This refers to Kanika Datta's column "The ascent of luxury" (Swot, November 21). During my childhood, when stainless steel utensils made their appearance, they were considered a status symbol. People used brass vessels for cooking, on which kalai (a sort of coating) was done at regular intervals. Even a radio (Murphy Radio) in those days was a luxury. When Jawaharlal Nehru died neighbours crowded around a radio in someone's house to listen to the news. However, the government now has a myopic view on luxury. Luxury tax is levied on staying even in a two-star hotel. What one gets in return is a place to sleep, bathe, have breakfast, and go about your work in an outstation city. Is getting a place to sleep in a city where you are a visitor a luxury? It is a necessity. What is luxury for one person may be a necessity for the other.
Deendayal M Lulla Mumbai
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