Comments on: The Other India http://amreekandesi.com/2007/10/07/the-other-india/ Taking the Tire out of Satire Sun, 12 Feb 2012 17:32:18 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: resouces stuff http://amreekandesi.com/2007/10/07/the-other-india/comment-page-1/#comment-91 resouces stuff Sun, 30 Mar 2008 13:43:14 +0000 http://amreekandesi.wordpress.com/2007/10/07/the-other-india/#comment-91 <strong>Resources</strong> resources Resources

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]]> By: amreekandesi http://amreekandesi.com/2007/10/07/the-other-india/comment-page-1/#comment-90 amreekandesi Tue, 09 Oct 2007 01:56:17 +0000 http://amreekandesi.wordpress.com/2007/10/07/the-other-india/#comment-90 Shefaly you summed up the divide very well. Also somewhere in the middle there is the older generation, the parents of the high flying kids who cannot fathom coffee selling for 70 rupees. Actually, neither can i :) And yes Madhuri, i was amazed by the sort of malls that have sprung up all over. Was more shocked than surprised by the prices though. I really realised that Newyork wasnt that expensive after all, after visiting New Delhi! Hopefully these changes are not going to erode the value system that we Indians have always been so proud of. I remember Aishwarya appearing on the David letterman show, and when she mentioned something about living with her parents (a 30 odd year old woman), he was so shocked! Shefaly you summed up the divide very well.

Also somewhere in the middle there is the older generation, the parents of the high flying kids who cannot fathom coffee selling for 70 rupees. Actually, neither can i :)

And yes Madhuri, i was amazed by the sort of malls that have sprung up all over. Was more shocked than surprised by the prices though. I really realised that Newyork wasnt that expensive after all, after visiting New Delhi!

Hopefully these changes are not going to erode the value system that we Indians have always been so proud of.
I remember Aishwarya appearing on the David letterman show, and when she mentioned something about living with her parents (a 30 odd year old woman), he was so shocked!

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]]> By: madhuri http://amreekandesi.com/2007/10/07/the-other-india/comment-page-1/#comment-89 madhuri Mon, 08 Oct 2007 14:14:05 +0000 http://amreekandesi.wordpress.com/2007/10/07/the-other-india/#comment-89 Shefaly, the malls are springing up besides the bypass created to connect Garia (south Kolkata) and airport. You are right about the places you have mentioned being already stacked up for any new establishments. The bypass has suddenly given rise to hordes of new apartment complexes on both sides which do feed the shopping malls. But for a crowded place like gariahat too,now there are more vertical establishments (like Pantaloons)rather than individual shops (horizontal). I also saw near the American consulate (Ho Chi Minh Sarani) that old buildings were being torn down to construct commercial buildings. About similarities to Japanese youth, you are exactly right. Sometime back, I was discussing this with an American friend who had just visited Japan and she was aghast at the youth there who wore the best and could afford the best. She was complaining about the average graduate student in the US, who were independent from parental financial ties, lived from fellowship to fellowship (and also their tips of being waiters or pizza delivery personnel) and shopped only when their two pair of jeans would rip apart in unmentionable regions. Seems like the desi youth today is much better off today than before (issh i think i am growing old and sounding like my dad day by day) <:D Shefaly,

the malls are springing up besides the bypass created to connect Garia (south Kolkata) and airport. You are right about the places you have mentioned being already stacked up for any new establishments. The bypass has suddenly given rise to hordes of new apartment complexes on both sides which do feed the shopping malls.
But for a crowded place like gariahat too,now there are more vertical establishments (like Pantaloons)rather than individual shops (horizontal). I also saw near the American consulate
(Ho Chi Minh Sarani) that old buildings were being torn down to construct commercial buildings.

About similarities to Japanese youth, you are exactly right. Sometime back, I was discussing this with an American friend who had just visited Japan and she was aghast at the youth there who wore the best and could afford the best. She was complaining about the average graduate student in the US, who were independent from parental financial ties, lived from fellowship to fellowship (and also their tips of being waiters or pizza delivery personnel) and shopped only when their two pair of jeans would rip apart in unmentionable regions.

Seems like the desi youth today is much better off today than before (issh i think i am growing old and sounding like my dad day by day) <:D

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]]> By: Shefaly http://amreekandesi.com/2007/10/07/the-other-india/comment-page-1/#comment-88 Shefaly Mon, 08 Oct 2007 13:20:34 +0000 http://amreekandesi.wordpress.com/2007/10/07/the-other-india/#comment-88 Madhuri: I am trying to visualise but finding it hard to guess where these malls might have sprung up in Calcutta! When I lived there, Park St could not be changed. Camac Road had a minor mall with mixed shops from clothes to PCs. There was no scope to put anything on Middleton Row or Lansdowne Road... So I suppose Salt Lake? Or Chowringhee or Old City near Stock Exchange? Madhuri and AD: About youth living with parents and spending and its societal impact, Murakami's non fiction commentary 'Underground' is very interesting. Whod'a thunk desi youth will have some similarities with Japanese youth even if just in passing and in callousness? Thanks. Madhuri: I am trying to visualise but finding it hard to guess where these malls might have sprung up in Calcutta! When I lived there, Park St could not be changed. Camac Road had a minor mall with mixed shops from clothes to PCs. There was no scope to put anything on Middleton Row or Lansdowne Road… So I suppose Salt Lake? Or Chowringhee or Old City near Stock Exchange?

Madhuri and AD: About youth living with parents and spending and its societal impact, Murakami’s non fiction commentary ‘Underground’ is very interesting. Whod’a thunk desi youth will have some similarities with Japanese youth even if just in passing and in callousness?

Thanks.

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]]> By: madhuri http://amreekandesi.com/2007/10/07/the-other-india/comment-page-1/#comment-87 madhuri Mon, 08 Oct 2007 13:01:42 +0000 http://amreekandesi.wordpress.com/2007/10/07/the-other-india/#comment-87 When i visited Kolkata, this year in June, i was aghast to see the numerous shopping malls and the immense crowd of youths that thronged these malls. It is good that there are more job opportunities for the youth today than it was 10 years ago. But since most of them live with their parents (as Shefaly has already written)they are now spending more on their materialistic needs to the delight of urban shopping malls. Not only is this leading to an increase in prices but a steep increase in the rift between the under privileged and the ones that can afford. If i look at Shefaly's division of strata then there is a huge rift between the abject poor #5 and the young and suddenly rich #2 than it was before. The problem is compounding because the infrastructure is the same as it was 10 years ago. There are no new schemes to get the poor educated, no new schemes to get the poor better living conditions or better health facilities. When i visited Kolkata, this year in June, i was aghast to see the numerous shopping malls and the immense crowd of youths that thronged these malls.
It is good that there are more job opportunities for the youth today than it was 10 years ago. But since most of them live with their parents (as Shefaly has already written)they are now spending more on their materialistic needs to the delight of urban shopping malls.
Not only is this leading to an increase in prices but a steep increase in the rift between the under privileged and the ones that can afford.
If i look at Shefaly’s division of strata then there is a huge rift between the abject poor #5 and the young and suddenly rich #2 than it was before.
The problem is compounding because the infrastructure is the same as it was 10 years ago. There are no new schemes to get the poor educated, no new schemes to get the poor better living conditions or better health facilities.

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]]> By: Shefaly http://amreekandesi.com/2007/10/07/the-other-india/comment-page-1/#comment-86 Shefaly Mon, 08 Oct 2007 07:03:06 +0000 http://amreekandesi.wordpress.com/2007/10/07/the-other-india/#comment-86 "how is the rest of India going to cope with this inflation?" By dividing itself into ever larger number of economic strata. Say 5? At the top are those, who can dine out spending INR 10000 pp and not think about it. They keep drivers, live-in servants, gardeners. Their shopping list does not contain 'alu, pyaaz' but Versace, Tarun Tahiliani etc. Their social to-do includes fashion shows and cinema premieres. They get manicures as often as we brush our teeth. Then there are the young-and-suddenly rich. They do not have access to 'lounges', so they hang out in coffee bars and new mid-market restaurants spending INR 500-1500 pp in one visit. They 'hang out', use words like 'cool' and 'like', wear false names like 'Jane' and 'Jason' at work, spout false accents at work too and return home to an unknown life (yes indeed many live with parents, still) and a second face they put out in front of parents. Then there is the relatively older worker, say in the 40s. He has a family to support. His salary went up but not so much. They live better, shop more and own more but they write PDCs (post dated cheques) and calculate salary in terms of EMI (expected monthly instalment, I think). They shop however in relatively 'local' shops than in new malls. If they have a car, it is a Maruti or Santro that the father drives. There is no driver. There is a part-time servant who comes to clean etc. Then there is the retired person of the last generation. This pace of progress has not touched them. Their monthly food budget for 2 is still INR 3000-4000. They do not eat out. They read newspapers, shop at their usual store which now delivers and has gone bright and shiny, they walk their own dog and think taxis are luxury. They are not poor; they after all live in bungalows which are suddenly worth INR 4-5 Crores (yes, 7 zeroes) but it does not matter because they do not want to sell although they get daily solicitations. They find the lives of their children laughable so children spare them hurt by telling them less and less. Then there is the abject poor, who can only look at these and wonder about their own life, their karma, their poverty. Any other? Disclaimer: These are based on observations made in the last 2 annual trips to India, mainly to metros and to 2 smaller (B) towns. “how is the rest of India going to cope with this inflation?”

By dividing itself into ever larger number of economic strata. Say 5?

At the top are those, who can dine out spending INR 10000 pp and not think about it. They keep drivers, live-in servants, gardeners. Their shopping list does not contain ‘alu, pyaaz’ but Versace, Tarun Tahiliani etc. Their social to-do includes fashion shows and cinema premieres. They get manicures as often as we brush our teeth.

Then there are the young-and-suddenly rich. They do not have access to ‘lounges’, so they hang out in coffee bars and new mid-market restaurants spending INR 500-1500 pp in one visit. They ‘hang out’, use words like ‘cool’ and ‘like’, wear false names like ‘Jane’ and ‘Jason’ at work, spout false accents at work too and return home to an unknown life (yes indeed many live with parents, still) and a second face they put out in front of parents.

Then there is the relatively older worker, say in the 40s. He has a family to support. His salary went up but not so much. They live better, shop more and own more but they write PDCs (post dated cheques) and calculate salary in terms of EMI (expected monthly instalment, I think). They shop however in relatively ‘local’ shops than in new malls. If they have a car, it is a Maruti or Santro that the father drives. There is no driver. There is a part-time servant who comes to clean etc.

Then there is the retired person of the last generation. This pace of progress has not touched them. Their monthly food budget for 2 is still INR 3000-4000. They do not eat out. They read newspapers, shop at their usual store which now delivers and has gone bright and shiny, they walk their own dog and think taxis are luxury. They are not poor; they after all live in bungalows which are suddenly worth INR 4-5 Crores (yes, 7 zeroes) but it does not matter because they do not want to sell although they get daily solicitations. They find the lives of their children laughable so children spare them hurt by telling them less and less.

Then there is the abject poor, who can only look at these and wonder about their own life, their karma, their poverty.

Any other?

Disclaimer: These are based on observations made in the last 2 annual trips to India, mainly to metros and to 2 smaller (B) towns.

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