Live it up?: Blog # 58

Live it up? : An Ode to Consumerism

            There is something about November in Kerala. There is this omnipresent zephyr with a hint of the winter that it is going to bring along. The mornings will be misty with this breeze playing around with the fog. One moment, you will see a lush green paddy field and the in the next, all of it will be covered in a veil of fog.

            Basking in the morning sun, I was in the balcony whiling away the Sunday morning at my home. Then gleamed past,  a Merc- S class. Than the obvious fascination for premium cars, what caught my interest was the person in it. He was a family friend of ours. I asked my sister whether they got a new Merc. She said “Knowing him, he CAN buy one”. That ‘CAN’ had a twin intonation to it. One – he has the economic backing for that and second, he is the kind of person who wouldn't mind splurging.

            This is one question that has daunted me perpetually. How much of spending is justified?; more so because I have a very frugal lifestyle. Surprisingly, in spite of it being an amount, a number, it is subjective. It is entirely left to the individual. What share of one’s earning should one spend on the needs and the wants?

            I have come to realize that I have a sense of respect for people who spend on luxury. The respect comes from the fact that they have the conviction that their future endeavors will bring in enough income to sustain the lifestyle they are following. They have that clarity of vision. They have that confidence in themselves.

            I remember our economics professor once praising the profligates. He said if not for them, the economy will stagnate. If all of us were to have a frugal life style, there will be minimal buying/spending and the market will stall.

            Don’t get me wrong. I am not advocating reckless spending. The result of that was there for all of us to see in the form of subprime and the rest. Spending is akin to taking risks - it will be sustainable if it’s calculated.

            In striving to secure our tomorrow, we shouldn't forget to live our present neither should we live our present in a way that will wipe away the hopes for a better tomorrow.

                                                                                                                        Arun Babu

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