A couple of days ago was the birthday of one of civilization’s greatest icons, Mohandas Gandhi. His gentle teachings have influenced people the world over in the quest for truth and peace. Which is why somebody’s hawking a $23,000 dollar Gandhi-themed pen.
And it’s not even $23,000. Because that would be ridiculous. It’s actually $24,763. See? THAT’S more in your price range. And Gandhi’s not selling the pen, he’s not really in a state where he can sell pens right now. So Montblanc, the Swiss Pen manufacturer took it on themselves to do it for him. And according to them:
“The limited-edition Mahatma Gandhi pen, priced at Rs1.1m ($23,000, €15,800, £14,400), has an 18-carat solid gold, rhodium-plated nib, engraved with Gandhi’s image, and a saffron-coloured mandarin garnet on the clip.”
Only 241 pens will be made, to commemorate the number of miles Gandhi walked in the famous salt march. And it comes with a 26-foot golden thread to weave around the pen, so it can look like the spindle Gandhi used to weave cloth every day. Which is great if you’re so rich you can buy a pen for 25k. Chances are you also have a lot of time to play dress-up and false martyr.
In addition, because $23,000 is a ridiculous sum of money, Montblanc has made a more affordable offering at $3,500.
Over 450 million Indians live on less than $1.25 a day. 1/3 of the world’s impoverished children live in India. So if you thought there was nothing that capitalism could leave alone and not turn into kitsch, you’ve just been, in the parlance of the time, bitchslapped by Gandhi.
I think we’ll all be a lot better off when we realize we don’t have to make money off of everything. Gandhi knew that. What’s next?
Comments
Jamin
October 5th, 2009 - 12:07:10 PM
Are the profits at least going to charity? I mean, are they even trying to pretend that price tag is valid or reasonable or Ghandi-esque?
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