Office is a place where all sorts of talks are bound to happen; ranging from daily household talks to filmy gossips to international issues to … Oh my God!!! the list is endless.
Similarly, yesterday evening, after a daylong hardship of writing Copros & pdms, we colleagues had a searing talk on varied issues. It all started with the rising rates of buildings in Mumbai, which is really appalling, to the escalating population of malls.
Hah! And what struck me the most during this conversation, was the expert comment given by our hiphop guy Deepayan Goswami ( hey, he is not a hip hop musician or something, but yes we call him so, as his looks resembles a lot to hip hop singers, the way he walks also reminds me of hip hop dance).
His spontaneous response was, “ Arre, aajkal to malls Mumbai main paan tapri ke jaise kone kone main hain.”
Guys, wasn’t he right?
Yes, I agree to him!
Shopping malls, previously unheard of in India, are sprouting up like mushrooms. Another relatively new phenomenon is the cinema multiplex, which is rapidly replacing the single-screen theatre of yesteryears. In many instances, the new shopping malls come integrated with a 3 or 4 screen multiplex, providing consumers with a shopping, dining, and entertainment outing that can easily span several hours.
This trend, which was unprecedented in India, is in, all because of globalization.. Ever since foreign markets started entering our arena, malls, multiplexes & fast foods have become ‘happening’.
There was a time when vadapavs, masala dosas and uttapas had a place among Indian menu. But the intrusion of foreign giants like Mac Donalds has created a boom for pizzas & burger.
India, which became the key destination for outsourcing & off shoring business like BPOs & KPOs, have filled in the pockets of Indian teenagers. In turn, Indian youths as well as oldies equally started looking out for better way for lure and happiness rather than the usual trend of spending weekends on parks, gardens & beaches.
Shopping malls are an outcome of this.
Going by facts & figures, India's organized retail industry accounts for just 3% of the country's total retail sales, though it is balanced to grow by 97% per year in the next five years to a staggering $24bn.
Stimulating this augmentation are India's expansive shopping malls, which are increasingly taxing High Street stores, corner shops and village markets alike.
Just five years ago, there were shopping arcades but no malls.
Today there are nearly 100 big shopping malls in the country, more than half of them in Delhi and Mumbai alone.
And in two years there will be 360 malls across the country. More than 20 are in various stages of development in Delhi and Mumbai.
Paco Underhill, a retail anthropologist, has vividly captured the swelling significance of shopping malls in his book Call of the Mall where he writes, "the mall is the venue where the young have their first taste of social freedom and the rest of us compare notes". Further he adds, "Malls are very much like television. Another totally fake environment that attempts to pass itself off as a true reflection of who we are and what we want. We disdain it, and yet we can't stop watching. Or shopping".
I agree to it, how can one stop oneself being away from this fake world of glitters.
So lets move with the tide!!!
2 comments:
Your writing depicts the true picture of the current Indian Society which is been destroyed by the so called "Globalization".
i have some questions to you.
Do you think that coz of globalization shoping malls & multiplexes sprouted here?
no absolutely not. indian cosumers would like to lead a high standard life. globalization helps everybody to comeout from traditional and outdated practices. we got a new perspective and got a chance to know all the nationalities. i agree that globalization also brings unnecessary hypes, but it has its own good impacts. burgers and pizzas came to india becos india consumers need them to come to india. still the vada pavu, masala dosa's market is high. there is a great diffrence in that. when foreign companies entered Indian market lot of indians got got job and they are happy about it now. we need that then only consumers get competent products and services. i can't agree one aspective of globalization; ie globalization: a sublattern perspective.
Keep posting
:)
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