Conspicuous waste part 1

Most of us are living luxuriously and as a result of it have become conspicuous consumers. What does it mean to be a  "conspicuous consumer"? A conspicuous consumer is someone who wastes money/ recourses to display a sense of higher living or superiority over others by status. It means spending more money than needed just to portray status or class. For example, my sister and her husband are both doctors in California. They have a one year old son and are very humble people. Given that they are doctors, a lot is expected from them socially. On one hand they both enjoy the simple life and appreciate simple living but giving into pressure from other family members and friends, they have moved into a much larger house that shows their social status and wealth. There are only three of them but they live in a home that can house up to eight people. Can you imagine how much it must cost to keep the house warm in the winter? They both drive automatic Mercedes for work and pleasure.

Do we really need to drive around in a big expensive car when a small well run car serves the same purpose? Do we really need to live in a house that is bigger than our basic needs are in life? Why do we need designer bags when less expensive ones can serve the same purpose? What it comes down to, is society. We all want to be seen and accepted as comfortable and upto date people. I’m not innocent here either considering I drive a car with a sports engine and only buy the best produce be it food or clothes etc, but thinking of conspicious consumption, its certainly making me see everything differently.

All this thinking has bought back a very personal and warm memory of a trip to India I took in the winter of 2008. I belong to a "higher" working class family back in India and we are highly respected and looked up to due to our higher agricultural class. My aunt lives very comfortably compared to many average working class people there and there is something rather special about her. Cars, money, land and space is no issue at all for her and her family. They have a very large modern kitchen with dinning space and the latest mod cons available in India. What shocked me most about her was her humble personality and appreciation of the simple life. Hopefully, this picture fills you up with warmth just like it did for me when I sat and watched her.

Picture from Winter 2008

In India, people really like to make things last and endeavour to waste as little as possible. For some of us, it may seem a little crazy as to why someone who has a large modern kitchen with all the latest mod cons would want to cook the old traditional way that the poor man does. My aunt has this "stove" at the back of her house where she adores to cook whilst watching her neighbour’s children play. Most of what fuels the fire is natural waste. It costs virtually nothing apart from children's play time to cook on it. The children bring dried twigs, pieces of wood, dry hay and leaves to burn the fire. Not only was this fire cooking some of our meals, but it was used to sit out some evenings after cooking to heat our hands and socialize.
I was curious to find out why she still sometimes uses this stove when there is no need to. To my surprise, she explained that it made her appreciate and respect what they used in the past and that it helped bring back memories of her childhood. To look at, you would assume her and her family to be conspicuous consumers seeing their house from the outside but knowing her, showed me that in fact her consumption is lower than what possibly an average person's would be.