Tariq and I are toying with the idea of moving out of NYC. We are not sure where our next port of call will be, but temporarily we want to put up our feet at my parent's home in tranquil Cochin. A good idea to ride out the storm and relax, enjoy Isaac at this perfect age and live frugally without dipping deep into our savings.
As I mentally prepare for the move, I was making a checklist of all the things I will need to buy in the US to take with me to India. Let's see - my organic curly hair shampoo, my ginger-rush body cream, the branded diapers that Isaac has been using since he was born (perhaps enough to last me 6 more months - that works up to about 600 diapers!), my Apple i-touch, my Mac Book,and other such 'necessities' that I think I cannot live without. Odd, I thought, do I need all these things to make me comfortable?
Which brings me to something Tariq pointed out to me. About sixty years ago Gabriel Tarde (1843–1904), the great French sociologist, dealt with the problem of the popularization of luxuries. An industrial innovation, he pointed out, enters the market as the extravagance of an elite before it finally turns, step-by-step, into a need of each and all and is considered indispensable. What was once a luxury becomes in the course of time a necessity.
1 comment:
pass on the list to me, as well! we are seriously considering the move in a few months...perhaps, we could actually be neighbors in India! :)
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