Instant Gratification

Instant gratification is what everyone seems to hanker after today. You only have to achieve your aspirations, somehow!
We live today in a world of fast food, express delivery, time-
bound programmes, and so on. We always want to be ready to
go, and hit the road running. Recently my grandson aged three
hit an iPhone on the floor angrily since he could not get his
favourite song on YouTube soon enough upon pressing. Why
are we in so much of a hurry?
I am reminded of Albert Einstein, who was said to spend 55
minutes defining a problem and five minutes finding the solution.
Today we don’t know whether there is problem at all, and if so
what the problem is. We never realise that the quality of the
solutions will be directly proportional to our understanding of the exact nature of the problem. Children, why even adults, need
instant gratification. In two minutes they want noodles, and they want bajji mix or dosa mix that take as many minutes to prepare the said dishes, too.
Sans effort?

It is as if there is no need anymore to learn poetry, or study
different interpretations and comments. There is no need to
understand key concepts of mathematics, physics and
chemistry. You only have to achieve your aspirations, somehow.
Haste induces fear, that is now taken as the normal. Life is not a series of projects to be completed in quick succession. It is just the opposite of the creative mind, which is fearless and
expansive, capable of bringing out better results.
Many people grow impatient when the Internet is slow: they just can’t wait for a couple of seconds for a page to load. They can neither wait for the train to arrive nor the aircraft to take off. They can’t tolerate their own child being cranky and tend to even hit the baby.

When we take medicine for any disorder, it needs
some time to act. We should actually have a warning on the
packages of drugs: “Negative effects include a need for instant
gratification and loss of patience.”

Today’s children, born after the arrival of the smartphone on a
large scale, are wired for pronounced impatience. This
resembles the ‘chicken and egg’ situation. In this fast world,
websites are designed in such a manner that the customer is not made to wait even a second longer than necessary and is
provided with all essentials in one go. Otherwise, another
website is waiting to grab him or her.

We have seen the days when parents were eagerly waiting for
months for a post card to arrive with a crucial piece of
information. Now we need quick results. ‘Delivery the same day’ is the promise put out by some e-commerce companies. BIg basket advertises 'supply' within 10 minutes.People don’t even mind paying extra to satiate their impatience. People
don’t wait even for two seconds for the video to load in a device.
Where impatience helps

But undeniably, impatience helps on certain occasions. Though
enjoying every last bit of food is what is preferred, you can’t do the same if the restaurant is about to close.
You have to munch and gobble the tasty food as quickly as
possible. You have to be fast in the examination hall to score the maximum marks, even when your handwriting is not very
beautiful and perfect.

While you are in a foreign country, you
learn the foreign language for essential communication. You
cannot then be dwelling on learning all the tough grammar rules.
The process should be very quick, to make you understood and intelligible. Some important words here and there, ‘Welcome’, ‘Thank You’, expressions for seeking directions, and so on, may make you fit to get along in an unknown land. Perfection, tense-matching and syntax structure need not necessarily take you very far.

A woman will be considered wise if she can prepare a simple,
quick lunch within 15 minutes with the available ingredients. In certain situations, the one who prepares expansive and delicious varieties in 90 minutes will actually be at a disadvantage.
‘Slow and steady’ winning the race may not be entirely applicable
in today’s life. Whether the advance of technology has resulted in the ‘quick-quick’ tendency, or whether it has stemmed from the social compulsion for such sweeping developments, is debatable.

A lot of really valuable things take time. A pregnant woman
cannot expect a full-grown and healthy child before 37 weeks.
Examination or election results cannot be announced
immediately. Plantains take nearly four months to grow to
maximum size.A baby need tummy time.
A child can crawl, walk, talk and go to school only upon reaching
certain stages. Some diagnostic results take time to be known.
Investments in stocks and shares need some time to yield
results. Even idli batter takes eight hours to ferment.
Is it not therefore wise to set aside our desire for instant
gratification and move towards the best in life, that takes time
and effort? Patience is worth the wait, since the pleasure we
derive will be beyond compare.
JAYASALA 42

 

THANK YOU UMA KUMAR MADAM.

VATHSALA JAYARAMAN

 

DEAR SHRI THYAGARAJAN SIR,
Thank you very much for your nice comments.Yes, we have to be very patient in life, though some

urgency and priority are needed for emergency issues.

JAYASALA 42