Satisfaction...The unsolved mystery

I happened to be in an auto rickshaw today.The auto driver and me got into a conversation as the pitiful Mumbai roads were full of traffic and potholes and the going was really slow.

He started telling me of his family...how it was so difficult to make ends meet...how the children were sent to an english school and the fees of the school was really high.He spent almost a fifth of his earnings educating his chaildren.I appreciated this and started telling him my own experiences about how irrespective of whatever u earn it was getting really difficult to really make ends meet.How impossible it was to buy a house in Mumbai,how difficult it was to buy a good car and maintain it.He told me about the four children,thier classes fees was a burden.The autorickshaw he was driving was rented and how the owner snatched away almost half of his earnings every evening and would not take even a penny less than the stipulated rent irrespective of whether he has made the needed amount of money or no.The number of people who have come to Mumbai looking for a job and have ended up being rickshaw drivers when they could not find any.How intense the pressure was because of this and how difficult things were becoming.

I realised my situation was not very much unlike him.Though the priorities were different and we were two different people altogether, we were still bound by the fact that we were human beings,creatures of the same species.I tried to figure out what makes us sad even when we have means to earn,salaries to take home and more than enough to survive.I figured it is the need which possibly is making us more frustrated day by day.Why want the 3 BHK flat,why dont i manage with 2BHK; why want a luxury car why cannot I manage with a good economy vehicle.Why was the number of children 4 why couldnt it be two or maybe even one with all the benefits that are shared amongst four today.Is this the enigma surrounding the attainment of satisfaction...i wonder.