MONEY AND HAPPINESS

                                          DOES A LOT OF MONEY MAKE YOU HAPPY
       A few years back I had the opportunity to meet a person who had almost anything to go by and perhaps never seen to grumble about any of those things that usually bothered most of the folks like us. He had inherited several acres of land and his family was quite well known and his wife and himself had the best of homes and divided their time between the ancestral property which he had inherited along and the huge villa which he had built himself and another one, a bungalow, which he was planning to build at some hill range. Apart from that he had a farm house somewhere and three sleazy looking cars. Again, their children went to the best of schools in the town and luckily enough they were quite dutiful to their parents and studied well. I was working in a company then and had gone there with a friend of mine who had some business with him. We talked about this and that after my friend had finished the business part of it and he then forced us to take tea and snacks with him as it was afternoon around 5 pm Indian Standard Time. During the casual conversation this gentlemen stated quite frankly that he envied people who had something to do and that having a lot of money and wealth alone was rather boring thing. We politely laughed and gave our usual comments stating that the grass is better looking on the other side and so on and told him about our own difficulties. When we parted we smiled and shook hands and then made our way back to our respective homes.
       The incident may perhaps look as if it was nothing and as we both thought of it too that particular day and commented upon our hosts immense luck and our own misfortunes.We also commented upon our host's good humor as to mention that he really enjoyed the little time we spent with him that afternoon and perhaps was trying to be a trifle cleverer by pointing out his good fortune comparing it with that of ours as many rich and well to do folks usually do by passing that wry remark about his grandiose display of boredom. Later, we laughed all the way back feeling grounded and when we parted our ways to reach our homes, we never gave another though to that mock remark nor even mentioned it once to our friends.
       That incident would have been removed from my mind, at least the remark if not the person who was so immensely rich and was living a happy married life that it would be difficult to do so, but for yet another chance meeting with yet another person who although himself wasn't so rich yet had a compilation of such traumatic patients who were fed up with life and took to drugs, attempted suicides and tried to lead a distorted life by their own designs although they had nothing to worry a bit financially in the worst of the global recessions. The person who told me this was a medical practitioner and this was conveyed to one of my friends who then was a medical representative and we happened to visit his place together.
       After hearing a list of those poor rich I tried to humble my own mind about the idea of becoming or getting quick rich as I then like the rest of my generation thought there was hardly anything in the world that matters except making a quick buck, the bigger the better, and then living on it as anybody would dream without doing any work for the rest of their life. The more I thought the more I became perplexed, for no matter what I could then drive the point into my mind no further, for I too like many others had come to the conclusion that this was some sort of rare mental disease which only the awfully rich gets. But to tell the truth this wasn't the case as there was something quite different from our own angle of thinking and that struck me much later-a few years after.
              THE FLOW CONCEPT AND THE STAGNANT AFFECT OF MONEY /WEALTH
       Illusion of happiness is the most Horrifying thing in life. Some behave as if they are rich and the fact is that they are full of debt and this thought is eating into their conscience all the time. Then there are others who by their virtue of being lucky with a little property think about other wealthy people known to them personally or are in the limelight and vicariously try to chart their own life in tune with that of these people little knowing that this illusion shall not last long and sooner or later they would revert back to their old unhappy self. The problem is that these people are never true to their own self and this is perhaps the single biggest sign of unhappiness.
       Now where does this flow concept of money and wealth come into the picture you might ask Well, the answer is that these are again acts of conscience on a person who would naturally remain happy irrespective of whether they possess large wealth or nothing as he or she experiences a flow of income on a regular basis and that flow is created quite true to their conscience and with effort. This means that lump sum money or stagnant money or wealth can bring in happiness, but for a short duration only and not forever. It is actually the flow that creates true type of happiness, of course with all other things like family life, children, social mixing and other such remains quite all right. In other words, activity or activities that instills the conscience of the mind continuously has to be created which then can bring in true enjoyment of wealth. Thus, the necessity of flow of revenue. A static wealth even if it yields good return on investments and interests has less to offer in the form of life enjoyment than the periodical trickles that comes with some sort of exertion instilling the mind and the conscience that the effort made isn't in vain.
                    THE REAL ESTATE MAGNATE AND THE CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT
      I have yet another example to highlight the point which I am trying to make. This is the comparative study of happiness of a real estate business man and a Chartered Accountant. Money wise there can be no comparison between the two as the real estate magnate has large properties which he had bought at a cheap rates. Indeed, here in this example the real estate business man is a millionaire and the Chartered Accountant just well off with good number of clients to his credit. During recessionary periods the real estate magnate is without work as he has large tracts of property that could not be sold out. On the other hand the Chartered Accountant's office is buzzing with life and even if the delay in payments have slightly aggravated. He is still busy and doesn't count his eggs before they hatch as the work he does is more or less on a continuous basis for his clients whereas for the real estate businessman he simply counts his future money while remaining out of work with an idle office and a group of yawning staff which inevitably irritates him too. Just think who would be happy in such circumstance? Where of course there is buzz with money flow on a regular basis than bogged down by uncertainty of some future fortune.
        Here, the happiness through money can only be had if there is a continuous flow of it (small or large amount doesn't matter) so long there is buzz and there is a lot of activity. In my example above too there is no buzz which the money makes or which would keep the conscience of the rich man active enough. Hence, he is bored stiff of the life which he tries to enjoy and which deep in his conscience rebels upon. Further, continuous activity can eclipse the evil comparison that the mind frequently resonates when consciously idle. This needn't be what a person tries to put up before the public or his family, but the fact that something is amiss remains within his subconsciousness.               
                           DANGERS OF CREATING ARTIFICIAL BUZZ
        If you have a lot of money then you might think why not try to keep an artificial buzz with it alone. Nothing wrong, but happiness couldn't be had by cheating your conscience. In fact, we see a lot of people with money trying on Betting and Gambling as if they have nothing to lose. But the fact is that you get chained in these activity and thus you may lose all you have built by hard work. Then there are retired people who once they retire invest their savings in some business without even a good plan and then lose it all at the fag end of their life. For keeping up with the continuous buzz called activity you must be prepared to create a flow that is less risky here. Yet on the other hand simply doing nothing can make you liable to fall victim to the vegetative state of mind. Diseases like the otherwise Impossible Alzheimer's Disease and senile dementia becomes quite easily possible. Here, mind you I am not suggesting that you shouldn't aim high or think about big money, but the fact I wish to state here is that you must be able to churn the large amount to a positive purpose on a continuous basis. Great Charity is a good way to create flow if you have a lot of money to give on a continuing basis. However, for most people this is not possible and thus it fails to create the buzz and activity in your life as it remains either a one way flow and rather unaffordable. Hence, there must always be a continuous revenue necessary to sponsor a continuing charity work.
        Then there are people who instead of remaining idle opts for some work on the pretext that others like themselves are too involved in such activities. A friend of mine knew of a retired judge who after having retired thought of taking up gardening and tiny scale farming although he had no idea about it at all. Of course, he did try to learn and tried his hands on various seed plantations, but proved a failure and was soon got fed up simply because he didn't have the heart in it. Thus, activities of any sort and perhaps more so if you try to earn something out of it, should be taken up by that person only if he or she has a heart that is totally involved in the task. Otherwise, the whole thing becomes a washout. In short, this buzz called 'continuous activity' should be done with a positive mind and that you feel that it is part of your life or the post retirement life. Again, this is not so easy as you would love to imagine, but a carefully thought out process where you take up a money earning activity on a continuous basis for true happiness. Some people have plans to spend the rest of their life wandering around the world just like that after they receive a large legacy or get a large chunk of money. Well, the truth is that these people can do so for a few years as if it it some sort of invigorating activity, but soon enough you would hear them remark that after seeing one beach is almost like the rest or one place has no particular distinction than the other. The fact is that deep inside their subconscious they are not properly active in the truest sense of the word and that what they do is simply trying to adopt a boring idle policy that has simply no responsibility and a sense of achievement.
         Therefore, it is important for people to achieve that state of mind where happiness becomes a second nature and that state of mind can only be achieved if the person tries to engage in a continuous buzz creating activity with a purpose driven mind. And don't always think of money only the happiness of being in the job.
       
       

       

SPACE TRAVEL AND TOURISM

     There's a lot more to TRAVEL AND TOURISM than what human beings or for that matter ordinary travelers and trip making enthusiasts think about. To tell the truth there is a lot more to enjoy and perhaps a lot more to increase the trade between nations and thus significantly contributing to the GDP growth of these nations through one such travel. Surely this one is about SPACE TRAVEL and this one comes only if you have the sophisticated technology with you. Nations vie with one another on this particular area and there is no limit to the potentials once a country can garner enough technical skills to launch its own SPACE SHUTTLE. However, this article is about such SPACE SHUTTLING and the day is not far off although some countries are sure ahead on the race to conquer the last frontier of technology prowess and that is SPACE TRAVEL.

      One thing is quite certain just as the advent of the industrial revolution took place with mass production techniques made possible through a system of process and extensive mechanization of production, the Space Travel would start with TOURISM INDUSTRY as its launch pad. True, here too human kind would need to dwell into a mass production of producing the future SPACE SHUTTLES, yet the huge mind boggling investment can only be justified with human taking flights to outer space with certain degree of ease and comfort in order to satisfy their curiosity of the space outside this planet.

       TOURISM AND SPACE INDUSTRY OF THE FUTURE thus heavily depends upon the need to travel perhaps initially as a source of inquisitiveness and urge to explore the empty spaces and the mysteries of human life itself. Hence, the future TOUR OPERATORS  need to combine their efforts to sell space as a curiosity piece and a system to explore the immediate neighborhood within our solar system. But who would travel at such exorbitant rates as most Space Travel is beyond the reach of even the well to do people. The answer to this is that like all initial travels it must be funded by world's corporates who would have a long term objective to see through the whole venture with a concise and honest MISSION AND VISION STATEMENT perhaps with a definitive aim for providing the base for future SPACE TRAVEL AND TOURISM. Undoubtedly, the governments of the respective nations ought to build a proper rapport with these corporates who have a genuine objective to turn the mission into a sustainable and profitable long term venture.

        YET, to tell the truth, SPACE TOURISM is full of uncertainty and there has been countless horrific moments throughout the history of Space Travel, both from US and Russia. However, there is growing need for space exploration due to the limits we all seem to have drawn upon ourselves in the gradually shrinking earth, especially when we recollect the gross misuse of our planet from the point of view of its resources and ecological balance. Today, we see Space Travel as a means for countries to exert their influence among other nations and therefore only a few countries have the supremacy of world travel. Surely, this is not the way to go about it as a consortium of countries unitedly can only get us the most needed superior might in SPACE TRAVEL like the ones we often dream about for the extraterrestrials with superior technologies who would at a flick of a second descend upon us and make us their slaves for ever. Of course, we have seen these in films and TV. Yet, to put forth another great truth is that we earthlings lack any of the extraterrestrial's unity nor contemplate a need for unison at least in SPACE TRAVEL. So, the best way then is perhaps to exert little influence in cross border deals and let SPACE TRAVEL develop independently among different nations with some group forming blocks while others tearing off in an attempt to degrade the whole thing as we human beings are likely to do so.

       Surely, this way too we can compete trying to beat one another with our own technologies or expertise that each country posses in its niche area and then have SPACE TRAVELING with myriads of color and hues that are likely to result out of this disconnect. If US sends a series of Space Shuttles then Russia might be forced to launch a large heavy Space Station itself while China might be forced to bring out a series of Chinese looking Space Tubes while Japan and India or for than matter other emerging economies might make use of series of yet another colorful procession of such or somewhat similar Space Vehicles to match those already up for encouraging SPACE TRAVEL AND TOURISM. In some ways I believe that there is a lot of positive factors to consider even while we are perpetually at each others throat for reasons best known to somebody far out in the outer space. But think about a mock reconciliation or mock drama that each country tries to enact before the UNITED NATIONS ORGANIZATION, then all we can ever think about is a depressing reality and uncertainty and horrific nightmarish finish to the sordid affairs and the gradual shrinking of all our attempts at SPACE TRAVELING. I am not against unity or you may think so, but unity and discussing unity has got us nothing except stupid wars and perfidy and all sorts of mock drama and tomfoolery in a plethora of reconciliation efforts. Since, we don't naturally see eye to eye in most things, I believe that SPACE TRAVEL with nations bringing in their own expertise would in the distant future turn out to be in favor of every country that has aspiration to make Space Travel a reality as it should considering the factors like Economies of Scale, Comparative Advantages between Nations and Opportunity Cost.

      One of the best things we have for consolation is a barren moon which we should feel like a gift send to us from the Almighty. Had there been any signs of intelligent life then perhaps we had it or we would be at their throats or they at us and making the earth surface and moon surface a perpetual place of tension. On the contrary things are better this way. In the first place, the moon is a self sterilizing surface where our future air ships can park or refuel before taking off to the other distant planets, asteroids or planetary moons with human Space Traveling enthusiasts. Like this we hopefully, try to bring in better trade in those scarce commodities including precious metals which are obviously looking too hot in the stock markets and quite likely to be a security threat for people who possess them. One shouldn't try to justify the costs initially or even think of it in the early stages as this has to be borne by the adventurous corporates with long term visions and missions with the government support as a sure assurance that such a move is a must for the future progress of mankind.

     SPACE TRAVELING  unlike other types of traveling which we on earth are used to comes with the philosophy all on its own that states 'You are nothing and the outer space is everything and the most powerful force'. This obviously brings us to the grounding realization that we are after all quite an inconspicuous speck in the huge and unmeasurable Universe or Universes. It humbles us a great deal and can be a good check against our growing egotism. Perhaps we would see a lot more reason in our existence and make life more meaningful than what the different philosophies by great thinkers and statesmen have imparted to us since the dawn of history.

      This development in the area of SPACE TRAVEL  would necessitate better usages of technologies and the likely start of the boom in both new system of education and the better employment opportunities. This is perhaps the only way to let go of the human mind to some greater than the usual purpose to dream and bring about higher levels of creativity. This way we can reduce the dangers of human brain and our thinking mechanism to slide down and turn into vegetative states. We can thus keep the brain challenged in our new found frontiers of knowledge and help in formulating a more vivid and exciting and virgin territories of thoughts, creativity and specialized tasks rather than compete hysterically ruthlessly with the already filled up spaces on the earth.

         Without doubt the best part of SPACE TRAVEL is the steady growth of investments and industrial entrepreneurship which in all possibilities would grow far outstripping the industrial and technological revolution we human beings have seen on the earth. This isn't a short term leap frogging concept, but would stay with the earthlings for a much and much more longer period than what the human mind would ever be able to fathom just as the space within our little solar system would present before us not to say anything about the exploring possibilities of the far outer space too if it were within the reaches of our intelligence and endeavor. 

        Already the planet of ours is too overcrowded and the last frontier that would be exploited to near danger would be the seas and this too as things are likely to be would be a real hot, narrow, brutal and nonchalant and greedy with more of super emerging economies in the area of expertise joining in with full force. The US and the European countries would be there and close to heel and perhaps overtaking them in the exploitation of the seas would be the giants like Japan, China and India and most possibly other emerging economies like Brazil, Africa and East Asia. Then all the hell will be let lose with fragile ecology already in distress would be breathing out its final death wishes taking perhaps three quarters of mankind along with it.

        THUS, WITHOUT DOUBT SPACE TRAVEL AND TOURISM IS A MUST AND COUNTRIES MUST AT LEAST MAKE A SMALL START SOMEWHERE. The United Nations Organizations can do a lot in this matter and allow some headway in SPACE TRAVEL before serious oceanic exploitation begins. Not in least are the infinite sources of opportunities that would inevitably present before the existing Travel and Tourism offices across the world, the bright future for AIRLINES AND THEIR AGENTS, World Tour Operators and the governments. In fact, there can be a significant decrease in unemployment for the matters can become worse for the advanced countries with the rising ASIAN ECONOMIES AND LATIN AMERICAN ECONOMIES AND AFRICA.

        Surely, doesn't look like a tall matter if  we of course have a mind to realize that we are all sitting on the edge of a precipice where it is a matter of life and death for the whole of mankind.