Vinod & his Great Freedom Chase

Once upon a time, in a land not too far away (but just far enough to get out of traffic), lived a man named Vinod. Vinod was born in 1947, the same year India gained its freedom from British rule.

 Now, you'd think this guy would be sipping coconut water and enjoying life, right?

 Wrong! He was too busy chasing "happiness," which, let’s be honest, sounds a lot like an overzealous kid chasing a butterfly.

Now, the real twist happens when Vinod discovers the Constitution in 1950, which gave him the 

right to be... well, 

right to be... free. 

👉 Free speech, 

👉 free movement, 

👉 free choice of profession

— basically, it was like a massive freebie at an all-you-can-eat buffet. But here’s the catch:

 Vinod thought freedom meant having more stuff. And when I say more stuff, I mean he chased everything that came with that pesky “extrinsic happiness.”

So, what did Vinod do? 

He started the “Great Freedom Chase of his decade.”

 It was like the Olympics of social status,

but instead of running on tracks, he was running after wealth, fancy cars, and a slightly better phone than his neighbor's.

The Rat Race of Perfect Proportions

Vinod’s first purchase was a luxury car, so shiny that it could probably be seen from space. 

He told his friends, 

“Look at this beauty! 

It goes zero to sixty in 3 seconds, and I go from nobody to somebody in 0.5 seconds!"

 But, no sooner had he parked it in his driveway than his neighbor

—Mr. Rajesh, drove by in an even fancier car. 

Rajesh didn’t just have leather seats; his car massaged him while driving. It was as if Rajesh had a personal chauffeur, a masseuse, and a self-esteem booster all built into one vehicle.

Vinod was devastated. He ran to the nearest car dealership to get a "better" car, only to find that Rajesh had already bought the next model up. 

At this point, Vinod had traded in five luxury cars in five months. He wasn’t just competing with Rajesh anymore—he was fighting an invisible war against everyone on the planet who was just slightly richer than him.

The Moment of Clarity ( or Maybe Just Exhaustion ?? )

Exhausted and confused, Vinod collapsed onto his couch after yet another day of fruitless comparisons. "What’s the point of all this?" he asked himself, wiping a tear that he couldn’t tell was from sadness or from the sheer exhaustion of keeping up with Rajesh.

“I have everything—well, except peace. But peace doesn’t come in a box with a 5% discount code, does it?” he muttered. He paused, took a deep breath, and it suddenly hit him: maybe, just maybe, the real freedom wasn’t about collecting the latest gadgets or proving to Rajesh that he could rent a house with more bathrooms than a luxury hotel. Maybe it was about freedom from the relentless pursuit of more.

The realization was a bombshell. He had been chasing happiness like a man chasing a Wi-Fi signal through a concrete building: utterly futile.

The Twist of a Lifetime

And then, in a plot twist that no one saw coming (not even Vinod), he did the most radical thing: he stopped. He stopped running. He stopped measuring his worth by the number of expensive THINGS he could collect. He didn’t just "let go"—he unleashed himself from a mental straitjacket of consumerism. He decided to pursue intrinsic happiness—the kind that doesn’t require a bank loan.

So, Vinod got a small apartment (just one bathroom, thank you very much) and started spending his days doing the things that brought him joy. 

💓He took walks in the park, 

💓 rediscovered his love for bad Bollywood movies, and even started a podcast called 

💓“Who Needs tooo much Stuff Anyway?” It had zero listeners, but Vinod didn’t care—he was content. He was Happy in doing what he Loves.

The best part? 

He stopped checking Rajesh’s Instagram. He realized that the world didn’t need to know how many shoes he owned, and his happiness was no longer tied to the latest sale at the mall. 

He was free—truly, madly, deeply free.

The Moral of the Story -

1. You can’t buy happiness, but you can definitely rent a car that makes you feel like you might have it.

2. External happiness is like a bad Wi-Fi signal: it works for a second, then it drops.

3. True freedom doesn’t come with a price tag—unless you count the freedom from debt collectors.

4. If you’re ever feeling down, just remember: Rajesh might have 15 bathrooms, but you don’t need 15 bathrooms to be happy… just one, preferably with a functioning shower.

So, what’s the ultimate lesson? 

Happiness is an inside job . You just need to stop running in circles and start living your life without checking how many people liked your status. But, if you want to feel really free, try doing it without checking your neighbor’s Wi-Fi password. 😎

The End... or is it? (Because, honestly, freedom doesn't come with an expiration date.)