An old Panasonic radio with leather cover on it, a television set box having only 12 channels, nostalgic dials of telephone, and a shelf full of audio cassettes. For many none of this matters; for me it’s a glimpse of probably the best time of my life: my childhood.

I was allowed to watch one movie in a month, and the effort I had to make for it will seem ridiculous to the kids of this generation. Rs 10 was the rent and we hardly used to get good print. Times have changed a little. Now I carry an average of five hundred movies with me on the go in my external hard disk and hardly get time to watch them. But I keep collecting and downloading them. I don't know, maybe it’s an unexplainable hunger.

I had a similar kind of experience during my post-graduation thesis as well. I collected around 800 eBooks related to my topic and provided as many references I could sitting on my desk. But I haven't even grasped one book completely. Later, my supervisor told me that he had to travel to other cities sometime even for one book. What's strange is that despite everything being on our fingertips, the results are not what we desire. In short, hundreds of eBooks cannot replace one real book and similar is the case with movies and cassettes.

The point I want to make here is that, do we share an association with material things we use? Some do, some don't but in recent times, obsessive and impulsive consumerism has changed the course in the latter’s favor. People these days don't have time to associate with anyone – things aside.

An ad these days caught my eyes in which a girl keeps talking to her mattress. Even though in the real world it might look crazy but the idea is right: material things should have their own place.

A term these days has become a buzz word, which I am sure was not the case one decade ago, and that is "resale". Cell phone provides a perfect case study to understand the science of “resale".

Money is hard to earn these days, everyone will agree to that. So, if someone is spending around, for instance, Rs 30,000 for a cell phone, they must at least get some satisfaction in return. But if instead of satisfaction, you get a perpetual panic to "resale" it or update it with latest model, then I am sorry, it’s going to be iPhone 7 after 6 and so on.

Go to any metropolitan mobile market and you will observe a sea of buyers and sellers. Mostly, you will find delusional youngsters hoping to get what they want. We have to remember that a communication device must have a very minimal role in our lives but our boastful nature is turning mobile companies into huge enterprises.

Well yes, people love their cell phones but not like my father use to love his radio. They protect it from front as well as back so they can get maximum "resale" value. It has become so obvious that if you a buy a new mobile, it already comes with a "protector". In other words we have to take care of it so our potential future buyer can use it to fullest.

That's only one example. Websites like OLX with a tagline like "baich day" are quickly penetrating our homes. Imagine you have bought a new sofa and your wife next day is not satisfied with it and asks you to "baich day" – trust me, you will hate OLX for good.

Online shopping too seems to me a curse in the guise of blessing, adding more panic in lives of obsessive and impulsive consumers. I am not saying that we should not buy new mobiles, shop online or use OLX, but we should take care of our brain’s tendencies. Because once this habit crosses the line of necessity and becomes habit, there is no end to it.

Everybody must have watched that video in which a girl in blue was wrestling over a suit in sale with another lady. Yes, it was funny but it gave me some genuine concern. The so called “sale” is another trap in which our so called educated class falls every time. They end up buy things which they do not need.

Let's not waste our hard earned money on things we don't need, considering the fact that we live in a country where a labourer feed his family for the price of one normal jacket from a branded store.

My New Year resolution is not to buy anything, which I do not direly need. Whatever I purchase, even a thing, I will try to associate with it so that I can curb the thoughts of "reselling" it. Let's say no to obsessive and impulsive consumerism and stick to old idea of loving your things.