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Actually, my yu sheng meals are still ongoing post-lunar New Year celebration. I’ve two more to go on the 16th and 18th days. So, surely this Year of the Pig will be a bountiful and prosperous year! Which is what we believe in, with each symbolic toss, peppered with auspicious sayings and more importantly, loaded with our desires and wishes, like better career prospects, prosperous business endeavors, good grades, healthy dogs (wishes from the pawrents among us), obedient kids (though I’ve also overheard wishes for obedient husbands and thrifty wives… tsk, tsk), and for the ladies, definitely younger, skinnier, sexier and prettier.
The one that really tickled me was what my friend’s parents wished for, earnestly, with each toss, “En-bloc go through”, as their decades old property has finally garnered the minimum 80 per cent consent from owners, after many previous unsuccessful attempts. My friend told me that her Mum would remind her Dad, before every yu sheng toss, in all seriousness, to wish for a successful en-bloc this year, and this was uttered not just once per yu sheng, but multiple times in the same seating, fervently believing that with each symbolic toss of shredded carrots and raw fish, it will bring them closer to fulfilling their hearts’ desires. It is a very specific wish and if we think about it, how different is that from religions where believers project their wishes upon ceramic or wooden objects or even ancient trees and imposing mountains. In fact, I was just shown a photo, taken in Bhutan, of what the Bhutanese pray to for fertility. For the uninitiated, do look it up. It is quite an eye-opener, or should I say, jaw-dropper?
Now what has all of these got to do with luxury? My first instinct about luxury was the idea of having the freedom to do whatever one desires, buy whatever we love without hesitation, experience any journeys or moments that we fancy without obligations – essentially, the concept of being unshackled from servitude, obligations, expectations and just living according to what we desire and getting what we want and yearn for, at our own chosen time and by our own preferred paths.
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