I wonder why?

I created my blog account on Oct 19 2005 and today it is Nov 2 2006…….

Fight Club – Brad Pitt’s movie…… I don’t like action movies much…. And I thought Fight club is one of them…. Extreme boredom took me to watch this movie…. It started and I thought… Woah cool! Its about some psychiatric condition…. It wasn’t… its not a action movie too…

I watched it with my bro…. we finished watching the whole movie….. Both of us didn’t understand even a bit of it!

It kept me wondering… almost for an hour… I could figure out that each and every scene had some meaning..and the director wants us to realize something… but I couldn’t find out what…..

My bro was searching for reviews and comments about this film.. and came across a word “Anti-Consumerism” and asked me “ What exactly is Consumerism..?

That second.. That one word... I understood the whole movie….Every bit of it.. And i was dumb struck completely…..

After a minutes silence…… I started explaining.. When I spoke.. I spoke non-stop for three hours with my bro trying to make him understand what exactly the movie is trying to say!!

Hmmmmmmmmm…..

Fight Club is a brash slap in the face of consumerism ……super depiction of "our mass consumerism, our slavery to stuffy corporate office jobs, our growing lack of what makes us human….. The direction is incredibly brilliant."

Ok.. thats enough of Fight club…. What actually bothers me is… our mass consumerism, our slavery to stuffy corporate office jobs, our growing lack of what makes us human……

Not just jobs… Our outlook on life.. Intentions.. Priorities.. Style of living.. Thoughts and actions in entirety is completely conquered by this consumerism-addict world….

"You work in a job you hate, to buy stuff that you don't need, to impress people that you don't like."

- Unknown

Ha ha ha… How true…! With most of us..

I wondered why?

Because

Consumerism sets each person against them self in an endless quest for the attainment of material things or the imaginary world conjured up and made possible by things yet to be purchased. Weight training, diet centers, cosmetic surgery, permanent eye make-up, liposuction, breast reduction, breast enhancement, collagen injections, these are are some examples of people turning themselves into human consumer goods more suited for the "marketplace" than living in a healthy balanced society.

Once when I saw an ice cream named “Last time I ever saw my waist” I blurted out loud.. It costs Rs120/- only…. (Not family pack.. just for one!)The worst part is I bought it and ate it too… Bcoz I remembered the saying.. The best way to overcome temptation is to yield to it! ;)

Most of us can’t help it… That’s the way today’s world is…. Choices are open but it demands a lateral mind to choose it…

This is quite funny….

Once I skid on a slippery floor and banged on a chair…. And I fell… I hurt my knee…. One person came running towards me (This person is no stranger to me… My very close relative who is supposed to be very caring to me… and yes Of course she is.. But I wondered why she did that that day…) and looked at me first then at the chair….

She says.. “Thank God! Nothing happened to the chair” and she walks off… (No Joke)

(But) I laughed out loud and cried silently……

or

When the concept of the most beautiful in the world tends to be the same for everyone, it becomes more and more difficult to make more people happy.

U don’t agree?

How many of you have more than one TV or Vehicle at home? How many of you feel sad for someone that they had to walk to a shop at a walkable distance? Actually there is no word "walkable" as such in English…. Yet.. the meaning of this word is so much influenced by consumerim…. After all.. just 10 to 15 mins of walk is considered long walk these days… The increasing traffic situation is the undeniable evidence… Look at the number of 2 wheelers in the city? Gosh!(I am one of them) It was a luxury.. Then… Now… Its become a need… where? In our minds…

This reminds of another saying…“Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder”

Does it? Not really! Not atleast in todays world or… there wouldn’t have been such a boom in cosmetic market in India….

“One beauty product that has achieved remarkable success across all class and ethnic groups is the bleaching cream Fair and Lovely. Something of an institution in India, Fair and Lovely was patented by Hindustan Lever Limited, in 1971 following the patenting of niacinamide, a chemical that lightens the color of the skin. First test marketed in the South in 1975, it was available throughout India by 1978 and subsequently became the largest selling skin cream in India. Accounting for eighty percent of the fairness cream market in India, Fair and Lovely has an estimated sixty million consumers throughout the subcontinent and exports to thirty four countries in Southeast and Central Asia, as well as the Middle East. In 2000, Fair and Lovely embarked on a new marketing approach, with newer, more sophisticated packaging and improved fragrance (Hindustan Lever Prospectus, 2002). Even Fair and Lovely, it seemed, was not immune to the beauty product revolution that introduced new skin care lotions. “

Isn't she Beautiful? That's a priceless hearty smile!

True beauty is one that is full of imperfections. - Hema

Be yourself. Such is the kind of beauty that will be respected, though this kind of outlook is made important these days. Consumer goods sellers are so clever.. they don’t target people but their insecurities. A direct hit!

It occurs only as a thought… You are continuously bombarded with the same thought and someday it occurs to be the truth.. every means of communication says that and finally you start believing in what just occurred as a thought.. Not just you.. a few more around you…. a few becomes many in few days… finally the MANY becomes ALL

This kind of media impact amazes me most of the time!

I wonder why?

Have you heard the Priyanka Chopra beauty pageant story?

The question she got in her final round of Miss World competition?

Which “living” women would be your role model?

She replied” Mother Teresa”

She wasn’t alive then :P

The verdict said it all….

“Priyanka Chopra won the Miss World title…”

I wondered why?

Consumerism…. Of course…. India is the best market to target Beauty Cosmetics… As simple as that…

Lol..

Not just this aspect… Consumersim has conquered us in every aspect of life… I am not here to post on Anti-Consumerism… It has its own good and bad sides to it… But we fail to think and act…. That is wat that bothers me… about giving lifeless/meaningless possessions, a better priority.. end of the day.. you are not even happy!

All through, we are only turning this world into a garbage dump…. We ve lost our paradise again… World s no more a beautiful place to live in my eyes… The kind of beauty I am referring to is…

A small house surrounded by garden where you grow your own vegetables for food… A house where humans, cattle and birds live in harmony… (These days only dogs (that too branded) and Cats are pets) You live in a community where you know almost everyone in your neighborhood… (These days we don’t even know the persons name next door (even I don’t know)) Children have a lovely vast green open place to play what they liked (Compound wall surrounded play fields doesn’t look beautiful to my eyes.. So cramped and crowded.. Sorry! Worst part is you pay to get in and play there ) You don’t have to “make time” amidst your busy schedule to go to nearby temple or to be present for you kids fourth birthday…(stress stress stress every where… These days.. you have special classes conducted to meet and play… do activities that we ought to be doing in NORMAL life.. “Art of living” is a course? Yes when Art becomes Style Art needs to be taught…)Walking is a pleasure… Speaking is easy.. Friends are few and for a lifetime… Children are the world to parents… Their sole concern is their children…(None of which is true these days at least to an extent) Festivals are a joy you long for every year…Where we all value relationships more than anything under sun… (Actually we all do.. But only until it is broken coz of materialistic sympathies) Live simple and happy… with accessible quality education good books.. good food.. good music.. good entertainment.. good schools and colleges.. research houses.. Let there be computers.. Internet.. mobiles.. every good thing of today’s world.. (But never in the name of need… it should only multiply your happiness instead few psychiatric syndromes through these are causing a kind of mental illness to people.. My next article will be on that..)

It would look somewhat similar to this!!

Can u see my children playing cricket on a vast rich green lawn...? (Pets are part of their play!)

This is the kind of beauty I was referring to…. I don’t know if it is possible.. But I know I ve not said anything that never existed.. It was all there… a few decades back too…