An often-told story is that, one-day, while Mahatma Gandhi stood at the back of a moving train his shoe was caught and fell to the ground.  Immediately Gandhi removed his other shoe and threw it from the train.  When asked why he responded, “So that the poor man who finds the shoe will have a matching pair.”

So what would Gandhi, this legendary man of peace and of simple means think of a $25,000 luxury fountain pen?  German luxury pen maker, Mont Blanc has issued the gold plated “Mahatma Gandhi Limited Edition-241” a pen selling for approximately $17,500 Euros or $25,000 dollars US.  A small portion of sales will go to charity but this has not lessened criticism by many who feel that the product is at the least inconsistent with the values of Mahatma Gandhi or simply offensive.

Like China and many other places on earth, the economic boom of India has made it a place Mahatma Gandhi would barely recognize: villages turning to cities, creation of new millionaires and billionaires and entire regions where average incomes have increased 10-fold.  Children of modest middle-class parents are now ultra-tycoons renting luxury sky rises in downtown Mumbai, an area which boasts rental rates among the highest in the world, while a large extremely poor population still exists in plain view.

Both the economic boom and the commemorative pen bring about bigger questions.  Is this what we humans should be doing with our money?  What is so good about growth?  The presumption is that growth improves living standards.  But if living standards are measured by consumption of plastic (or gold) trinkets and junk does this really make for a better society?  Economic measurements focusing on GDP, incomes and other metrics have for some become synonymous with success.  But does ever increasing monetary value necessarily mean happiness for people?  These questions might be so big we’d need another Mahatma Gandhi to answer them.