(I like luxury as much as the next person, but my definition of it is not fancy cars and houses and silks. I prefer the luxury of being able to enjoy being who I am. And am glad to see so many people I like and respect feeling the same way. This was published yesterday...)
On the 2008 Forbes List of Billionaires, 53 people featured are Indians. The prediction is that there will be more individuals in this country with that kind of spending power within the next ten years. To cater to the myriad tastes of this population, actual or potential, a host of luxury brands of everything from kitchen sinks to handmade shoes have been making their presence felt in the great Indian bazaar. And all this is being lapped up by more than the super-rich; the huge segment that is the salaried middle-class is wallowing (almost literally) in the freedom and luxury of being able to shop for what has been, for a very long time, just an advertisement in a glossy magazine, be it a pair of Jimmy Choo shoes, a Louis Vuitton handbag, a Zegna suit or a Versace frock. They have the money to buy, they want to buy and that hunger to buy is reportedly growing fast, at a rate of about 30 per cent every year. Retail consultancy group Technopak finds that approximately 1.8 million households in India now have an annual income of $100,000 or more and are willing to or actually do spend about $10,000 every year on purely luxury purchases.
Spending money on non-essentials is not new to the Indian ethos – from the Cartier baubles that the erstwhile maharajas acquired to the bushels-full of firecrackers burst by the average family to celebrate Diwali, we as a people like extravagance, spectacle, creating an impression. ‘Old money’ no longer frowns on ostentatious displays of wealth, perhaps because it is no longer unusual to show off with a latest-model Mercedes or a meal at a seven-star restaurant. The days of Gandhian simplicity are fading fast and self-denial or abstinence seems to be a thing of the past. The message in the bottle of bubbly has changed: If you can’t get no satisfaction, just go buy yourself some! Luxury is very easily available today and a lot more people can afford to find it, guilt-free and with the greatest pleasure.
But what is luxury today? If it all about owning a brand that everyone envies? If it about finding products that make life a little happier and far more comfortable? Or is it something intangible, on which a price tag cannot be attached? Sangita Kathiwada of Melange put it, "Luxury is a grandmother hand-crafting a phulkari shawl for her granddaughter from the day she is born." For her, personally, “The greatest luxury is wearing a 400-count khadi (Rs1,200 per metre) kurta pajama and lying on pure cotton sheets that are changed every day. It is about an experience that is unique, personal, joyous to all six senses. To me, luxury is about feeling, about so much comfort – Manolo Blahnik shoes are vanity, not luxury, not comfortable!”
According to Siddharth Grover of Sans Tache Art Gallery in Worli, “A real luxury to me is like having a new toy, something that I don't get too often. It also has a lot to do with what I can't afford easily and applies to both the tangible and the intangible. I would not treat something I can get off the shelf as a luxury; anything I get in ration is a luxury.” As someone who buys and sells art, which cannot really be classed as ‘essential’, he sees the “availability of luxuries growing and only getting better. I know from experience that definitely increases temptation and makes me want to indulge more…and I do. After all, I get what's available here from here and what's not, from where it is.” And is there ever a guilt factor involved in self-indulgence? Grover feels that “The guilt factor does set in at times, but the contentment I derive from indulging eventually takes over. I see no reason to do something and feel guilty later - it beats the whole purpose of the exercise!”
And there are many who understand luxury to be that special something that makes life richer, more interesting. Like young musician Taamara, whose definition of real luxury “would be a quiet and uniquely built house near a small lake, surrounded by hills. It's a perfect setting for a musician to create and enhance talent. I would like to be away from the filth and clutter of the cities, but with all the modern technology and facilities that a city provides in an isolated land that I choose.”
For Dr Vidya Vencatesan, Head of the Department of French at Elphinstone College, “Luxury is getting away from Mumbai to a quiet place where life is comfortable but not excessively so, to sing, read write, sleep, eat healthy and simply catch up with family. It is about things that you would say and do at leisure, not like items on the agenda at a board meeting.” Her kind of indulgence “has nothing to do with India opening up or closing down, it is about my life and lifestyle choices.”
And there is luxury that comes with a price so high that it cannot be put on a tag. Like for Shobhaa De, writer, designer, creative adventurer. “For me, the ultimate luxury in today's frenzied times is TIME itself! There is never enough of it..... I wish my day was like chewing gum and I could stretch it for 72 hours. Luxury is not an object - it is a way of life. To live with grace and beauty is luxury.” She is not, she says, “someone driven by the desire to possess something desperately. I rarely lust after unattainable goods; I used to lust after Hermes scarves, those large squares, till Raisa Husain gifted me one recently!”
A random survey would show that true luxury is not what comes easy, but what needs work, striving, effort. It tends to be almost unattainable, rare, and so more greatly prized. If you can buy it, it is practically a necessity and, as De says, “Necessities are hard to define; they are so relative. I love the good things in life, but only up to a point. I am happy to admire them on other people!”
No comments:
Post a Comment