pahchan
Pahchan in hindi means identification. Identities/Habits once defined, mostly stays like that and sinks below consciousness, unless disrupted or consciously you become aware.
When I was spending time in the village of Wanjulshet I was speaking with our guide from village, Sagar in my broken hindi. And what point of day he is most happy? I gave examples to him like I am very happy when I go to river there in the village and when I am in that top of mountain. Then he said these things have become Pahchan for him. Pahchan is a word I learned after coming to this village life – it means habitual knowledge. So because those have become Pahchan for him, the happiness doesn’t hit him. And he added, if I go after a gap like two weeks or something, then I get that happiness.
We should not underestimate how we are brained – we are rewarded for novelty. While pahchan gives us a level of comfort, it can no longer give the same level of happiness which those may have given in the first place. We unknowingly start taking things for granted. Life partner, all those small luxuries in life… Have you sometimes noticed that you wait for whole year to buy something and once you have bought it within weeks the thrill dies down. Is pahchan good or bad? The right question is, are you aware of the points in your life where pahchan is affecting your appreciation for life. It is something we have to be aware of.
Getting completely out of your usual life also will help you to appreciate all those things that you were being taking granted. I never knew that having free flow of water was such a luxury – The villagers have one tap in home where the water will come for half hour daily – they have to collect and keep in that time.
Pahchan helps our life by making taking away that hit of pain also. When something becomes habitual, the pain associated with it does not come out as that big pain any more also. How mysterious and beautiful our brains work. Have you ever noticed sometimes we would have visited a full country abroad but would not have went to that tourist spot which is very accessible and near to this. There can be many reasons to this – one can be the thought that it can be done at any time. So the closeness and advantage becomes a disadvantage is reality by taking away the urgency.
Last line: Get completely out of your habitual life to appreciate them once again.