Our persistent efforts in identifying a perfect pet for our Pune flat, resulted in we bringing home a brown colored hamster; who soon became a family member. The day started with feeding him seeds and vegetables, before actually thinking of a breakfast for us. He brought us joy and excitement and showed us to be caring and careful towards a very small animal. His small size prompted us to keep him confined in a single room so that he would have a large area to roam about and allow us to be vigilante of his presence.
At night, we would keep a large stock of sunflower seeds for him to take care of his needs for the night. And our hamster would greedily stuff the available eatables in his mouth; which would cause his mouth to actually swell. After finding a comfortable spot, he would dump his food store to see him through the night. No matter how less his requirement, his tendency to accumulate his food was greater.
In fact, all rodents exhibit this behavior of storing food for the so called rainy day. 'Scrat', the ICE AGE movie squirrel has become quite a hero that comes up with crazy ideas and results while chasing his favorite food. The Mickey Mouse squirrels also are shown to be running after seeds and piling it into their house. In general, the rodent den in fields is full of grains and a nightmare for the farmers.
The same tendency is present in us humans too. We tide over adverse situations by providing for our future needs. This need varies from person to person. Few people plan for the next meal, few for another month, few others probably plan for generations by having provisions that buy food. So the rodent in us drives us to accumulate, to intelligently store for future consumption. The problem accentuates when we cannot define our wants, but we accumulate more than our need, . The definition of need or want itself is abstract. The news of black money or Panama papers or any form of swindling is hardly a surprise, anymore. Blame it on the rodent in us.
Very well said, Swapna! - Maithili
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