I read an article on the web today. I was in tears reading it.

It was about a family in South India who have to work really hard to earn enough, so that they can have 2 meals a day. It was an eye opener for me to understand the importance of money. I mean, ofcourse, we all understand the importance of money, but we take it for granted.

We, the city dwellers, usually earn enough to splurge the excess money on expensive restaurants, gadgets and lot of things which we don't really need. But when I read about poor people living in the small villages and towns of India, I really paused a while to understand, how they must be living? With no money to buy food for the next day, they cannot afford to get ill. They too want their children to go to school, they too want to gift a saree to their wives, their wives too want to cook a sumptuous meal and their children too want to play with toys. But they cannot even dream of all this.

From morning till evening they are just working, so hard, just to earn themselves 2 meals a day. Their only prayer to God is that the rains should be good this year, so that they can earn some more money and send their children to school.

I must have splurged lakhs of Rupees to buy things which I really didn't need. I have been splurging money on so many things. Things like new mobile handsets, mp3 players, branded clothes, new cars, all kind of electronics for the house, the list seems endless.

It's not possible for me to live without any desires of buying the unwanted things. Today's consumer industry is too tempting to resist.

But, if I can splurge money for myself, then, as a human being, I would also like to take the responsibility to help the really needy people who need so much help from us. I can feel their pain. I am in tears. And these are tears of guilt.

Knowingly or unknowingly, I have never before worked so hard to help the needy, the way I work hard to buy the unnecessary things for myself. Even at an individual level, we can make a difference.