You're worth it!

Why it is worth investing in the small luxuries of life

 Luxury is such a loaded word, isn’t it? To some it evokes images of lavish suites in exclusive hotels; to others it means expensive ingredients served up in eight-course meals in three-star restaurants. To some it means designer bags and jewellery; to others it is exemplified in private-plane travel. 

 

Everyone has a different definition of luxury. For me, the greatest luxury in the world is that of time – that is, time to oneself, that you can spend on self-care without feeling guilty about not fulfilling one responsibility or the other. But, of course, there are a thousand other luxuries as well that go towards making life worth living. The test, of course, is which one of these could I absolutely not live without.

 

I spent some time thinking about this and came to the conclusion that it’s not the big stuff that I would sweat; it would be the small, even negligible, things that I simply could not bear to give up. Here are just some of them, in no particular order of importance.

 

·       My morning cuppa. This has to be perfect if my day is to start off on the right foot. And the only way it does is with my particular blend of Fresh Brew capsules (made from Indian coffee beans). The moment that beautiful aroma fills the kitchen, all feels right with the world. I am now so addicted to this that I even travel with a sleeve of capsules so that I never have to go without that particular caffeine buzz.

·       Rice, rice, baby! Ever since my diabetes diagnosis, I don’t eat rice very often – and then, only in small quantities. But there is no compromise on the rice in question. It has to be Kamini rice (very close to Gobindobhog rice – but even better!) that I buy in bulk whenever I visit Kolkata. In my view, this is the king of rice and works well with almost any style of cooking and cuisine. Or you could just add a pinch of salt, slather with ghee and enjoy on its own.

·       Fresh flowers. I don’t have a garden and my balcony is too small to grow too many, so the way I cope is by making a weekly visit to the neighbourhood flower shop to buy the blooms that are in season. My favourite is the nargis, but that has a tragically short season, so I often have to make do with tuberose, roses or lilies instead. But so long as they are colourful and plentiful and all around me, I am happy. 

·       News and entertainment. As a news junkie, I probably spend way more than I should subscribing (online) to foreign newspapers and magazines. Add to that the subscription costs to all kinds of OTT platforms and the bills sort of add up. But no matter how much all this amounts to, I can’t bear the thought of giving even one of my subscriptions up. I guess this is my version of FOMO!

·       Vanity. I don’t really care too much about make-up, but skincare is an entirely different matter. My husband is always shocked by how much I am prepared to pay for a night cream. And no matter what, I have to get my hair coloured professionally. As the adage goes, I am worth it!

 

The rich list

Luxury is not the same as conspicuous consumption, no matter what the big brands tell you

Over the last six months, I have probably attended more 'Luxury Conferences' than I have had cooked breakfasts. And at each of these, no matter who the speakers or the attendees, the message seems to be the same. Luxury equals money. Actually make that big money. As in Big Money.

So, we have sundry examples thrown at us to illustrate the point. There is the iconic Hermes handbag with a waiting list as long as Jane Birkin's legs. There is the perfectly-cut yellow diamond with no visible inclusions, available exclusively from Graff. There is the private jet which comes with a jacuzzi and power shower, and a four-poster bed in the master bedroom (and if you don't like the fixtures you can always have them customised to your taste). And so on and on and on.

I watch goggle-eyed at all the high-value items projected on the big screen. But no matter how hard I try, I can't quiet the little voice inside my head that tells me that this is just conspicuous consumption. Luxury is an entirely different animal. And while it helps to have money to feed it, there is more to it than just filthy lucre. Or, at least, that's the way I see it.

So what, you ask, is my definition of luxury. Well, it it hard to pin down in a sentence or two, so I will do the next best thing. I'll give you a few examples of what qualifies as luxury in my book (and that's an actual hardback book not one of those Kindle editions).

* Being time-rich: There is nothing quite as luxurious than having all the time in the world to achieve what you want to. That feeling when your entire life lies before you like a blank slate, waiting for you to fill it with a wealth of experiences. Alas, like youth itself, this luxury is wasted on the young. But if you are still on the right side of 50, don't forget to luxuriate in this sense of being time-rich. And if your daily life is too fraught to allow you to do so, then rope off some vacation time, where you are not scheduled to within an inch of your life. Laze away the morning, have a leisurely afternoon, relax in the evening, read late into the night. Rinse and repeat.

*  Getting enough sleep: This is the one luxury that I simply cannot do without. Not because I am a spoilt so-and-so. But because if I don't clock up seven hours or more I am a complete wreck the next day. I can barely keep my eyes open, I can't think, and I most certainly cannot write. Sadly, we don't recognise sleep as a luxury until we run up a significant sleep-deficit. Ask any mother of kids below the age of one what she would rather have: a Kelly bag or a week of unbroken, eight-hour sleep, and you will discover just how much of a luxury sleep is. (Now, even more so, given that medical research has it that sleep deficit can lead to serious illnesses and even reduce mortality.)

* Room to breathe: Space is not just the final frontier; it is also the biggest luxury of all in our over-crowded cities and our increasingly tiny apartments. Just check with any teenager who fantasises about having her own room, where she can hang out with her friends, while a sign outside the door growls: "No entry for adults". Or the young, newly-married couple who have to live with their parents because they can't afford a home of their own. Or even the ageing parents who have to move in with their kids because they can't look after themselves. If they could have one thing in the world, they would ask for a space that was entirely their own.

* The freedom to make your own life choices: It's not just the big stuff like where to live, what to study, how to invest your money, whom to marry, where to work, that matters. It's also the small stuff like what to eat for breakfast (or to skip it entirely), what colour to paint the walls, where to go on holiday, what to watch on TV. The feeling of being empowered to do all (or most) of the above is what luxury is all about.

* The ability to say no: It may not seem like a big deal to those who have the freedom of choice, but it is nothing less than a luxury for those who don't. If you have to tow the line laid down by your boss, if you have to marry the man your parents chose for you, if you have to have sex whenever your partner desires it no matter how you feel, then the ability to say no seems like the best gift ever.

* Experiences rather than purchases: Given a choice between buying a piece of jewellery and going on holiday to a hitherto-unknown destination, I would always choose the experience over the purchase. Things don't add value to your life or, for that matter, bring you closer to your loved ones. But shared experiences do that every single time. And that, to my mind, is the biggest luxury of all.