WANT - The self inflicted pain....

I was watching this series today on discovery where a photographer took pictures of people who performed on the streets of mumbai....I grew up watching the rope walkers, the snake charmers, the guy with the monkey and the singers.....they were fascinating..the colours, the sounds....all that could make young and old alike to stop and take notice...in awe, in amusement..making them forget their problems for those few minutes as the lady beat the drum and the man walked across the rope with a balancing pole in his hand....
The photographer mentioned that he was capturing all these street artists on lens as they were fast disappearing with people seeking more lucrative opportunities ...what with the booming economy n all.... as sad as it sounds, it is one of those facts of life...he said...
In this series, he was taking a picture of a person who whipped himself .....and people in India actually believe that Goddess Durga relieves them of their diseases through this other human being who inflicted pain upon himself....I am unable to find pictures on the internet, but it was such a powerful series that it made want to cry and laugh at the same time....It was the artist's means of SURVIVAL...that self-inflicted pain earned him and his family his next meal....

What about me?I have a roof over my head...and I know where my next meal is going to come from....and a Husband who loves me in his own eccentric, quirky ways...:)...and I am sure that is the case with a lot of people...but all this does not leave us satisfied does it? We want a better life and keep looking for it right?At the end of the day, I think I am no different than the street artist .....I inflict pain on myself too by wanting more.....I think its human to want more....the only difference in my case being, its not to survive , but to LIVE life to the fullest and FULL is by self definition....guess this severe lack of satisfaction that is a necessary evil.....it makes us go for more, allows us to dream... but seldom gives us peace of mind....
thats how we differ from the street artists....he is SATISFIED..to survive....and not bother about real estate prices or rising standards of living....I am not too sure if that would work for me though... maybe not until I am above the material pleasures of life...and thats a long way to go...

So..until then..I shall indulge in dreaming about having a multi million dollar home in the Caribbean...a Ferrari to drive around and maybe throw in a private jet and an yacht too...:)....
Ta ta...