How much is too much??

We middle class are raised in such a way that we value every paisa..We can be frugal in our needs…It depends a lot on how and where we are raised, to decide how much is too much..And so, on a lazy afternoon, I put my half baked ideas out in the open, and even though not fully done, they are mine..Take it or leave it….

As many a connoisseurs have pointed out, various factors aid in manipulating our needs….For example, in the days of yore, when ‘would-be husband’ was in vogue instead of the suave ‘fiance’, what the would-be bride (or the sophisticated fiancée to today) could expect to get from her suitor? At most, it would be a silk saree, or a simple gold ring..But companies selling bonds of love in the form of the indispensable ‘bands’, or the anorexic designer flaunting designer bags costing upto lakhs have ensured that if you want to express your love, then better spend your bucks and give her something which is ‘in’!

So you see, it’s all inside the bony shell of your head…You use the matter inside rationally to decide how much is too much…

A thinking friend mentioned in passing how we, as medical students, were fed facts from books which overlooked the benefits of something as common and affordable as vitamins.. I wondered about it…(I harbour no fantasy to sound like either Arthur Hailey or Robin Cook!!)
Tell me, if vitamins are prescribed instead of drugs which sound impressive, how many patients will come to you?
You will even have to stand the risk of losing out credibility!
I can almost overhear the neighbourhood aunty whispering to her sick daughter-in-law, “Dear, do not go to Dr. X…He just gives regular stuff..Go to a real doc.”
So what do you do? You listen to the “non-doctors” who may be as good as the early men in their knowledge about drugs and their benefits, and let yourself being spoon fed by them! 
Mind you, I do not intend to use Zuckerberg’s space to profess my affinity for vitamins. I know they cannot ever substitute for the specific drugs meant to cure ailments…..I was just wondering if something like vitamins are the answers to simple illnesses, why turn to the higher, at times, more expensive drugs? What do the pharmaceutical giants do? They want diseases so that people purchase cure. And in the process, the healer too benefits..But, at the cost of what??
You are bullied to sell dreams, killing your conscience at times, and you just tend to ignore how much is too much..
You see, it also depends on the choices we make on a daily basis..

And then, I dare to shift the focus to love, affection. Is there something called “too much love”? If not, then why is that when two people, committed to each other, always have the desire to have his/her own space, own domain? Is it possible that too much love, too much concern, can be intimidating, even to the extent of being untruthful to each other in order to enjoy his/her own share of the sky? And here too, how do we know how much is too much? Rather than letting out our feelings like a cyclone, is it feasible to just slow down, take time to smile & enjoy the loved ones? Do we really need to assert our love every moment to make the loved ones feel secure in the knowledge that our love is supreme? 

So, I guess I can safely conclude that there are two major players that dictate the answer to the question I raised in the first place, “How much is too much?”. Desire and need - these are the two faces of the same coin…It is upto us how we balance these two…

Extraneous factors too chip in their bits. At times, we deliver what they, that is, the external factors, want. Not only want …they intervene by selectively withholding information…Yes dear, they do!! We manufacture half truths to satiate our needs, our conscience, and in the process, we shut the lid tight over the half lies. 

Most of the times, desire scores over need. And mind you, sincerely yours is no exception. The smartly dressed gentleman asking his chauffeur to drive in the ‘carrrrrrrrrrrrr’ instead of the ‘car’, the Rs 1000 per 10 gm cream making the 45 years old actor look like a 18 year old girl, and many commercials like this encash on this fact….We all succumb, to one temptation or the other, if not to all of them..

There is maybe the need for something called a guiding star! Maybe each one of us need a sincere, honest, bright star, to tell us to weigh our desires and our needs. At most of the cross roads, we appear just as a bundle of emotions …just as a mass of water need to be directed …sometimes we need to be reminded, to be pushed, and if required, even be silenced.
Sometimes, after indulging, we realize. And when we do realize and become verbal, we are coined appellations like ‘trying-to-act-smart’, ‘eccentric’, etc., as if we are concerned with nothing but only busy in lashing out with an anonymous, emotive opinion to bring out the noisy empty vessel inside us.

So the question stands: HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH?