The paradox of plenty

Sudhirendar Sharma

Aren’t gadgets and technology a great leveller? My help gives me an edge in breaking news of all kind. Be it Mann ki Baat or padosan ki chat, she often chuckles to find me struggling to stay abreast. She seems no less excited to have  WhatsApp powering her to stay informed, even if most of those recycled tidbits do pretty little to ease her life and her increasing workload. There is a sense of empowerment nonetheless, getting more by paying less for the second-hand smartphone.              

Little over a decade ago, a phone was just a phone. It could only help dial a number, provided one could reach a phone. It could neither act like an alarm nor a torch, nor take pictures, send messages, or help you surf the virtual web. Mobile phone is one among several gadgets that modernity has smartly milked to capacity, gifting the user more on each purchase. More of the world seems to have been squeezed into a small chip. 

Aren’t we getting more from less in all purchases? Buy a pair of trousers and get a shirt free; buy a television and get a mixer-grinder free; buy a car, get a refrigerator free; buy a house, get the swimming pool free. This is a market manifestation of a growing culture of ‘less for more’. Without doubt, it has enticed all and sundry, without any aspersion being cast on how and who pays for the so-called more in our lives. That more mobiles in a home may mean fewer sparrows in the courtyard is just one manifestation of yeh dil maange more, for less. 

Across almost all areas of human endeavour, less has created an illusion of more. A growing economy is generating less jobs; and never before has there been more people suffering from starvation, malnutrition, and general poverty. But I haven’t found many who are complaining yet, unable to decide whether we are worse off or better off. While numbing our senses, smart technology has given us a semblance of equality, and a so-called good quality of life!      

The question worth exploring is whether this ‘good’ quality of life makes us happy? Outwardly, it may seem so, and most people do demonstrate such exuberance. The reality is not only far from truth, but also grossly painful, and annoying too. Else, why would Indians rank 133 in the UN World Happiness Index out of 156 countries, dropping 11 spots from last year? An elderly neighbour sums it up, saying that ‘we are an insecure lot, seeking solace in acquiring gadgets’ and feeling happy about what keeps us ahead of our neighbour. No surprise, we live in ‘deficit’ amidst so-called plenty. It is perhaps the greatest of all paradoxes as we plunge ourselves into seeking more from less.