P U B L I C A N D P R I VAT E
The conflict of
living in a world
of commodities
BY KAPIL ARAMBAM
commodity
(n.) A parcel or quantity of goods.
(n.) Convenience; accommodation;
profit; benefit; advantage; interest;
commodiousness.
(n.) That which affords convenience,
advantage, or profit, especially in
commerce, including everything
movable that is bought and sold
(except animals), – goods, wares,
merchandise, produce of land and
manufactures, etc.
W
e have so many needs in
life, not to mention those
ceaseless wants, while
getting fed up of living in a world
flooded with commodities. It is a
dilemma.
You may interprete as man is
born free but everywhere he is
chains. Often we cannot ignore
the temptations provided by free-
market economy, though our wants
are masked by mere frustration at
times. Maybe we might have been
in another frame of reference, if
we were some spoiled brats of the
Ambanis or the Murthys.
Life in a metropolitan has
accentuated the predicament. In our
heart, we care for the marginalised
sections of the society and long for an
egalitarian living. But we cannot even
feed ourselves – the dream to own a
home, the desire to buy a car – for all
these thoughts remain a feeling and
sadly, never materialise.
P R O P E R T Y
We cannot give up our lives, Hijam
Irabot once dissented, because it’s
our responsibity to take the people
forward. However, at the end of a
day: we have no life outside the time
in office; just pass the time, doing
daily chores; and, form a couple of
impressions, which are not nothing
more than abstracts of wishes.
Love it or hate it - reality digs down
in our life, pushing our psyche to
indulge in various conflicts. The basic
needs, as some of the commodities
are called, are what we have
achieved through our animal instincts
to survive. Unfortunately, these are
not sufficient to make us grow. We
need to find ideas, and plenty of them
that would literally flow out of us.
Otherwise we are always in a
whirlpool of conflict, shackled to
the conventions. We are not driven
only by our thoughts but also by
the system of creating wealth. We
have different occupations, that’s all.
However we don’t need to succumb
to economic pressures. Be firm to rise
against the bottlenecks as much as
we must be determined to perform
our spiritual duties. 
Ultimately, it’s a tussle between
capitalism and socialism, which are
fighting inside the mind in each one
of us, for a place they could call their
own. So to be or not to be, that is not
the question. We got to have an ideal
in life and never bend our principles.