The Burden of Recognition

When I arrived in the US four decades ago, I faced the daunting task of setting up a home quickly.

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It was daunting not because the options were few; they were too many. The choices were not just plentiful, they were scarily abundant.

I needed a house to live in and I had the choice of renting or buying. What kind of a house? A town house or detached house? Colonial or Tudor? Downtown, uptown or in the suburbs? The offers were multiple and, even with the help of a realtor, hard to compare and decide.

If a decision on the house wasn't easy, nor were decisions on the things I wanted to put in it. In India, when I had set my heart on rattan furniture, I sketched what I liked and took it to a vendor who had it improved by a specialist and then made meticulously by workmen. When I wanted good sound equipment, my knowledgeable friend Debesh quickly identified the best model and set it up in a jiffy in my drawing room.

None of that would work in Washington. The alternatives were too numerous, made in the US, Japan and Germany. I turned to Consumer Reports and Consumer Checkbook and other publications that listed 'The six most ergonomic chairs', 'Five top DVD players' or 'Ten best speakers'. If I had to buy a car, I had to consult 'The best cars of the year' and choose a sedan, a convertible or an SUV. Nor was this enough. One must sift through newspapers and magazines that came out every week with articles like 'The top offerings of the summer season' or 'Best vehicles of the new year'.