Are we having a good quality life?

BANGALORE, INDIA: When I was a young boy, I used to watch the TV commercial for shirts — The 9 to 5 man — for office-going people. My uncles and aunts used to go to work around 8.30 am and return between 6 and 6.30 pm. Once back, they refreshed themselves and spent the rest of the time (till 10 pm) with their family.

It was also the time when all the white goods, such as TVs, refrigerator, washing machines were beginning to creep into India. Everybody had a yearning to own these machines. However, salary levels were not good, and both couple had work to own these 'goodies' and to provide a good quality life to their children.

I, somehow, feel that this was the beginning of the rat race to earn more and therefore people started working more. This started tipping the work-life balance. Then came the need to own his/her own house/flat. Banks started to provide 'cheap' loans to buy goods as well as houses.

People had to earn to repay these loans. Then came in the Internet, shortly followed by BPOs. While all this has improved a persons’ earnings, it has taken away an individual’s personal time. All of us now slog day and night to sustain our earnings so that we can have a good 'quality of life'.

However, in retrospect, we need to ask ourselves whether we are having a good life. Yes, of course, now more people own cars, houses, white goods. More people eat out. The number of boys and girls coming out of college has also increased.

On the other side, we have more nuclear families, more old-age homes, more health problems, more divorces and less time being spent in the family.

At this point, I only remember Gandhiji's words, “The world has enough for everyone’s needs, but not enough for everyone’s greed”.

Are we becoming greedy? Are we ourselves the cause of this 'imbalance'? Where are we heading to and what is the legacy we are creating for the next generation?