It was not just a marriage. It was about the politics of networking and vulgar demonstration of wealth.
Avijit Pathak is a Professor of Sociology at JNU, New Delhi.
From Udaipur to Mumbai – Isha Ambani’s wedding events and associated spectacular shows reveal once again the hollowness of a culture that worships money, mythologizes the ‘dreamy’ world of celebrities, and believes in the naked demonstration of wealth. Well, the presence of all sorts of ‘great’ personalities – from Hilary Clinton to Pranab Mukherjee, and from Sachin Tendulkar to Priyanka Chopra, and the pictures/ fantasies as disseminated through YOU TUBE and all sorts of gossip news channels indicate the entire politics of networking through which the corporate bourgeoisie hold their power. Not solely that. It also indicates our longing for the newly constructed mythologies in a media-induced hyper-real world. The kings and princes of the old era seem to have been replaced by cricketers, Bollywood stars and corporate bourgeoisie; their stories, love affairs, separation narratives and even ‘meditative’practices for losing weight or overcoming depression fascinate us. In the age of decadence emancipatory culture disappears.
Decadent bourgeoisie and politics of networking
To begin with, feel the intensity of insensitivity and decadence. Well, we all know that we live in a society known for its gross inequality. Seldom do we talk about socialism, or problematize capitalism and its inherent inequality. We know that in this ‘democracy’ we are all ‘free’ to live, buy, spend and even waste as we wish. Austerity, we have already declared, is a primitive idea. And we also know that marriage is a festive occasion, and people – if they have the money – love to make it gorgeous and spectacular. Hence, apparently there is nothing wrong in the way Mr. Mukesh and Mrs Nita Ambani chose to organize the marriage ceremony of their daughter. This is their ‘private’ affair. And why should one comment on it?
However, this argument is faulty. No society can retain its sanity without grace, sensitivity and moral foundations. Think of our times. Farmers are agitated and depressed; street children are compelled to beg; Rikshaw pullers, tea vendors and bonded labourers take shelter in bus stops and railway stations; ghettoized slum dwellers in Mumbai and Delhi live amid perpetual insecurity and stigmatization. Under these circumstances, is it wrong to expect at least the minimal decency from the elite? It is sad that the rich and the powerful have lost the grace in life; they have become so narcissistic that they find nothing wrong in such naked demonstration of wealth when, for instance, starvation death has not yet disappeared from our society.
See the unholy alliance. The lure of money unites; the glamour industry seduces, and the politics of ‘social capital’ intensifies the business of networking. And nobody has the courage to advise Mr. and Mrs Ambani that human grace manifests itself in simplicity, and the vulgar demonstration of wealth implies one’s morally impoverished soul. Instead, all began to sing in tune…. While ‘Bharat Ratna’ Sachin Tendulkar expresses his loyalty, Aishwariya Rai allows the cameraman to click yet another moment of hers. And the Khans of the Bollywood fraternity love to dance. Money, Karl Marx wrote with great insight, transforms everything into its opposite. Yes, ugliness is beauty; networking is relationship; power is love, and all that is merely ornamental acquires the status of art and aesthetics!
Does a Mukesh Ambani exist in our unconscious?
The story doesn’t end here. We too have begun to enjoy it. We are no longer shocked. Instead, we say, ‘Why not?’ Possibly, all of us – a section officer in the Kolkata Secretariat, a bank accountant in old Delhi, a professor in Madurai, a football coach in Goa, or a small trader in Aligarh – cherish these ‘dreams’; possibly, we too want the same excitement of ‘money, sex and glamour’; possibly, in our own ways we too are trying to imitate them, and seeing them as positive reference points.
Visit a middle class locality, and see the new trend–hire an event manager, make the wedding ceremony of your son or daughter gorgeous, spend your hard earned money for buying all sorts of Nakshatra diamond jewelleries, try to look like Virat Kohli or Anushka Sharma, and prove your ‘position’. Yes, this is the way the culture of consumerism – the fascination with everything ‘lavish’–enters our bodies and souls. Is it that in our unconscious lies a Mukesh Ambani–the neurotic urge to possess, accumulate, demonstrate and differentiate? Is it that , given a chance, we all would love to be like them?We have already written the obituaries of Gandhi and Marx, and Jesus and Kabir .Simplicity has no meaning in the age of spectacles. Grace disappears amid the noise of wealth.
Marriage is a union of the two souls. It is beautiful and sacred. It is like seeing a mountain peak; it is an experience of seeing the abundance of heavenly bodies in the sky as darkness descends and life becomes mysterious. However, the market-driven logic of capitalism, or the ugliness of consumerism destroys everything.
Mr. Mukesh and Mrs. Nita Ambani, believe it – it was not merely your daughter’s marriage; it was the assertion of your wealth and power. Even if all the priests of the world your money can buy, and all the pujas are performed, it is the death of the sacred. It is the noise of the profane–the loud music of your wealth amid the misery and suffering of the large section of our society.
