On a yacht of wealth...

 

Jiya linked her arms with Naman as she climbed onboard the yacht. The Seafarer was stunning indeed. The wooden paneled upper deck was quite spacious. The Japanese bamboo lamps illuminated the deck with a warm incandescent yellow, giving off a homey vibe. The edges of the deck were dotted with plush white couches replete with blue cushions for the guests to sit and relax as they enjoyed the sea. On the center of the deck was a live barbeque counter for ‘from the fire to the plate’ experience. The culinary play of the chef adding to the atmosphere as children watched in awe, the sizzling flames which seemed to touch the sky. 

“How pretty,” Jiya said taking in the surroundings.

Naman hummed in reply.

“We should buy a yacht too.”

“I don’t want to burn millions,” Naman huffed.

“Oh, come on.”

“It is actually a waste of money.”

“I know. But it is pretty. I work sixteen hours a day, including the weekends. I deserve it and I can afford it. I rarely take vacations and I want the one I take to be nice.”

“We can just rent one. Buying a yacht is a consumption expenditure. It is a liability, and it doesn’t increase the value of our portfolio. If it was real-estate, I would have not spoken a word,” Naman rebuked.

“Why do you have to kill the vibe all the time?”

“Smart investments keep you rich. Bad decisions keep you poor. It is basic finance.”

“Besides, I don’t think Jai would ever refuse to let us rent his out,” Naman said scanning the crowd for Jai.

“Let’s get barbeque. I will call him to let him know we have arrived at his fancy ass party,” Jiya said leading the way.

Jiya and Naman settled themselves on a couch as a server brought them their plates and champagne. The vegetarian options were limited to grilled mushrooms, baby corn, cottage cheese and sweet potatoes, nonetheless it was extremely delectable. They were accompanied by a sauce made from mint leaves and green chilies.

Farm fresh food made by a Michelin starer chef.

Only the best slice of life. 

It was a wonderful evening. Jiya relaxed under the gentle caress of the sea breeze as she watched the seagulls flap around the yacht chattering endlessly, the sun was setting, tinting the sky with an orange hue.

Naman looked around. He needed to socialize, that was pretty much his job. The thing with owning a company was that no event was a social event. All events could be converted into business meets. Walk around, introduce yourself, your company, get investors, forge deals. That is how it functioned. He needed to get going and spend his Saturday productively.

“Isn’t the view nice?” Jiya asked causally.

Naman hummed in reply.

A normal yacht costed around $50 million, they could actually afford that. Their business empire allowed them to do that. Go to the middle of the ocean, away from civilization and bask in luxury of the sun.

However, the sun was right here too.

Naman did make sense sometimes, Jiya thought. Investments which paid returns were better than liabilities which cost. Luxury items weren’t investments.

The sun was for everyone. Free of cost. Sunsets were for everyone, however only some could take pleasure out of it. Free of cost.

The only question was would an extra 50 million make the sunset more beautiful?

--

 

“Isn’t this Neha from college?” Richa asked, shoving her phone into Akshaya’s face.

“Oh, well,” Akshaya said squinting at the screen. “Oh yes, she is!”

“It looks like she married some hotshot and now she is at a yacht party… You never know who can end up where. Fate!” Richa exclaimed.

Akshaya hummed in reply scrolling at the photos.

“Oh, wait. The guy looks familiar,” Richa said peering at the screen. “Wait, didn’t you date that guy, “Jai” standing beside her, in college?” Richa asked curiously.

Akshaya replied with an affirmative nod.

“Was he like this even then?”

“Naa…He was broke then.”

“Was he a good guy?”

“Umm, he was kind of okay,” Akshaya replied, a strange sense of regret forming in her stomach.

“I guess you can never really say who ends up where…”

“You can’t.”

“The best slice of life is for the chosen few…”

Akshaya brooded over the past.

Would her life had been different, if she would have accepted Jai’s proposal?

Would she have lived her best life?

She was happy now. She enjoyed her work. Married someone she loved.

But was a better life possible?

Sometimes the best slice of life was just within your reach.

Sometimes you were fated for it.

And sometimes you chose not to take it.

--

 

Yuvi focused on slicing the onions as per the chef’s requirement. She was working part-time with a catering company which curated gourmet dishes for the fancy parties of the rich. Yuvi found herself filled with envy as she observed the chef decorating the plate with precision.

That lifestyle which was out of her reach.

Yuvi had learnt one thing in life, when people said, happiness was on the inside it was mostly them fooling themselves or lying to themselves because they couldn’t afford it. They often wanted to take solace in telling themselves that they had something the rich couldn’t have. The inside happiness which money can’t buy.

Happiness is on the inside was only partially correct. If you are poor, no amount of inside happiness can give you joy. To live a decent life, you needed money. Once money fulfills your needs and basic luxuries, only then can you find happiness on the inside. Till then happiness can be brought in monetary terms. And the break-even point is different, for different people. For some it is a simple home. For some it a penthouse.

What was her break-even point? Yuvi often wondered.

At what point would she stop chasing and look on the inside? Sometimes she wanted extravagant diamonds and sometimes she just wanted a simple riverside cottage and a sunset view.

The chef yelled at her.

Her time was running out.

You couldn’t keep the guests waiting.

Yuvi sliced the onions faster. Onions slices had to be served with the barbeque. The onions were so big. She had never seen such fresh and supreme quality onions before.

Only the best slice of life for the ones who could afford it.

The others had to be content with the rest.

--

 

“Ah… This is life,” Jai thought.

Lazy evenings on a yacht with the finest champagne in the world. A beautiful woman on your arm. Watching the sun set as he was feasted on succulent pieces of caramelised onions along with grilled mushrooms, life was meant to be lived like this. The best or nothing.

Money could buy everything. The finest slice of life.

Whoever said money couldn’t buy happiness was wrong.

Money could buy everything. Even a beautiful woman on your arm. Money could buy people, places, finest food, finest homes, sparkling diamonds, the best clothes, the softest fur to sleep on, the fastest car, etc.

Jai had worked his ass off to come to this stage of life. Born in a middle-class family, where he had to look at the price tag before buying anything. It wasn’t like that they had been poor. But the nit-picking over money had gotten to him. He wanted to be able to buy whatever he wanted without looking at the price tag. He had wanted that so badly. He wanted to fulfil all his wishes. He didn’t want to worry about money ever. That had been his goal in life.

Money was amazing. The thrill of money. The thrill of the power it gave him.

It had people eating out of his hand. Everyone respected and bowed to him.

Jai knew that maybe people surrounded him because of his wealth. But he would rather have less friends than be poor.

There was time when he couldn’t afford the best slice of life.

And now he could afford it.

This was the best slice of life.

He would work hard to ensure that he experienced this every day in his life.

And he was going to enjoy the happiness and security it brought. Happiness lies in the lap of luxury.

Whoever said otherwise was just envious.

This was the only language he knew.

--

“Seriously, who comes to a yacht party dressed in a polo-shirt which you buy at Fashion Bazar?”

“It is all about utility baby,” Sneh said.

“Don’t you call me that. You lost that privilege when you decided to dress like that,” Jiya huffed.

“Come on. I am just kidding,” Sneh laughed.

“But why?”

“I have way too much money. It is okay, people will still talk to me because they want me to invest in their businesses even if I dress like homeless person,” Sneh explained.

“I guess being a billionaire makes you that way…”

“I have eclipsed my prime. Once upon a time, fancy cars interested me. And now they don’t provide that high anymore,” Sneh sighed. “Too tired to care.”

“I guess it is the law of diminishing marginal utility at work. You have too many cars and hence, the cars no longer give you pleasure,” Jiya reasoned.

“They say happiness is on the inside…”

“Is it?”

“I think so,” Sneh smiled. “Look at the sunset, it is so beautiful. No car could ever be this beautiful. The beauty of nature is unparalleled.”

“Yeah,” Jiya smiled.

“Where is Naman?”

“I think he is talking to people. Networking you know.”

“Ahh. He keeps working all the time.”

“He wouldn’t let me buy a yacht even though we can afford it, I don’t know why he is so insecure about money. He keeps a whole tally of savings and investments in his head.”

“Well, it is about smart investments,” Sneh reasoned.

“Oh please!” Jiya exclaimed with a frown.

“You don’t really require a yacht to be happy. Sometimes we just buy stuff to make ourselves happy. But then we realise, we don’t really require it.  It is said that desire is the root cause of all unhappiness and human desires are never-ending, once you control your desires you will be happy,” Sneh said, spouting sage like advice with a champagne in his hand.

“Go become a monk then, renounce the world. You can talk all shit when you live in penthouse with a sea-view,” Jiya said sarcastically.

“I should go find Naman, I think he would be more receptive of my ideas than you,” Sneh replied with a pout.

“Guys!” Jai called out causing the duo to turn around.

“Long time man,” Sneh said hugging Jai.

“So how is it going?” Jai asked.

“Sneh here plans to become a monk… He feels there is no happiness in luxury,” Jiya said with a giggle.

“I did not mean it like that…” Sneh trailed off, defending himself.

“Seriously man?” Jai questioned incredulously. “Well, to each his own. I really don’t want to live with so much restraint. Live life to the fullest also makes perfect sense.”

“Yeah, but…”

“Sneh, you just don’t get it. People are wired that way,” Jai explained. “The poor often spend to imitate the rich. Temptation is what businesses sell. If people decide to renounce the world, your business would be the first one to go bust. So be thankful that people love to spend. Spend on things they don’t essentially need, but still want. All of trade is the dream of lifestyle which is brought and sold.”

Sneh had grown up in privilege.

Always had the best slice of life. Even now.

And it was the best slice of life.

All experiences served on a silver platter.

How could he comment on desires when each of his desire had been fulfilled?

--

 

“Sir there is a lot of food which is leftover,” The waiter informed the manager.

The manager looked at the spread and hummed.

“Take what you want and then give the rest away to the kids on the dock.”

“Okay sir.”

The manager ensured that the food was distributed. He smiled as he saw the faces of the children light up. His own memory haunted him. And he never wanted to go back to it.

The memory of the small child who thought it was the best day of his life, when the man from the small ship came to give him food packets. He had thanked the man generously and then sprinted off to share the food with his brothers and sisters. He thanked the Gods profusely for blessing his family with such tasty food. He had never had such good food in his entire life! He didn’t even know what he was eating. It looked weird but it tasted so good. He had been so happy that day.

He had enough now. He could afford three meals a day, send his children to a good school. He wasn’t that ambitious, growing up, all he wanted was a decent life. He had decided that he would be happy if he had a nice cosy home, a loving wife, two lovely children, maybe a small terrace garden and he had achieved all that. They had faced occasional problems; however, they had tackled it. His wife always pitched in, cutting corners whenever required. She was smart and sweet, used to teach 10^th grade at school.

He was content. This was the best slice of life. Maybe he would never buy a yacht, but he had come so far. So far from where he had been. This was the best slice of life for him.

The best slice of life was what you make it to be.

--

 

“Good morning Ma’am.”

The class chorused in a sing-song manner.

Mrs. Key smiled at her class. She was in a good mood; her weekend had gone quite well. She had been invited to a party on yacht by one of her old students! Oh my! It had been so wonderful by the sea. She had even brought a dress from a branded store so that she could dress well for the event. She had wanted to fit in the crowd! It seemed that the dress-code had been quite casual. She had been glad of that.

Everyone had been so nice. The aromatic memory of the food had her salivating.

Life had been kind to her.

Joyful and luxurious experiences for which she didn’t have to shell out a penny.

She was grateful for that. She wouldn’t be able to afford it anyway.

She was filled with gratitude…

Wealth came in many forms.

She looked at her class.

So many tiny faces, filled with tiny dreams, their hands etched with tiny lines of fate, holding the future they wanted or didn’t.

They would go on to make something a priority in their life. And often it was the one thing.

Mrs. Key was transported back to her evening on the glittery yacht. The air filled with glamour and gloss.

It had been beautiful. This was beautiful too.

There were so many things which brought you joy.

However, essentials first. Other things later.

She hoped that everyone would fulfill their essentials and then go on to find other forms of wealth. The one which cocooned them in a warm blanket and got them through turbulent times.

A sense of belonging, a sense of love, someone to care for, someone to earn for. Someone to share the abundance of wealth with. Somewhere in a land far-off where wealth didn’t matter, somewhere, where everyone had plenty, somewhere, where people came without a price tag. Somewhere, where wealth had a different meaning.

--

 

Well, if you reached the end, I hope you had fun riding the waves on our metaphorical yacht of wealth, because it was a long ride!

I hope you enjoyed each wave and each character as they navigated in search of meaning!

Please let me know your thoughts and perspective in the comments below! Whom do you relate to, whom do you wish to be?

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