Yesterday I happen to visit a goldsmith at Saraf Kadal Srinagar to get a desirable thing. The moment I asked for the thing, the goldsmith requested to wait for few minutes as he was not having the thing ready at his own shop. I waited as the smith has had good relations with me. The moment he left, I, being alone in the shop, and had nothing to do, the game of Gandhi (money) struck my mind. I thought and re-thought to understand the game of money which is the epicentre of the present day world of consumerism and competition.

I thought to leave the shop and observe the outside happenings for some leisure moments as the smith kept me waited for the longer as expected. I watched people moving here and there- on foot, on vehicles etc. The vendors were pushing their carts with vegetables and fruits of the season and try to catch customers by calling “hatas trae kilo” (three kilos in hundred). The shopkeepers were dusting their shops and displaying the catchy items outside their shops and waiting for customers. The conductors of buses were luring passengers by “saeteh khaelee, saethe khaelee” (vacant seats, vacant seats). The other vendors of clothes were saying ‘sale, sale, sale’ and people were gathering around to benefit from the sale.
I realised that all the hustle and bustle in the world is all because of ‘Gandhi’, the money which is at the centre of everything- labourers, vendors, passengers, shopkeepers, businessmen, professionals, bureaucrats, administrators etc. mostly revolve around it by and large. I paused and went inside the shop to gather the ideas for the theme.
By the evening I refined and polished the ideas to develop the essay about the theme. Then, the next moment, I thought to delve deep to unearth the reality which is happening beyond the scene, though knowingly or unknowingly.
...By the time a child is born, he is not being celebrated as a human being rather he is being labelled by different names not only by his parents but by his relatives as well. One among the parents sees in him a doctor while the other sees in him an engineer. His uncles see him as a police officer while his aunts see him as a civil servant. But the primary question is, who sees him as a human being who has his own individuality and wishes and dreams. Deep beneath all this, is but the Gandhi and the power and position associated with it.
The other day I went to the fields to plant the seedlings for the upcoming harsh winter which is round the corner. I found both men and women busy in their fields to sow seeds of different varieties of vegetables. Here too, I realised that the underlying driving force is the same Gandhi at the local level as well which, at the international levels have divided the whole humanity on one pretext or the other.
The next moment I visited the school I am working in. I observed that the staff members were busy in their daily schedule. I paused and thought that here too; the Gandhi is the ultimate aim. The teachers are directly involved in amassing the Gandhi while as the school children are after their careers which their parents view as the ultimate and viable field to mint more and more Gandhi, though their plans are not visible at the moment.
My head now ached to analyse that in all the spheres of life, the central focal point is the Gandhi around which all are in ‘circumambulation’ pushing each other away to win the race, which ultimately no one wins.
So after threadbare and deep analysis, I, with my exhausted body and mind as well, thought to put a knot on my mental faculties for a while and introspected the next moment that, if, I too, am following the rat race which leads to the loss of mental peace that Gandhi cannot fetch in the market...
I am still searching for the answer....If someone knows, please let me know as soon as possible. I will be ever obliged...

Email:------------------khandaybilal12@gmail.com