Who really is Arun Nayar?More to the point, who really cares?
Our media thinks that this man and his marriage are topics of the greatest importance to humanity. When in fact it is a matter of the utmost unimportance. The saturation coverage shows how the media has made itself irrelevant in many ways. It has lost even the ability to feel ashamed of itself.
Actually, India's nouveau riche (those who are tasting super wealth in the first generation) have much to be ashamed about. They have a real problem not knowing what to do with their money. They do not have the pedigree to do philanthropy and found institutions like Jamshedji Tata did. At the same time, they have a need to buy fame and respectability.
L N Mittal no doubt thought that a bit of the grandeur of French emperors would rub off on him if he took over the legendary Versailles for his daughter's legendary wedding. When a case of defrauding brought the CBI to his door, New York hotelier Sant Singh Chatwal pleaded bankruptcy. That did not prevent him from conducting his son's wedding in three glittering locations in India with people like Bill Clinton in the guest list.
Sahara's Subroto Roy held a wedding in 2004 that set standards in lavishness. Today he seems to have gone out of circulation. These extravaganzas are all supposed to be Indian in conception and flavour. They are Indian only in the turbans, sherwanis and saris that are worn; in their essence, they are globalised vulgarity.
Indian tradition is fundamentally value-based and virtue-based. Impressed by Sita's skill with the bow of Shiva, King Janaka had announced that only a hero who could shoot with Shiva's bow would get his daughter's hand. Sri Rama had to prove his prowess with the bow to win Sita. Arjuna had to string a heavy bow and shoot five arrows to bring down a riddled target before he could claim Draupadi. Money wouldn't have got them anywhere.
But there was lavishness in the dowry that followed the marriage. King Drupada gave each of the five husbands "a hundred chariots with golden banners, each drawn by four golden-reined horses, a hundred elephants like a hundred golden-peaked mountains, and a hundred young and attractive female servants". Perhaps it is the profligacy of the gifts that modern Money Kings have adopted for display, conveniently forgetting the dharma that governed the arrangements themselves. Ostentatiousness comes from a lack of class. True worth needs no showing off.
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2 comments:
nallaathaane iruntheenga. ennaa aachu thideernu?? seekiram appa kitta oru chkup pannikkonga.
officela vela illaenna summa thoonga vendiyathu thaane atha vittuttu ipdi overaa aaraichi panni kumuri irukkeenga... oru vela unga maamanar antha rangeku unga kannalatha nadathalaennu sogamaa? ;)
theriyalaa Navin.. athu rightaa wronganaae theriyalaa, to spend lavishly is quality of oneself as a means to express themself.
Some express them through material ways and others through immaterial ways.It soley depends on the mental makeup of the person and we need to accept that everybody is distint
Its better if somebody does not show off.We can spent lavishly without showing off that could be a better way.
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