All work and no play!?

As I take the local transportation back home where I presently live and work, I notice men and women carrying black briefcases and dressed in their formals. They must be getting back from their respective jobs, I reckon.



During such times, I also notice most of them falling asleep on the seemingly short ride. I imagine they have had a long day, and by the time they get on the move to head home, they must be exhausted.[break]



And then I wonder why do they push themselves so hard? Surely, if they succumb to falling asleep in a little, crammed space, with numerous people hovering around them, they must really be tired, perhaps even overworked.



But contrary to my current setting, Nepal is a different scenario. Today, the statistics still are unable to point precisely at the exact unemployment rate of Nepal. Some claim it is around 20 percent while others report it to be as high as 40 percent.



On an average, our GDP is US$18.88 billion, according a 2011 statistics by the World Bank: Not at all an impressive amount. But let us bear in mind that ours is still a predominantly agrarian society. The yardstick I am using to compare, however, happens to be a highly industrial one and also one in which the employment rate happens to be very high.







Illustration: Sworup Nhasiju



So the ride-back-home scenario I am describing where I presently am may still be far into the future for Nepal. But it is never too late to evaluate how different life would be and try and navigate the best path forward in a probable future scenario.



Statistics generally indicate that we are in a transformative phase wherein we are striving to shift from an agrarian to an industrial one. For example, the setting up of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) is a strong indicator of the endeavor to promote and support the booming industries. This is good news, of course.



Besides, it is a known fact that industrial societies do relatively better than agrarian ones. But the point is to be cautious about how we actually approach this transformation and make it as smooth as possible.



We need to realize that there is a greater need to monitor the local businesses and the growing industries as well as to be wary of the effects these sectors are having on the wider community. It is important to consider that even development comes at a cost; for example, economic costs, environmental costs, social costs, cultural costs. In the end, it is just a matter of weighing the costs against the benefits and opting for the best path forward.



Let us focus particularly on the social costs and get back to the case in point I was describing earlier. An average Nepali works around seven or eight hours a day. And sometimes, even these many hours aren’t enough. In the process of being a better employee, he forgets about his health, his family, his society and devotes himself wholly to his work. He refrains from attending social gatherings for he has no time, he cannot attend functions at his son’s school, he misses out on pujas, all because of the fact that he has to work.



But all this for what?

Time and again, it will become important to stop and ask this question. Caught up with work, people often forget about (what I hope is) the bigger objective in life: to be happy.



For example, if we take the GDP of a country like Japan (US$5.87 trillion) and contrast it with the happiness index of the people there, the difference is stark. Most people in Japan are highly overworked, and the country has one of the world’s highest suicide rates. They are so frustrated with life that they just give up on everything. But then, there is a country like Bhutan, the King of which invented the concept of Gross National Happiness, which explains that the country may be poor, but at least, the people are happy.



Which scenario is more preferable? I wonder.



Cases like these should serve as lessons for Nepal so that we can be a better judge of what opting for a certain path can mean for the country. We should be able to learn how to approach industrialization so as to maximize the benefits while striving to ensure that our people are happy.



And a source of happiness also comes from a break from the monotony of routine. So go celebrate life tonight.



Happy Friday! TGIF!



The writer is student of Political Science at Thammasat University who enjoys exploring life and all that it has to offer.

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