Feature

For those, who think and never think
about happiness…

Dr. Faheem Hasan Shahed

A 60-plus woman's interview published recently in a foreign magazine has stirred my thoughts. Mrs. Geetanjali, as she has been known among her fraternity, is a professional homemaker-by-choice.

Sounds bit strange? Doesn't matter. For all our respected housewives as well as their husbands and kids, I recommend her interview as a mandatory reading. Because, Mrs. Geetanjali, wife of a diplomat and global traveler as a consequence, has lots of ethical and attitudinal issues to advocate.

In fact, she exemplifies what diverse roles a woman can, and should, play in both favorable and adverse conditions in life. Despite numerous topsy-turvy turns in her life's journey, she has eventually been in control of her situations, uncomplainingly.

What particularly has spirited me is her notion of happiness. Nothing new in particular, most of us have heard saints and sages echo similar views. But what is noteworthy is, Mrs. Geetanjali, the homemaker, has learned this through her personal experience with people, and she has nourished this ideal with care.

Happiness is one's own creation lying within oneself, she asserts. Therefore, why chase happiness? Let happiness chase us instead. And thereafter she goes on to say that the happiest of people does not need to have the best of everything in life; rather they make the best of everything they have.

Ooops! This is something we in our contemporary society find weird and outdated, don't we? Living in an age of blind commercialization of knowledge and wild consumerism of morals, if someone challenges Mrs. Geetanjali (like: “How dare you sermon us about how to be happy!”), can we object? After all, happiness itself has undergone 'corporatization' by virtue of money, material comfort and what not!

Well, exploring deeply this issue of happiness, one may wonder how a lot of people in history could elevate themselves above all worldly provocations and still be happy with petty things. How could they just do it?

Mrs. Geetanjali has an answer to it. According to her, it is by a small realization: life achieves meaning through our efforts to color it. We keep coloring our lives by the paints of tears, laughter, anger, pride, compassion, anguish, triumph, loneliness, togetherness, loss, love and so on. If we fail to do that, we turn merely into breathing mortals, nothing else.

Our 'corporatized era' has done one thing very efficiently. It has gracefully forced us to get rid of our sublime attitude toward life. It has brutally embraced us to its vicious world of egotism. We hardly imagine what incalculable price we are paying in our everyday life by shrugging off our greatest moments of humane sentiments, our feel of sharing and caring for others around us.

It is none other than a homemaker who makes us realize the age-old ideals of being happy. From her interview, one would feel how valuable it is to color our lives consistently and affirm our connection to every wonderful thing on this earth. 'That is what makes life precious,' says Mrs. Geetanjali, 'it deepens our spirit. And can turn an ordinary existence into an extraordinary living.'

Well, here is what Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of the United States, said: 'The Constitution only guarantees the American people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.' Please match it with Mrs. Geetanjali's words! I think all of us have got it by now: we need to find happiness within ourselves, emotionally and spiritually. Forget about money and consumerism and every other stuff. Honestly.

(Dr. Faheem Hasan Shahed is an Associate Professor and Head of the English Department at AIUB)