Greetings to you all for the New Year. Wishing you all a very Happy New Year. Last week we all celebrated Christmas and New Year. This is the time of the year when we exchange gifts and celebrate the festivities with our families. This time of the year is traditionally associated with shopping for gifts for friends as well as for the family.

We generally shop for long-cherished items like jewelry and things for our home as well as our workspaces. There is nothing wrong with this practice of shopping for new things.

Here I am reminded of the story of a family with who we are familiarized. In this family, the Grandfather used to carry out many daily chores by visiting the shops in the neighborhood. Grandfather‘s everyday routine included going to one shop for buying milk, then to the vegetable market where he would buy some vegetables from one shop and some other vegetables from some other shops after bargaining over the prices. He would later visit the temple and spend almost half an hour there performing puja and interacting with the priest and the other people present there. On some day’s Grandfather would visit the barbershop where he would spend an hour or so getting his haircut done as well as talking to the other customers. On specific days he would visit the jeweler for some purchasing, where he would spend some time talking to the jeweler, enquiring about the rate of Gold or how to check the purity of Gold and how the jeweler weighs Gold. His Grandson who was about 18 years who used to observe his grandfather’s daily routine. He felt his grandfather unnecessarily spent his time and energy visiting various shops to make purchases. He advised his grandfather that times have changed and that he should learn how to use the phone to make purchases. He advised his Grandfather to order everything online so that everything would be delivered at home. Still, the Old man didn’t change his ways. However, the grandson felt offended that even after giving his grandfather the advice of ordering things online his grandfather still followed his old routine of visiting shops to make purchases. One day they received a call from a hospital informing them to reach there immediately when they reach there they see a crowd of people waiting for them there. They come to know that grandmother had met with an accident, He was brought there by them and given timely treatment. The grandson is surprised to see so many people there and asks his grandfather as to who they were. His Grandfather explained to him that, these were the same people whom he visited every day for making purchases. Grandfather elaborated further that when we shop for things we just do not buy things but we also get acquainted with those people. We develop relations with them. The jeweler or the barber whom he visited for many years knew who grandmother was and so when she met with an accident they quickly came to her help.

By narrating the story it might seem that I am totally against online shopping. However, it is not but shopping can be done but human relationships cannot be built. Certain things which are not readily available in our vicinity should be purchased online. Items that are very expensive in the local market can be purchased online. If we do not make purchases from small traders how will they survive in the market? Secondly, if we purchased everything online we will move further away from making human contacts and will be engrossed in the virtual world. We should not be bothered only about our convenience. If we do not make human contact through these purchases we will not be able to understand human emotions. We should understand that how will we be connected to society if we are connected to these small traders we can understand what their feelings and emotions are our purposes should not only be to save time through online shopping but we should also be connected to society. This will benefit us in two ways, not only will it remove the loneliness but will also bring harmony in the community and it is well known that a society that does not have harmony is a dead society.

People are deeply connected to their society as it has harmony. We will not find loneliness in our society. Slowly more and more people are adopting western patterns of technological gadgets and internet and computing tools. These may help in saving our time and effort but these are not without some adverse psychological impacts.

We should understand where to use these tools and where to avoid their use. If we use them irrationally without proper thought then definitely it will create an adverse effect on our lives. Suppose we do not wait in a queue to pay our bills, we do not have that practice of waiting patiently for our turn, May children of this generation have never waited in a queue. When you wait in a Queue you learn a lot of things like behaving courteously way with the other people in the queue, waiting for others to complete their turn. These things can be learned only when we go to the field and work. Sitting at home and at the press of a button your work may get done but the values associated with them will never be learned. The trend of Computers for everything should be followed selectively. We should be able to decide where to use computers and where to use human Interaction.

It has to be a constant thinking practice for us to decide on a day-to-day basis and according to the situation as to when to remain in the real world and when to remain in the virtual world. this is a decision that we have to take for ourselves. If we do this we will be able to take our life in a better direction, otherwise, these psychological and neurotic disorders are bound to increase. We will have a lot of things in our life but we will not have happiness, brotherhood, compassion, contentment, and love. So let us all lead a balanced life and bring happiness, brotherhood, contentment, and love back into our lives.