Stepping into the new calendar year means surfing through a barrage of forwarded new year greetings. Answering the ones personally addressed with a hint of originality, I was transported to childhood days when we used to write new year greetings on postcards to every family we knew. Then came the era of greeting cards that were sent with a personal note mentioning the names of all family members of both the sender and the receiver. Those with cameras would send a recent picture. This was a yearly contact with all the people who were part of our lives, personally or professionally. Greetings were an acknowledgement, an opportunity to reconnect and update.
Switch to the digital era, we swim in the sea of forwarded messages from anyone whose phone has my number saved, many numbers we cannot even recall. In times of outsourcing, we just wait for a greeting that can be forwarded on our WhatsApp broadcast list. To a couple of kids who did wish me in person, I asked, “How are you going to make this new year happy, for yourself and for me?” They were at a complete loss and made a polite exit. It was an out-of-syllabus question. Isn’t custom to simply reply Happy New Year with Happy New Year?
New year, like all other festivals, has become a fertile ground for marketing and revenue generation. We the people have allowed ourselves to be reduced to mere consumers. We play in the hands of those who want us to buy pleasure at every step. They want us to pay for each game played and for every dance step that the loud music enables. They want us to buy things to boost our confidence, to gain acceptance from society even if it comes at the cost of perpetually being in debt or to even step into the new year.
So, instead of looking at problems and their potential solutions, let me share my new year’s wish. I want us to consciously engage in more play and pleasure in our lives. Our generation glorified hard work and earning money so much that we seem to have forgotten why we are earning money in the first place. Best education is believed to be the one that can help you get the highest salary, but no one teaches us where and how to spend it, or how to sit back and enjoy it. Digital influencers have taken this chasing-the-money psychology to another level.
When we look at the avenues where money is being spent, it rarely looks like coming from the innate desire of the spender. Rather, it is primarily driven by those who want a slice of our money. For example, I see so many luxury cars in our parking lot that remain parked most of the time duly with a fancy cover on them. Many of them are making their owners work hard to pay for their EMIs. It makes me wonder if people are working for the idea of owning a big luxury car rather than an innate desire to enjoy the luxury of driving it, or exploring the world in the lap of luxury.
Working long hours has become so much a part of our DNA that we need periodic reminders to take breaks, to enjoy all that we have already earned and acquired. Let this new year be that reminder that you would enjoy every festival, every special day, and some time every day.
The Indian thought system talks about four fundamental pursuits of life—dharma, artha, kama and moksha. It gives play and pleasure a weightage equivalent to the pursuits of duty, wealth and liberation. Play and pleasure are as important as doing all that you are expected to do in your various roles in life. Enjoying rasa in life is as important as it is to earn money. A life well lived must be well enjoyed. Traditionally festivals sans event management provided these opportunities to engage in social exchanges.
I wish we all step away from work and pursue play, pleasure and some rest. Go out and play random games with children. You do not need to buy anything, just create puzzles or games and play. Remember, there were so many games we played just by drawing on the floor or by just running around. Indulge in music, preferably first-hand. Simply sing or dance or create your own family song, song for your gang of friends. Go paint a wall in your home, like some parts of rural India still does on festivals. Write, or at least recite, poetry. No, you need to be trained in any of this. We all innately knew all this till the commercial players convinced us otherwise.
Keep aside the isolation of work for a while and wear the festivity to connect. Pull out that book from your to-be-read pile and read. Take the initiative to infuse new energy in your existing relationships, mend over laughter the cracked ones. Walk around in your neighbourhood or the unknown corners of your own city. It can be as refreshing as visiting another country on the other side of the globe but without all the stress. I call it backyard tourism—simple, economic and something that connects you with your own surroundings.
Let us make our world a theatre, a playground and not a lifeless factory or marketplace. Go seek a life beyond work, performance and productivity.
Anuradha Goyal
Author and founder of IndiTales
Follow her on X @anuradhagoyal