The other day I read a very interesting quote
– “Be glad that you're greedy; the national economy would collapse if you
weren't!”
Letting serious
economy concerns rest at bay, I am talking about the state of my personal
finances which are on the verge of collapse at the end of every month and need
a bail out. Is it because of my greed?
But I wasn't raised to
be a greedy individual. Even today I am not greedy. Understanding of brands,
appreciating value for contentment and satisfaction more than ‘value for money’
and having to upgrade in life are the real spoiler kind of virtues I follow
these days! Don’t be judgmental about me like that. It isn’t a good habit. My
needs have simply translated (and upgraded, like my life) to my desires and I
am being in complete obedience with Maslow. Spending lots on tiny portions of food,
almost limiting street shopping to Sunday wear, not buying shoes off the roads
are certain ways in which I have upgraded. At the end of the financial year, I
feel that fulfilling the burden of self-expectations is the bigger than any tax
burden of the world!
I used to wear sandak
in school and now I wear Catwalk and I feel proud. I know a lot of fancy names
like peep toes and I own mustard wedges and green bellies and silver stilettos.
2 years down the line I will probably wear a Jimmy Choo and feel prouder. I
don’t know household work but I will (make my husband) invest in modular
kitchen. Because I probably belong to the income bracket of top 20% of the
salaried individuals in the country and we are spending hard to fulfill
Pareto’s principle (lest he feels upset) and ensuring that we contribute to 80%
of the country’s annual consumer spend. Pareto will thus become a happy man
because people of my kinds will strive to justify his statistics for the coming
ages
Sometimes I feel lucky
to be privileged. Sometimes I feel confused about my happiness quotient.
Sometimes I can’t relate the two because my base hypothesis is I should be
happy if I am fulfilling more aspirations. My logic is illustrated below –
Upgrade -> Moving
up in life -> Spending on fulfilling aspirations -> Higher probability of
happiness
I am not in a job from hell and I have time on weekends. On weekends when I meet friends I consume high calorie food and then I walk with my father for 30 minutes and burn a small percentage of fat I accumulated through the day. I feel happy that despite living a fairly more comfortable life, I haven’t become fat. I like this life a lot because I feel it gives me freedom to spend on my family, my friends, gift them and pamper myself. Yes, retail therapy works! A mailer from Flipkart with top 5 offers (just) for YOU (what a lie!) delights me on a mundane office day and I buy another pair of shoes and my mother shrieks because of the lack of storage space and low re-usability
I was happy 5 years
ago when I used to spend 1/5th of what I do today. I am happy today
as well. I don’t think consumerism has victimized me. I am a happy consumer and
Flipkart and Central & Pantaloons like me and they all have given me
loyalty points as well! At times I almost feel like I am the proponent of how
to upgrade in life :P
I think consumerism is
making more brands come to India, creating more jobs and making more people
like me feel nice (and pampered). It is making India a global market place and
that is, on any given day a good thing to happen to any economy
The other day I had a
good day at work and I was happily prancing back home when I met a couple who
told me they belonged to my state and have lost their money purses and did not
have means to get anywhere. I knew I was trying to be conned. But they did look
poor. Probably they dint know how to communicate their (monetary) needs to me
(like brands do). I felt generous and I gave them sufficient money to have a
humble meal for two and left. I felt happier (than I feel when I shop).
Probably this is what life is…happiness rests in all sizes XXL, XL, L, M &
S. This was probably a S gesture but it gave me a XL amount of happiness! As
silly and stretched that it may sound, but my generosity was based out of the fact that I spend so
much on myself (aspirations, etc), I can might as well help a couple who seemed
to be distressed
Ultimately, you and
me, rich and poor, old and young are all trying to be happy (as against rich)
and getting rich (and then upgrading) is one of the many proven ways of finding
happiness!
