Tuesday, 5 May 2015

Satiety – Modern and precarious

I see plenty of people around me who crumble under the corporate pressure of the age. Is it of any surprise that the world in moving in an unfathomable direction? We feel that we understand how our lives are moving. But how much control do we have on our lives? I for one, feel that I have very limited control over my activities. Anything I do is effectively controlled by how our economy wants it to move.

The world today is a dynamic one, with an effervescent population running a race where the path is predefined by the nation’s corporate democracy. Since the reforms of 1990’s, India has seen a boom in number of companies aligning themselves with the corporate culture employed in the US. We have been using the US structure to bolster ourselves and our beliefs. This however does not ring true when considering the core labour that implants its roots into our workplace behavior. On comparing the efforts put in by an Indian with that of the national of a significantly developed country, we can find that our manifold efforts overshadow, at least in quantity, overshadow theirs. This situation has come across through one phenomenon; man’s greed.

Being the country that is infamous/famous for its adaptability, we have the distinct disadvantage of being exploited. Being almost without exception, the needy side of the bargain, we tend to stoop lower to please the providers. The Atticism of the providers in making us work elongated hours is profound. As expected, we adapt a so called flexible working time, and the eventuality for earning an extra dime increases. This has led to the redefinition of the word ‘Professionalism’ in today’s lingo. However much we think that we are the masters of our lives, the redefined word masters us all. In today’s terms, the word practically means catering to all the needs of the provider, forgoing personal time for  the dime, appending our time with international time to create really drawn out hours of work, addressing the whims of the bosses, etcetera. These are only a few of the numerous ravenous changes to the word that used to stand for effective and efficient service to a client with an objective mind.

I for one believe that man’s deity has always been connected to, or directly implying man’s insatiable character. Regardless of how much a man gets, his hunger just grows. I am not saying that all humans are the same. I have known many humans who are meek. Out of this population as well, there are ones who have succumbed to the snobbishness of society. Our work is defined by this pretense now. Just as how Midas ended up solidifying his daughter in his greed, humans of this generation would end up crumbling their souls, which are representative of their persons and their loved ones. There is this precedent of working for hours at hand, for weeks, months and years. Finally, at the brink of destruction or inutility, whichever comes earlier, a trip is undertaken to the Bahamas, Europe, or to some tropical rainforest, or some other place devoid of human civilization. This is what is popularly known as vacation in the modern context. Its former meaning held for centuries, being a regular break in between work to spend time with family. With the increasing demand for our presence in our workplaces, regular breaks are a fallacy. What we could have is definitely not what we get. What we get is a miniscule portion of the bare minimum.

People are in need of a better life across this country. Instead of bending down and letting the culture at work, trample your dreams, catch on to something. That something can be a hobby or a dream or anything for that matter. This is what I believe, keeps me going. If that something has a monetary tail, beyond a point it may render a person defenseless and inutile against the bulging demands of today’s society. It took me a while to understand that my greed for materials is not everything but only something. My greed could get me things, but made me lose a lot more.


-           - Victor Van Volkner

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