Happiness not synonymous to material gains

We have been talking about the factors which affect the children during their childhood and subsequently when they grow as adults. While thinking about this, one issue came to in my mind. Are these the children only who are affected by the external environment or the adults too are sailing in the same boat? I could not get a proper answer of the same, but one thing which I found common in both the cases is that the material gains or the facilities do not give happiness to people. When I say happiness, the reference is to the real happiness. There are many cases in which the aged parents live with their children who might be doing very well in their profession or the business. These old parents had been through a difficult life during their childhood as well as adults while working hard for the better and secure future. Now when they are old and alone and if their children have moved to some place which is different than the one in which they had been living, they find it difficult to adjust in the new environment. Because the life has become so fast that their children and the grandchildren may not be able to spend enough time with them. Though they may be very fortunate to have the children taking every possible care of them in terms of providing them material comforts. All the facilities have been provided to them and apparently it appears that they should be very happy with all that. But if you try to understand the real situation, you may not only get surprised but will be shocked also. Most of the old people want to spend some time with the people of their age and talk to them or maybe they want to sit with their children and grandchildren but are unable to do the same. This pushes them to the situation of isolation though they might be having every gadget starting from the phone to music system to LCD TV and other fanciful and costly things. But the happiness of heart and soul will be missing. And this made me to think again about the topic we discussed yesterday. The artificial things might give temporary happiness but the natural environment provides real happiness. The fact is that if the children and the other adults are exposed to machines only, then the human values are likely to get a back seat. The old people and the children behave in similar way in most aspects. As the children want their parents around them, similarly the old people also expect their children to be around them at least for some minimum time to be spent with them. But what do we see around us as on today?  The young people are neither able to give time to their children nor to their parents. And all this is the result of the futile search for more material gains which is expected to give them happiness. To get artificial happiness, we try to do the same at the cost of the natural happiness which the nature has in plenty but being destroyed by the greed of  man for gaining more. What is that more nobody knows. Earlier the children used to write with a pen which needed to be dipped in the ink-pot, every time one wanted to write.They would write a few words and again the same process would be followed. This used to teach them patience and natural way of learning. The people used to sit on the floor and have their meals. This was a better way of eating  sufficient quantity and the digestion was also better. Now the dinning tables and the buffet system have changed the whole scenario. The change is inevitable but it should be incorporated very carefully. The computers and the calculators have made the task of the men easy but what has happened to our real learning? The use of the brain is reduced to the extent that everything is available to the people on finger tips.  On the one hand, we are reducing the use of brain and then we are trying to find and build a gadget which will sharpen the brain of the children. The children are provided with all those things which they may not need. For the time being they feel happy but get bored by them very soon. Take the case of watching TV, you will notice that more are the number of channels available less you stick to one or two channels. The problem may not be of changing the channels but you get bored by that very soon. At the same time, look at the children who are fortunate to have the parents and grandparents with them and they always feel happy in their company. I have not come across any case where the young children feel bored with their parents and the grandparents until they have been kept away by the parents in the maze of costly toys and remote controlled gadgets. You might have noticed that even in the schools  the natural play and the activities of the children have been pushed back and artificial things have surrounded them. In the name of smart classes, the teachers role is being reduced and the child once again is exposed to the machines. All this is done in the name of the progress and getting things which are expected to make everyone happy. But that is not happening and no one is a raising voice against that ,despite the fact that everyone understands the harm done by the so called progress. In our country, the revolution due to the result of  IT has provided a handset to every person. The government is facing a difficult time because of the issue which is the result of the IT revolution. Many people say that it is great to have mobile hand set in the hands of everyone, poor or rich. They all can remain in touch with everyone. One advertisement will prove the negative side of this so called revolution in which two people who live in the same house have their backs towards each other and talk with the help of mobile. This revolution has increased the distance between the people rather than bridging the gap. Poor people are fighting for the two ends meal, but all in the family have individual mobiles and they must be spending quite an amount of money on this. If this was not made available to them, at least they would have used this money properly either for the food or the education of their children. The mobiles and TV etc are getting cheaper (which are not so necessary for the life) but the food, education and the health services are getting costlier. These artificial things are adding to health problems as well. Look at the old parents who are not able to spend any time with their sons and daughters(specially the one who are earning a lot) because even at home these people are forced to work on their laptops and computer and if there is some time left that is devoted to TV or I-pod or other gizmo's. Though the aged parents and the children are paying heavily for the artificial and materialistic gains but at the same time the young generation is also not really happy. We all have to think on this topic seriously and should work in a manner so that the real happiness and the achievements are not lost in the blind race of acquiring artificial material gains.This also reminds me of the significance of Gandhiji's statement when he said that there is much for the need but not for the greed of man.So we must first try to achieve some joy,delight,happiness and satisfaction in whatever we do and then seek other gains.