Should we change or change our parents??

Whenever I go out to booze, eat, shopping or to a trip always I remember my parents.

Going back to my old days, when I was studying engineering our family income was approximately Rs. 30, 000 plus or minus 10K depending on the crop that year. My engineering fee was Rs. 7,500 and i use to take another Rs. 13,000 for other expenses like rent, food, exam fees. Fortunately I bought only one book in my engineering life and i should thank Shreekanth and Guru for helping me with books and notes.

So I always wonder how did my parents manage during that time as they were spending most of the money on me. When i ask my parents, they just say we were spending less that time (even now they do the same ). They cut down on most of the expenses and stopped using labors to work in the field and instead they did most of the work on their own. Reduced usage of inorganic fertilizers also saved them lots of money. They saved every rupee and made sure that I could complete my studies.

Now the time has changed, we get better income from agriculture and me as well earning good money. I tried to change my parents a bit asking them to buy some good some clothes, have food at a good restaurant. They never agree for it and tell me that we are happy the way we are.

When they visited Bangalore recently, I wanted to take them to restaurant and have some nice food. My dad asked me how much they will charge, i said may be around Rs. 1000 for four people. My dad suddenly replied in north karntaka language "manjal hogli ondu savir rupayige dinasi tandre ondu tingalu tinnabahudu, adenu horage hogi tintiya, summane maneli aduge madli iru (If you buy groceries for Rs. 1000, you can eat for month. Why do you want to go out and eat?)

Whereas if we look at us, we freak out every week end and spend lots of money for food, entertainment, travel....while spending freely, I always think about my parents and ask myself whether I am doing right or wrong. At the end I get convinced and the reason is we live in different world and it demands this change. On the other side i also learnt that let us not try to change our parents, its better to leave them the way they are so that they find happiness in it.

I believe this might be the case with most of us........