It is the world of aspirational tastes...for almost everyone, more is better...greed is good...it is your life, make it as large as you can...never be "santusht" ...and never mind the "green monster" gnawing at your soul...pushing it to the end of its tether...it is what drives you on...gives you the kick...
As we converse intelligently-if a little nonchalantly-about prices hitting the roof, the latest gizmos, the fastest cars, the biggest apartments fly quietly out of their 'shelves' and into our humble harem. Our 'quality time' with family is measured in multiplex-hours, mall-hours, resort-hours...our 'catching up with friends' in pub-hours and disc-hours. Our conversations are "ohs", "aahs", "reallys" over pints and pegs, our gestures are diamonds, our smiles photo-ops. Our music is stiletto-tapping or manicured hands swaying, our health a heady concoction of designer diets, gym memberships, yoga instructors, salsa sessions and exotic therapies. Our ambitions are managerial, our debates international, our travels global, our cuisine continental...our children are summer campers and e-learners, nannied and foreign dictioned to perfection...our pets pedigree and exclusive.
Somewhere, not very far way, perhaps, people-not like us, o no-fight over a packet of food, their homes and lives destroyed by floods. Not designer food, not health food...just food. Somewhere close by, maybe, people-again, not like us in the least-without an inch of land to call their own and no money to pay rent, encroach on our landscaped pavements, begging and peddling dubious wares, till the cleaning-drive-before-foreign VIP-visit purges the roads (and our collective conscience) of their presence. Somewhere, a family struggles to protect its land from a multinational juggernaut...somewhere a child offers herself up for casual labour (and other, scarier professions) to feed younger siblings...somewhere the difference of a rupee in the price of rice is the difference between life and death. Somewhere around us, there are people who do not want to be the best...they just want to be...and can't.
But why are we talking about these people...it isn't as if we can do something about them, is it...and besides what difference would it make to us...we'd rather watch reality television...
