Smartwatch

It was 2019. Smartwatch and fitness bands had been recently introduced. Only a selected brands had been selling these products at a very high cost. One of my colleagues, Kavita had purchased the smartwatch from a reputed brand at the cost of rupees 40000. Kavita had always been the person who would buy the expensive stuff and was loyal to the luxury brands only. Kavita was not from a wealthy family but would never think a moment to splurge on luxury brands.

That day Kavita had worn her new smartwatch and was showing it off to everyone in the office. She came to my desk to show me her smartwatch. She showed me each and every function of her watch. I was impressed at the same time I would not have thought of spending such a huge amount of money on a wristwatch. Thinking about the money that she had spent. I was making a mental calculation of how many EMI of home loan I could have paid with the same amount. My priorities were different.

After showing me all the functions of her smartwatch she asked me when I am planning to buy the smartwatch. I was honest and told her that I am not planning to buy a smartwatch. Kavita did not say much and went back to her desk.

Another colleague Ketan had been listening to our conversation. Once Kavita had left he came to my desk to strike a conversation, "you know the girl was asking you the right questions. You should buy something of the latest technology. Your phone also is almost 2 to 3 years old. You still use the analogue watch that you had purchased when you started working. Most of the things you use are pretty old. Do you ever think about upgrading? If you don't I think you definitely should think about using items which will suit your status".

I was already annoyed because Kavita had eaten up a lot of my productive time. Now Ketan was doing the same but in a more annoying way. I told him, "I do not feel the need to upgrade anything. Whatever I have continues to function as it is required to. I do not feel the need to change them because they still function very well. And what you called old would also be called vintage. All that is required is to change the mindset".

Obviously he did not agree to the approach that I had taken, "people would call you miser. It does not take much to upgrade I think you should do that".

By now I was very close to losing my patience. I took a deep breath and replied, "you know my birthday is coming up very soon. Why don't you gift me the things that you think I should upgrade? That would really be fantastic".

I think it was the mic drop moment for me. When I said that the look on Ketan's face was priceless. I do not like when people are ready to preach about other's life without having a clue of what is going on in their lives or what their priorities are. I felt no further need to justify my life choices to him.