I think it was when news about Ambani's luxurious home in Mumbai penetrated the Indian media, I thought about this again. People had all kinds of abuses about this act of his, which in the first place was very much his personal choice. If you questioned Ambani's choice of building a luxurious home, you're probably not too far from questioning Ambani's choice of getting married, which he obviously made many decades back without anyone's frown.Let us leave the discussion of evaluating what is personal and what is not to a different post, right now let us focus back on luxury and necessity. I think while we're a little generous talking about necessity in relative terms, we're very scrimpy when it comes to evaluating luxury. This evaluation is even more skewed in a country like India, where the disparity between the rich and the poor is huge. For example, when you buy a small car, there is always someone, who can't afford a motorbike, who thinks you're spending on luxury. When you buy your big car, there are even more people who think so. And when you buy a luxury car, almost the entire country is going to be thinking so.
The value chain of abuses is so complete that it starts right from the slippers and clothes you wear to the cars and houses you own. I think before we start questioning people about the lavish slippers they wear, the pricey clothes they own, the expensive cars they drive, or the luxurious homes they stay in, we should just look behind us for a moment. Before we preach them altruism, we should evaluate if we would sell our car and donate it to the poor. Before we preach them detachment, we should examine if we can stay in a house that is as much cheaper.
If necessity is relative, please let luxury also be relative.
"Absolutely" agree with the relativity :P
ReplyDeleteAnd even if we are altruistic and detached, you would then say, "Its great if we're altruistic and detached, but let's be greater, and not expect the same from everyone else" :))
Thanks for completing it. I won't mind leaving posts incomplete for the lack of time, if you would complete it like this every time :)
ReplyDeleteOh, no! Even though I'd love to be blogging-assistant, I don't think I'll always know how to complete these posts :)
ReplyDeleteAnd the beauty of your posts, is equally shared by the introduction, the core and the conclusion. There's no way I can do justice if you delegate the job to me :) Please continue to be perfect :)
"Please continue to be perfect"
ReplyDeleteI'll take that as your attempt to encourage me as in this quote - "A word of encouragement during a failure is worth more than an hour of praise after success" :)
What a wonderful quote! Thanks for sharing :) But no, doesn't apply now, for I cant see any failure here :)
ReplyDeleteBtw, what an awesome house... I'm suspecting that the reason behind the abuses is envy. Emotions cloud reason just like reason shrouds emotion :-)
ReplyDelete