THE issue is really serious -- of moderate (or even lesser) income and the family’s spending habit or culture. The complaint, too, is almost universal -- about not having enough resources to live a good life. That affords most people a reason to crib and cry and feel unhappy and also unfortunate. Another side of the issue, however, is: Are we spending money only on absolutely necessary things -- or whether we swerve and go astray while making purchases ! It is time to think deeply and seriously about this aspect -- if we happen to fall in the category of moderate income-earners. The issue, therefore, is about the choice we make about things to spend money on. In other words, the issue is about how we control our aspirational impulses and avoid unnecessary purchases -- and therefore save money. The loud-thinker knows closely a family that was afflicted by the problem of moderate -- or even lesser -- income (for genuine reasons). The monthly salary was less than moderate. The family size was not big, all right, but the members did have their genuine expenses that had to be met on a monthly basis.

 

Knowing the reality, the loud-thinker often worried about how those people ran their household. But he never found anything not available in that family of 4-5 persons. They wore okay-okay clothes. They had a two-wheeler to move about. Their kitchen was always stacked with right things. They ate sumptuous meals. And, to be sure, the loud-thinker found nothing fancy in their house. The kitchen had no micro-wave oven. It did not have a mixer or grinder or a toaster. There was a small fridge in a corner all right, and the loud-thinker found it there for years on end. The family also did not have a washing machine. One room cooler would come during summers, all right, to keep house comfortable (the same cooler for years after endless years). The family bought new clothes only before Diwali -- for everybody in the house -- one set each and that was all. Even for weddings and similar ceremonies, the family wore the same clothes they had -- cleaned and ironed and well-preserved. Privately, the loud-thinker felt bad for them, but never said a word out of sheer courtesy and politeness. But one thing the loud-thinker found with those people was smiles on their faces. He never saw them cribbing or crying or complaining -- that fate was not kind to them. All of them were all the time smiling, sharing jokes with one another.

 

They ate their dinners together, of course sitting on the ground since the family did not have a dining table. And, as the loud-thinker realised, they did not even have a television set, too, at home. Yet their smiles, their gay abandon, their jokes, their laughter together, their attending social functions, their children winning medals, their women attending social functions in proper (but old) clothes ... ! All these always made the loud-thinker wonder about the secret of that family’s sense of abundance (despite moderate resources). One Sunday evening, picking up courage, he asked the husband-wife duo out on a stroll, about their secret of happiness. They -- the man and the woman -- laughed together, as if the question was frivolous. Then the woman said smilingly, “Look, we know our resources are moderate. So, we spend not a paisa extra on anything.

 

We have allowed many festivals pass without any purchase -- of clothes or anything. We are not miserly at all, but we do not have enough money to waste. So, we are very strict about our spending. Believe me, we have enough”. THAT family had created a careful culture of thrift in which they kept no allowance for cribbing. Over time, the loud-thinker watched them grow better money-wise. They started showing signs of some surplus. Now, their house has most gadgets etc as their family economy improved. Years later, the loud-thinker picked up courage to accost the couple once again. This time, too, they laughed together, and the man said smilingly, “See brother, we saved and saved and that money grew in value. We still do not spend on anything that we really, really do not require. Every purchase is need-based. We do have our aspirations, all right. But we are very cautious about spending. That is why, now we have enough”. This may be the story of many. But this may not be the story of many more -- who often fall prey to the temptation of spending money on unnecessary things, and end up not being able to save properly. The loud-thinker chose to write on this issue out of genuine social concern.