Talking Shop: Mystique of indulgence

"The self-indulgent man

craves for pleasant things.

He is led by his appetite

to choose these at the

cost of everything else."

-- Aristotle

The intrinsic message is larger and let me clarify that I am no ambassador for any way-overpriced wafers vendor or company. But there are some small things that bring us joy and open our eyes to larger truths; I experienced one such pleasurable moment last week. All I did was buy a can of wafers, Pringles, and offered it to my wife, who had never savoured it before. The little babe dug into it and all but cooed in bliss and contentment. Well, I admit that little and babe she is not anymore, for she is ageing (we all are), but what an ageing! The moot point is that the smallest things are actually the biggest providers of succour, bodily, mental, even ethereal.

Imagine the delight of giving a breather to a 'hal-toting' (plough-wielding) farmer; sharing a crisp 'samosa' with a hungry, famished individual; or giving way-overdue pension to a long-waiting former army-man. Or just providing a bottle of water to a thirsty and parched individual... Ah! Of actions such as these are blessings created and received. It is with this intent that I crusade today, to bring joy and sustenance to now-tired eyes. Lest you think I am all softened and sobered up, there shall be moments of rancour and angst too, with some tentacles bared and barbs shared. At the heart of this discourse is a can of potato chips, which got a couple going, but what happens to those who are 'really-indulgent'? What has this incessant need for 'I want' done over the centuries and how has this trait and vein delineated humanity's very history and evolution?

Throes of excesses

There are places where fountains once ran a-flush with alcohol instead of water, with chamber pots being made of gold. Some decadent royals in history celebrated their wealth with elaborate gestures and displays, building enormous palaces serviced by scores of servants. Some others satisfied every urge with luxury, exotic foods and shocking liaisons. Whatever their specific tastes, self-indulgent people have always known how to party. More recently, some have 800-car garages.

Ironically, many of the above weren't the richest in history; they were just shamelessly ostentatious with their wealth. For instance, Roman Emperor Caligula threw his own people to the lions when he got bored at the Arena, just to entertain himself. Pope Leo X is said to have celebrated his 'Golden Age' by painting a boy head to toe in gold, and that's one of the extravagances that made Martin Luther start the Reformation (after being paraded for a while, the poor little lad died). The Pope also had a pet elephant named Hanno, which perished after the holy one made it eat gold. And get this, one Ottoman Sultan loved fur so much that he shaved his cats so that they could wear sable coats.

Want more? Well, Louis XIV of France spent over US $200 billion building the massive Palace of Versailles. Just maintaining his royal family cost up to 25 per cent of the French Government's entire revenues. Best of all, his Royal Highness typically invited around 100 people to watch him get out of bed each morning. Once Roman Emperor Nero built a palace in which one wing alone had over 50 banquet halls. Best (worst?) of all, his entire palace was built on the ruins of a fire he was accused of starting.

Look at measly me, who began and ended my indulgence and that of the missus with a can of potato chips. I am quite the failure.

More to this story

No writer should or can afford to be flippant with expression. The simple point is that history has and will be shaped through the indulgence of a few. Look at Adolf Hitler, who took a world to war for six years to satiate his quest for white supremacy and Jewish desecration. Millions died and many more were massacred by the Nazis. The only spark of this war was that a vigilant United States milked the bright economic (weapons and war wherewithal) opportunity till the cow died and emerged as the world's first superpower, bellowing itself out of the Great Depression that began in 1929. The 32nd President of the US, Franklin D Roosevelt, pulled off the proverbial rabbit out of his hat and got the country back on the rails.

On to Saddam Hussein, whose sons were known as the 'Wolf' and the 'Snake'. The elder one, Uday, tortured athletes for losing matches while his henchmen would snatch girls off the street. He beat underlings to death and feasted on collecting fast cars and jungle pets. The other son Qusay was subservient to his father in public but amassed enormous power through his control of intelligence and security services, overseeing the brutal crushing of rebellious political movements and emerging as heir apparent. Eventually, their indulgences, as also their father's, brought about their death in their villa hide-out in Mosul. The father was found in a cave in the ground.

In a write-up like this one, who can leave out Osama Bin Laden, the king of indulgers? Most of his money was spent to create terror. Let me delve a bit—the architect of 9-11 was eventually found cowering in the attic of a little-known place in Abbottabad and 'snatched'. Sometime later, he was sent to the ocean bed. All this tells us is that the progenitors of so-called valour and power find temporary supremacy and have always been vanquished, with history calling them 'attempted world-breakers'.

Much closer home

Things are no different at home. Private chartered planes and helicopters are now the rule of many, not the rare. Cavalcades of SUVs run over farmers marching peacefully in the opposite direction (so much for the Green Revolution). Convicted rapists and murderers are garlanded and celebrated on television. Leaders take jibes at the opposition and call them derogatory names, provoking and inciting raving crowds to slaughter the 'enemy'. Parties celebrate, dance and distribute sweets even before the Election Commission declares the final results. Winning parties take their MLAs to tourist resorts to 'protect' them so that they cannot be bought out.

And let's not leave out the best—a section of the media, pulling up its paid-for smocks, mocks at all those who oppose the powerful. We are at the crossroads indeed and self-indulgence is only rising. It is also crafty and ranting.

We were a land of little or no indulgence, but that seems to be a thing of the past. I can think of Mahatma Gandhi, barrister of law, who shunned his suit and tie to don a humble dhoti and 'anga-vastram'. Commenting on the mayhem caused by the rampaging British rulers, who were further maimed in those times by the likes of Adolf Hitler and World War II, Gandhiji said: "There are limits to self-indulgence; none to restraint." Well, he taught the British restraint, and much more. We need to learn this too. Hell, the world does, before more of us let our indulgences get the better of us and that of humankind.

The writer is a veteran journalist and communications specialist. He can be reached on [email protected]. Views expressed are personal