The Marketer Who Went Off Consumption

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Over the last week, a learned old man has been writing really mean e-mails to some readers of my blog, and, when I objected, to me too.

Some of these e-mails have only been pompous –

Being an educator, writer, revolutionary, holistic healer, I educate people to rise above themselves.

Like for example, whenever I travel in taxis and autos, I make the drivers give up their loathsome habit of gutka or smoking and they respond positively. If some people react the way they do, it is their problem. They have to grow up. Sometimes bitter medicine is good for the body, mind and the spirit.

I always write with a sense of purpose and I have been writing for the last 30 years. Thousands of articles, cathartic poems, 35 books, over 10,000 lectures delivered in 63 countries.

I do not like young men like you, who booze (100 wine glasses), enter in live-in-partnerships, talk of Hinduism and eat meat, work like slaves for MNCs and make money by marketing substandard Korean, Chinese Goods to India while killing cottage industries run by poor artisans of India…

I was at my friend Kanishka’s place the other day, when I pulled out a Ziploc bag from my bag. Here’s a more or less faithful transcript of the conversation it triggered off –

Kanishka: Why are you carrying around sandwiches in a plastic bag?

Gaurav: Ah! Haven’t I told you that I’m off consumption for a year?

Kanishka: (chuckles) I bet you won’t be able to spend a month without consuming alcohol! But what is the connection between not consuming alcohol and carrying around sandwiches?

Gaurav: (smiles) Actually, I’m off consumption in the sense that I’m not buying anything for a year; well, anything that’s not a necessity anyways. Which means no eating out, no going out for movies or plays, no shopping, and no maidservant. So, whenever I go out, I carry some sandwiches with me, in case I get hungry.

Kanishka: (concerned) But why have you gone off consumption? Why didn’t you tell me you had financial problems?

Gaurav: (laughs) No, no, I’m not broke! It’s a year long experiment to understand why we choose to consume, or not. I’m even writing a book about it. It’s online; you should check it out sometime.