Hey look, "I am rich"!

The divine fragrance of coffee, wafting from across the coffee shop was so inviting that I decided to take a small break from shopping spree, at the mall. While waiting for my coffee, it was fun enjoying the festive mood and bubbling energy all around.

"Oh, my Gowwwwwd!!!!", a sudden, screeching voice and a very weird accent interrupted my joy. An accident was on the verge of darting in my direction, freaking me completely! A lady was struggling with huge shopping trolley; helplessly dragged by the wheels going astray, precariously steering her way, plunging towards me. Having realized that she had lost balance, I recovered from shock and rushed to help her get hold of things and made her sit at the table next to mine. A cold "thanks" and a snooty, plastic smile later, she got engrossed in her cell phone and I returned to my table bit amused with what had just happened before me. 

In those brief moments of my helping the lady to settle, I was aghast at what I had noticed. She was a flesh and blood, blaring advertisement of many a designer labels. Her clothes and accessories were shouting for attention. Sad part was, her attire was overpowering and she looked as if she did not belong to the labels she was fiercely trying to flaunt. Intrigued by her faux pas, I was wondering if she was a victim of stifled insecurity or ostentatious "superiority complex" to be so keen on proclaiming her lifestyle to the world. I sincerely felt that the lady would have looked much better without that hideously over embellished dressing from head to toe. 

I love designer clothes and accessories and wear them too, don't get me wrong. But what always baffles me is the need for vulgar display of lifestyle choices to create a halo effect. I fail to understand the need to advertise self-worth through "labels". 

We live in times driven by conspicuous consumption and it is very tough to keep up with Joneses these days. Every day, the bar is raised on a "perfect" picture of just about any and every area of our life, no matter how intimate. There is a constant assault on our minds about how one can fit in and create that carefully crafted "beautiful" life that can make rest of the world gawk and envy us. 

I could not stop thinking about an incident I had witnessed just before entering the coffee shop. A lady and her young daughter were arguing over the choice of clothes. The mother was trying to cajole her daughter to buy a latest, trendy outfit while the daughter was not willing to budge as she was happy to wear a dress her granny had specially stitched for her. The doting mother reminded that she had already worn the outfit couple of times and that "people" had seen her in it but her daughter saw no point in buying anything new as she didn't see the need. "But mama, I feel so special in that dress because granny has made it for me and I love it! And so what if people have seen me in it, what's wrong in wearing it again?" I was truly amazed at the maturity and understanding of that young girl.

It is quite a challenge these days to wake up and not feel "good enough" in some area of our life as we don't fit in the set prescribed standards of "great life" by the so called experts. Suddenly we have become too conscious just about everything in our life and are worried if we are doing it right. 

The very concept of building our identity based on some artificial illusions is disturbing. My concern is the race to look "better, smarter, richer, healthier etc." and where does it end really? Why chase something for the sake of recognition? What is wrong in not subscribing to those set standards by others and sticking to one's individuality without worrying about how we are perceived by the world? There is so much out there telling us what we should do, look like, wear, buy, eat, read, think, say; how to create dreams and live them, be more rich, slim, beautiful, sexy and we seem to be enamoured by the vision without really living it. 

There can't be anything more pathetic than becoming someone for the sake of fitting in some vicarious thrill or illusion! Yes, its great to have money and be able to buy the most expensive things in life but those things don't define us completely. There is lot more to us than our material possessions. In my observation and experience, money can NEVER buy culture and class.

The true celebration of life is in finding and staying our authentic self. It is okay to shun cacophony of outside world and listen to our inner self. There is no point in wasting time, energy and money on some bizarre, borrowed idea of life. What matters in the end is not what all we acquire in life but whether we have lived our life truly and left our signature mark.