Saree purchases and learnings on Simplicity

 

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A friend has given me money for sarees for the women. Rs. 1000/- for each of them. So when they come to Chennai, we will buy 10 lovely sarees. With a sense of a large budget.

My daugher and I were wondering where to go. We thought of Nalli. That we could go to a fancy place, as we did have lots of money. 10,000/-. For 10 sarees.

We checked it out as we were passing by the other day. The airconditioned style.

And suddenly the sense of richness and plenty dwindled. In the face of sarees with price tags of 4000/-, 7000/-.

One thousand per saree, a queenly sum, suddenly felt small. Very ordinary.

We then decided that we would all go to a simple shop. In a simple street. And shop like queens. the queens that all women are.

And not allow super wealth of e;lite spaces make us feel less of queens.

But a learning. Again.

How poverty and richness is comparative.

Of how our excesses make the poor poorer.

And how important it is to stay simple. For many reasons.

One being to dignify the poor.

• Aparna Krishnan

  When you see 10000/- sarees across the room, the 1000/- saree suddenly looks very ordinary.

  That is the reality of all our consumerism actually. The implications are many.

  It creates a poverty even where it does not exist.

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• Neha Srivastava

  Aparna Krishnan

   I do think its all a matter of perception. There will always be things one cannot afford. Once you can afford 10k saree, there will be 1L sarees and so on. Expensive things exist, whether or not consumerism does. When there was no consumerism, these expensive things still existed, just that they belonged to kings and nobles. The difference is what the person looking at things he cannot afford thinks. Longing is a state of mind and I know its rich coming from me, but our ancestors did teach us ways to exercise control of our senses, in a way that we change our own perception. Infact, the whole point of pursuance of 4 purusharthas and asceticism is this, mastering control over senses so much so that these things dont affect you. Easier said than done, ofcourse but the journey to that point is life.

  

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• Aparna Krishnan

  Thats all ok.

  Yet in a poor country it devolves on us privileged to not rub salt into the wounds of the poor by any excesses.

  Anyway thats my understanding.

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• Neha Srivastava

  Aparna Krishnan

   I empathize with your understanding, but what is a wound is upto us.

  In fact, while we, privileged people are vicariously imagining what are the wounds of the poor, from what I have seen, the poor themselves have a very different and often inspiring worldview. Just my 0.02¢

  

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• Rama Lakshmi Dhavala

  A more intricate work on a saree gets the weaver a little more. Behind every saree is the toil of a weaver too , who wants to earn that bit more.

  But yes, he doesn't get the larger part of the pie too.

  

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• Aparna Krishnan

  Rama, yes thats the only place where indulgence is permitted. Where it assures another his needed livlihood. Even there we need awareness and balance.

  Neha, in a country of widespread poverty the onus of sensitivity (simplicity) and ability to return (i will not call it generosity. It is just our duty) is vast.

  As to what the poor feel - please definitely watch Kaaka Muttai,

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• Aparna Krishnan

  http://paalaguttapalle.blogspot.com/.../kaaka-muttai-1_29...

  

  PAALAGUTTAPALLE.BLOGSPOT.COM

  Kaaka Muttai - 1

  Kaaka Muttai - 1

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• Neha Srivastava

  Aparna Krishnan

   While a call towards that maybe needed, yet we mustn’t forget that Dharma is a personal endeavour and artha is also a purushartha. Everyone’s path to moksha is different, there is no fixed path.

  Secondly, if no one is pursuing artha, our “poor” country will forever be trampling grounds for the rich from other countries. For every brahmana to live a life on bhiksha, there needs to be a grihastha, who can donate without worrying about the next meal for his own kids. Dharma is balanced.

  Lastly, there is no one I abhor more who have a lot but pretend to be poor because there is nothing more dishonest that, and unfortunately our country is cursed with such people (think Lalu Prasad and the Gandhi dynasty, who wear north face jackets worth 70k and pair it with hawaii chappal worth Rs. 20/- just to show how poor they are). Social stratas will exist, if not of this kind, then some other kind. There will always be things that we want that we cannot get. And its not just in the realm of artha either.

  

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• Aparna Krishnan

  Neha Srivastava

  1. I know well about the purusharthas. and the ashramas. They are great concepts. Yet, everything has to be rooted in the present realities, and in empathy and sensitivity.

  I am not discounting the need to earn, but emphasising the need for simplicity. Overt consumption is mocking at the poor. I suggest you watch the movie I mentioned. It brings it out with masterly understatement, and drives home thw point I am trying to say far better than I ever can.

  2. This is today a country where the majority is poor and malnourished. Opulence is untenable. Earning and giving away apart from our needs, yes certianly.

  3. I do not know about Lallo. But I know about myself. I seek simplicity and yet a certian fear, or lack of integrity, has kept my in my class security limits. Privilege.

  I am only presenting an position. It is our choice to accept it. And if we do, to push as far as integrity and morality permit.

  If opulence is considered desirable, or is justified, I have nothing to say.