Utility is the only real luxury

In 2009, while living in Paris, I experienced a moment of clarity that has shaped my view of money and value ever since. That was the year Apple launched the iPhone 3GS. It was a symbol of status, rarity, and prestige. I had managed to secure one through a pre-booking at an Apple Store in Paris, and when I flew back home to Chennai for Christmas, I carried it with pride. At that time, the phone had barely entered the Indian market and was seen only in the hands of celebrities.

On the bus journey to my hometown, the iPhone died midway, its battery drained. I sat there, holding the most sought-after device in the world, now reduced to a useless object. Next to me was a daily-wage worker, holding a cheap Chinese-made phone worth perhaps one-fiftieth of my iPhone’s price. His phone had six loudspeakers, and he spent the journey playing music cheerfully, filling the bus with sound and life.

The contrast struck me with unusual force. My expensive, globally coveted phone was of no use, while his inexpensive device gave him — and everyone around — enjoyment and utility. Immanuel Kant once observed, “The worth of an object is in relation to the ends that it serves.” That day, his words lived themselves out before me. The proud symbol in my pocket had no worth in that moment, because it served no end. The cheap phone, dismissed by society as inferior, fulfilled its purpose with perfection.

Later, I realized my experience was also an echo of John Stuart Mill’s utilitarian wisdom: “Utility, or the greatest happiness principle, holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness.” By that measure, the man next to me was far richer than I was in that journey. His small purchase promoted joy, mine promoted only vanity until the battery failed.

That journey taught me something fundamental: an expense has meaning only when it delivers utility. Brand value, pride, and showmanship collapse into nothing if the object does not serve its purpose. From that day forward, my guiding principle became simple: maximize utility in every expense.

Utility is the only real luxury.