Luxury Redefined

It’s hot and dry. I am parched. But the water filter runs on electricity and we do not have power. The UPS at Parikrma is powering the router, so I do have internet connection. But I know that the UPS is going to drain soon, as it only works for an hour. However the UPS is not used to power the lights and the fan in this place, and the room is quite dark and . The heat in the room is unbearable. So I move to the external room. The room is a lot cooler, because it’s quite open. But it opens to the playground! So it’s very dusty and I my mouth’s dry. However, the dust seems the less of the evils.

The marketing team is busy at work in this external room. They are sorting hundreds of business cards. Just watching them in this heat and dust was tiring. So I suggested that they should just get a card reader. One of them tells me “if you know someone who will give us a card reader or give us money for one, do let us know”. I thought about who might donate us a card reader. Interestingly enough, no one came to mind. Anyone interested in donating would want to donate directly to a cause. So what is the cause here?

I go back to the room inside to continue my work and realize that we have not had power for more than an hour now. That means the UPS has been drained dry. Thankfully we have received a grant for generators and that should help us work more efficiently. While everyone is excited about the generator, we wonder how best to use the generator. We all agree that the generator cannot be used for “luxury”. So we set out to define luxury. Is fan a luxury? How about when its 35 degrees Celsius and the asbestos roof makes the rooms hot enough to bake cookies in?

I think about “luxury” as opposed to “need”. I recollect a discussion I was having with someone from Netherlands, early last winter. He was explaining to me that he would never be able to get people from a place like Netherlands to fund sweaters for children in a country like India. Someone from Netherlands can never really find India cold, so would not consider sweaters a “need” here. While I always knew that the definition of “need” and “luxury” is subjective, I always thought that it was mostly obvious. For the first time, things are not obvious any more.

I have heard the term “luxury redefined” used many times . The visual images associated with the term are usually that of opulence and elegance. But here is a radically different image. It’s that of filtered water jumping from the “need” to the “luxury” list. That’s “luxury redefined” for me!