Lot has been said about the booming economy and particularly the boom in the organized retail sector in India. Malls have been mushrooming at every nook and corner of the smallest of cities in India. Malls are equated to a shopping experience where people not only go to shop but they are the new parks where families go on a weekend to spend time.
This Diwali, I did the opposite. Me and my mom went shopping on the Gujarati New Year’s day to a traditional market - the Natraj Market at Malad station.
The place is dominated by Gujarati traders selling cloth, readymade garments, stuff to decorate your garment and the works. We happened to be the first customers for everyone that day and I was amazed with the warmth that we were showered with in each shop that we visited.
Each shop had a bowl of sweets kept at the entrance. Whether you buy something or not, you are insisted to take some sweet alongwith you as a token of well being. I was pleasantly surprised that these people had kept this tradition alive of offering sweets to anyone who visits your house on the New Years Day, in this hectic and extremely materialistic world.
We ended up purchasing some dresses from a shop and the shopkeeper ended up making an invoice of an amount like Rs. 501. He said, that the one rupee was as a shagun. We readily gave the amount and imagine our surprise when he gives us a full box of sweets as we were his first clients for the New Year. I was particularly taken in by the warmth of this gesture.
I am sure we would not have ever been received with such affection at any mall. Nobody would have really cared if it were the New Year or if we were the first client for the New Year.
These are simple and very tiny gestures which make the fabric of India. It saddens me that we tend to forget the rich culture that we live in, the talents that we have, in blatantly copying the west in our race for becoming the next superpower.
I sincerely hope that somewhere we do not loose this identity which is India. Economy boom or not and it is this identity which makes us different from the rest of the world’s so-called successful economies.
Would be nice to know your opinions on this.
This Diwali, I did the opposite. Me and my mom went shopping on the Gujarati New Year’s day to a traditional market - the Natraj Market at Malad station.
The place is dominated by Gujarati traders selling cloth, readymade garments, stuff to decorate your garment and the works. We happened to be the first customers for everyone that day and I was amazed with the warmth that we were showered with in each shop that we visited.
Each shop had a bowl of sweets kept at the entrance. Whether you buy something or not, you are insisted to take some sweet alongwith you as a token of well being. I was pleasantly surprised that these people had kept this tradition alive of offering sweets to anyone who visits your house on the New Years Day, in this hectic and extremely materialistic world.
We ended up purchasing some dresses from a shop and the shopkeeper ended up making an invoice of an amount like Rs. 501. He said, that the one rupee was as a shagun. We readily gave the amount and imagine our surprise when he gives us a full box of sweets as we were his first clients for the New Year. I was particularly taken in by the warmth of this gesture.
I am sure we would not have ever been received with such affection at any mall. Nobody would have really cared if it were the New Year or if we were the first client for the New Year.
These are simple and very tiny gestures which make the fabric of India. It saddens me that we tend to forget the rich culture that we live in, the talents that we have, in blatantly copying the west in our race for becoming the next superpower.
I sincerely hope that somewhere we do not loose this identity which is India. Economy boom or not and it is this identity which makes us different from the rest of the world’s so-called successful economies.
Would be nice to know your opinions on this.
Technorati Tags: Retail, Economy, India, Gujarati New Year
2 comments:
You are so very right when you say that we are increasingly forgetting our traditions while blindly apeing the west. I had put up similar thoughts on my blog in the post Street Art and a Charade.
And on the warmth and hospitality, Gujarat and Gujarati people in general win hands down to Maharashtrians. But then again, Mumbai folks are waaaay better than Delhi folks. So where is this country headed?
The thing is Indians in general are known for their warmth and hospitality. Be it anywhere in the country. Of course, considering the diversity of culture that India has, there is a difference between the way people express themselves. We might find Mumbaities better than Delhiites but then the Delhiites might feel the opposite.
But the fact is, this culture is a major differentiator for India and we are giving it away for a cold and sometimes fake environment, which is quite typical of the west.
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