind's race to earn bread. Now a girl named Anna Sebastian, just 26 years passed away in Bharjuvani due to the stress of office work! Anna 2023 CA. Being, just four months ago Poona's E.Y. Joined as an executive in a corporate company. After Anna's death, her mother wrote in a letter to the chairman of the company: Anna's team-manager said on the very first day of the job that- 'Joe has left the job before you due to heavy workload. You have to change everyone's opinion about this team.' Anna's manager used to hold meetings only in the evening and made her work late into the night and even on holidays. Also, Anna was from Kerala, so Pune was a new city, new people, new environment for her. She was still adjusting, but due to day and night work in the office, she broke physically and mentally. Unnecessary anxiety, insomnia and constant stress. But Anna kept on climbing believing that 'one day this hard work will pay off!' But how did he know that life would have to be lost before the fruits of hard work!' Perhaps the grieving mother was right because no one from the company came to Anna's funeral. In big corporate offices these days, the carrot of 'hard work' is given to consider the job as just a 'job'. Management, quoting the sweet words of people like Infosys' Narayan Murthy, say: 'We don't force you to work 70 hours a week if you want to make a career!' And the wise bakers will say: 'This is the time of hard work. One's whole life is spent to enjoy as one pleases.' But like that farmer, we slip into the blind alley of temptation and run away. Left behind, the benefit of unenjoyed pleasures or unfulfilled desires is the 'wish list.' Interval: Papa kahte hai, bada naam karega, beta hamara aisa kam karega. (Majrooh) In fact, we are taught one thing in our childhood with Janamghunti that – 'After achieving one goal in life, make another goal, then third, then fourth….goal, keep pushing until it is achieved. ' First goal of education, then goal of job, then goal of promotion, goal of collecting money… then goal of saving for retirement, goal of settling children…then? then? Then?…Then to keep running after one mirage of goals? That's why nowadays people who have failed in education or job-business, career or 'what will the world say about me?' Young people are dying or committing suicide due to the fear of the unknown. Now the 'inner' wealth of a man is measured by the income he carries 'up and up'. Man, that deer gasp. But now we have accepted such deaths or suicides in installments as a way of life. However, often unknowingly, our success-seeking society forces people to commit suicide. A girl working in a corporate office said about her depression that when she had an accident and had to take a long leave from work, she realized that rest is necessary not only for the body, but also for peace of mind. She had always seen her ex-boyfriend busy with work, so when she was relaxing or watching TV. I felt a guilty feeling while watching. Once he heard Portuguese singer Solange's song, 'Do Nothing Without Intention', his life changed direction and the constant work frenzy came to an end. Mother-in-law's T.V. watched daily in our homes. Serial actors are made by technicians to shoot continuously for 12 hours, drive for 2 hours from home… 30 days, 12 months, 1 year-2 years or 5-7 years and finally they break down or commit suicide because of boredom. Yes, such cases have increased in the last 10-12 years. Changing Ghalib's stock slightly, the first Prime Minister P. Nehru used to say: 'Kamane hum nikamma kar diya, varna hum bhi aadmi te ishq ke!' Work, business, money, progress… in the Lakshagriha of different goals keep our life burning like fuel from childhood to adulthood. Like Shakespeare's character Hamlet's 'To be or not to be' mindset, 'How much to work or not to do?', 'How much to earn or not to earn?' Those riddles are X-rays of our economic-psychological helplessness.
End-Titles: Adam: Do an errand today? Eve: Why suddenly?
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
