Bare Necessities

I didn't have cable growing up so I used to watch DD1 a lot. The Jungle book (Shonen Mowgli dubbed in Hindi) was my favorite show, the Disney movie is also pretty nice. The song "Bare Necessities" tells us how little we actually need to be happy.

Now, with brilliant marketing skills, peer pressure and the speed of consumer products coming out the world tends to make us materialistic. The Apple products, cars, cameras, holidays are on everybody's wish list. Even I wanted the apple products a couple of months back and still want to buy things for my family. I am guilty for wanting as anybody. Minimalism basically teaches to want less.  I had a lot of toys growing up, I also loved playing with cardboard. My possessions grew gradually making the house messy. Losing something would mean hours of tantrum and bickering with my brother to find it finally. 

One night after a long session of coloring, craft and some arguing with my brother, I went to bed with a completely messed up house. My relatives came over next morning and they had no place to sit. They had to push aside the crayons, unfinished drawings to make room on the couch. The clutter in my life had reached a stage where I could no longer maintain it well. I looked for order from then on. I goaded my parents to keep the house clean. Cleanliness, is not a big deal but maintaining is a bigger problem. We can hide all the junk under the bed when the guests arrive but it piles up and we end up losing things we need. 

There are two logical methods to maintain a clean and neat room. One is to get a big room and the other is to have less belongings. I choose the latter mainly because it is always under my control. The zen teachings tell us to let go of worldly posessions to obtain peace. The disambiguation is to let everything go and leave a hermit's life but they are preaching to keep less things

While climbing the hill to Shabari Malay (A Temple) with my dad a few years ago, I was carrying a small coconut as offering to the deity. It seemed very light at first but as I climbed the hill, it got heavier and felt like a real burden towards the end. Many poets say that life is a journey. The lesser things we carry, the easier it becomes to travel right? With less luggage can we cover more ground?. I choose to travel lightly so live minimally. My parents could buy me whatever I wanted and now thanks to Teliportme I can buy things on my own too. I truly enjoy the serenity and neatness minimalism brings to life and it fits me like a glove.

All said and done, I have my own flaws, I take minimalism a little too seriously. I still have to buy a laptop, cycle and fix my leaking roof. Mainly because I am too lazy (to search for the dude who repairs roof), stubborn (love my cycle and laptop) and stupid (rejecting a free macbook). Minimalism means keeping the things you need and being happy with the things you have. One major issue, is when to stop wanting? Well, My goal with minimalism was to get a better control over my life so I draw the line when I feel I am losing control. Minimalism should not affect your goals and dreams. The ideal way to live is to look at materialistic possessions as check points to conquer while running and not really be attached to them.

There is no right or wrong when it comes to choosing the best lifestyle. Minimalism works for me and I hope I gave an insight to what it has to offer. Happy New year and hope your wishes come true and let's work to make a better planet 🙂 

Good day  

 

P.S. The video 

Regards

Vikram Kamath