Vodka With A Dash Of Diamonds

I know a bit more about the nature of creativity today than I did yesterday. Not a whole lot more, I want to emphasize, just a tiny bit. Yesterday I learned about the existence of a brand of vodka which is on its way to India, which sells for $450.000 or INR 1.9 crores per 750 ml bottle. (Whoa! I’m still reeling and don’t know if my breath will ever return to its normal tempo again.) Now whatever your actual take on this might be, you have to admit that to pull off a feat like this calls for some ingenuity. True, if I had Rs. 1.9 crores to spare I can think of a whole lot of other stuff to blow it up on, than 750 ml of vodka but that doesn’t mean I can’t recognize creative genius when it stares me in the face.

So what enables the producers of this beverage to flog their brand of poison for a sum which a simple person could comfortably retire on and put up her feet the rest of her life? Swarovski crystals and diamonds apparently. The bottle is lined with ‘em and the drink filtered out through these delectable gems. So ultimately it is not just about vodka. Vodka is what you think you are (or claim to be) buying but what you’re actually buying is a fancy gem studded bottle which you can’t even comfortably sling around your neck when it’s empty in place of your pearls. (By the way what does one do with an empty bottle of Diva vodka I wonder, when you’ve divested it of its last drop?) Anyway along with a very expensive bottle you don’t know what to do with, you’re buying yourself the label of a super wealthy eccentric I suppose and the admiration of a string of dumbclucks who will want to ape you and prepare themselves to queue up before the manufacturer for more of the same.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t intend to get moralistic here or to launch into a tirade about how wrong it is to spend as much money on a bottle of vodka as could probably keep a small Indian village running for several years. What the hell, it’s happening all the time and enough has been said about conspicuous consumption and for sure none of it has had any noticeable effect. What I’m thinking rather, is, why, when the human race is overflowing with the milk of creativity, why is such a large chunk of it motivated purely by the lure of money and recognition? OK I know what you’re going to say. Who in this world doesn’t want more money and recognition even if they have oodles of it already? Well, I can’t help recalling the words of the American Indian chief who once said, “Only when the last tree has been cut, when the last river has been poisoned and the last animal has been killed, will human beings realize that they can’t eat money.”

So, how come we don’t use more of our creative genius to, let's say, get the world to switch to alternate forms of energy which are cheaper, less polluting and more earth friendly? Or why don’t we use our brains to outwit the current crop of politicians and world leaders and reroute the general course of development? Why not use creativity to really stop hunger, terrorism, and crime and make the world a nicer place to live in? You don’t have to worry about getting bored. Mother Nature will definitely see to it that life never gets too dull for us. We don’t have to add to the store of catastrophes she carries around in her bag of awe-inspiring shocks and surprises with our own destructive madness.

But I guess creativity is not just about creativity. It’s a whole lot more than that. The story of creativity has often also been the story of courage. It has been about having the guts to experiment, to try out new things in a society which looks askance at too much experimentation. Creativity is about having the courage to make mistakes while learning. And also the strength to withstand the ridicule that comes your way when your slips add up and worldly success eludes you. Creativity is about the courage to be yourself because, how can you really be creative in a holistic way, if you are not able to be that?

Right. And now that I’m done with pontificating I have to confess, I’m looking for the next asinine millionaire to sidle up to so that I can wangle an invitation to a cozy do in a zillion dollar apartment fed by a stream of the diamond flavored vodka I’ve been ranting about. Damn it, I can’t help wondering what the bloody thing tastes like!