The Mall Gets Mauled

Ahmedabad gets yet another of its share of 'the largest' this week. Every new construction seems to be breaking the previous records of being the largest or the biggest. Specially in the mall arena. There seems no end to it. This one claims to be Gujarat's biggest mall. It must be. The floor space is pretty vast. And it has nice branded stores, with good exquisite collection of stuff. But the hype about this mall was the opening of Reliance Mart, the very first of the planned, Reliance Hyper-Market chain in India...

The opening of the mart was slated to take place on Independence Day. Mukesh Ambani and his wife, Nita Ambani had come for the inauguration ceremony. Two days before that, aggressive marketing started in papers, something that Reliance is famous for. And that included offering extremley tempting offers. So it was pretty obvious that a huge in-flux of crowd was expected. Cos the offers were so tempting for the common-man, not to resist them. They were literally giving away goods at dirt-cheap prices. And the goods were that of pretty good companies and brands.

Select the most happening place to open your store. Combine it with huge floor space, great offers and on top of that, have a big brand name name attached to your store. What else could you ask for ?? It was so very obvious half of Ahmedabad would be driven to the place on the day of inauguration. And that's what exactly had happened. Ahmedabadis are, as it is, known for their crazy antics, and in the recent years they have become so fond of shopping and mall-crawling, that this was something no typical 'Amdavadi' would miss. And so, an uncontrallable retinue thronged the place altogether. The parking lots were full. Leave that, the wide spaces on both the sides of the road were full of cars, as far as your eyes could see. There was a heavy traffic jam for an entire stretch of 1 and a half to 2 kms. The regular traffic had come to a standstill. It was literally mayhem. The store had to be closed down at 4 itself on seeing the situation getting totally out of control.

I mean, this is absolutely crazy. What's all the hoopla about?? Its just another good store!!! People were acting as if there was no tomorrow. And that this store has been opened only for a day, so they should go in today itself and make the best out of all the deals. The offers are supposed to last till the 30th. But who's gonna wait that long ?? Atleast no one here. I made a mistake of visiting the mall today, thinking that the initial craze must have died down by now. But it turns out that the situation was the same today also. There was a big queue to get into the store. The entry to the mall was all empty and one could easily get in, but to get into the store, there was a separate entry and there was a huge crowd standing in queue waiting to get into the store.

I decided to go inside for a mall crawl. When i came out, the situation was still the same. It seems, the next day on which people were free, after Independence Day, was the saturday to follow (which was today) and so, the remaining crowd had gathered today to finish off the pending ritual. I just came back home, deciding to go after a week or so when all the craze would have died down fully (atleast I hope it will). Or maybe go on some weekday at non-peak hours and check it out. No doubt i'd wanna visit that place, but I'm not so desperate so as to stand in queue for 20-25 minutes to just get in. And besides, when the store is crowded to this extent, then shopping isn't fun also. The store is here to stay. It aint going anywhere or it's not gonna close down.

But for our dear, crazy Amdavadis, there's no tomorrow. This has been the typicality of the people of Gujarat since beginning. Offer them anything in a sale price, or make them feel that they are actually saving a decent amount on some bargain, they will be driven in crowds and will buy that stuff in bulks. Then it's no wonder why Reliance Mart had a turnover of whopping 1.1 crore on the very first day. Rather, very first half-day i'd say, since the store closed down at 4 P.M.

It's the Amdavadis who make or break a store. It's such an indomitable spirit of Amdavadis, that a good store gets a taste of what real business is all about. I guess it's not just Ahmedabad that has such a passionate crowd. It's the case with any good city. Lets not forget what crazy things Americans did on the days when iPhone, Playstation 3, X-Box or any other awaited products were released. I remember incidents of Americans standing out of stores since 5 in the morning to be the first to lay hands on the new iPhone by Apple. Others were selling off their places in the queue for hundreds of dollars to others who had come late and were desperate to get in. So, it's not just our city that has a crazy crowd. Call it ludicrous behaviour, but then such a response form the consumers makes such companies and stores wanna offer better n cheap services and goods to the consumers even later on.

Even the stores enjoy doing business at such times. Which store wouldn't ??? It just increases their respect for the customers, who've shown them so much respect. It's a mutual equation that balances itself from both sides. We'd like to stay out of all this crazy behaviour, but then even we're benefitted from it later on, thanks to the enterprising crowd of our city. And also, we enjoy reading about it in the papers and hearing about it on the FM stations, and then muttering to someone besides us, how crazy people are!!! What's all the big deal ???

Big deal or no big deal, the mall craze is here to stay. Any new store opened by a big famous business house will definitely receive a warm response from the crowd. And why wouldn't it ?? They've transformed the way Amdavadis shop, added a feel good factor by deeply studying shopping therapy and its effect on the customer psyche, made consumers feel like the king, drastically raised the standard of living of people in the small towns n cities, and made accessible high quality goods (at moderately affordable prices), which were, at one time, only a luxury of the people of Metros.

No wonder the new Amdavadi is all ready to absorb more of the pampering... BRING IT ON...

India Talkies

Appeared In: The Times Of India
Section: The Times Of Ideas (BRIEFCASE)
Written By: Divya A
Date: 18th August, 2007 (Saturday)


Watching the emotionally-charged Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham with my family over the weekend, one could not help chuckling and giggling to see my folks gazing intently at the usual melodramatic scenes with wet eyes. And then, something strange happened. When Kajol's UK-born son in the movie sings 'Jana Gana Mana' at a school function and the British audience stands up is respect, tears rolled down my cheeks. The on-screen mom might have had glycerine in her eyes, but mine were real. Call me sentimental but one felt that life, for Indians, had come a full circle. It is a feeling shared by many of my contemporaries.

Although freedom was served on a platter to our generation, the 'India factor' is there in all of us, in abundance. We may shy away from public display of patriotism. but deep inside, we certainly take pride in being Indians. Be it celebrating 60 years of free India or the 150th anniversary of the 1857 uprising, or a global Indian takeover for that matter, the pride is palpable. We might be sick of our politicians and rampant red-tapism, but when the Tatas sing in Corus, we all join in. When Americans and Britons outsource their jobs to India, the cry goes up: "I told you so, it's useless chasing dollar dreams. There's a boom at home!"

We can't stop raving about Kalpana Chawla and Sunita Williams leading space missions, or waxing eloquent about SRK and Big b at Madame Tussauds. When Husain or Tyeb Mehta is shown in galleries alongside Picasso and Da Vinci, it feels like a personal honour. When Lata sings 'Ae mere watan ke logon', few can hold back their tears. Strains of 'Mera rang de basanti chola' invariably generate a lump in many an Indian throat.

Coming back to our movies, only two films managed to hang on in our memory last year - Lage Raho Munnabhai and Rang De Basanti. And both had India factor in abundance. While one talked of Gandhi's principle of non-violence being relevant even today, the other, in contrast, said the 'Do or Die' attitude of pre-independence heroes is the need of the hour. And surprisingly, both went down equally well with audiences in India and elsewhere. This year too, the two films that are running to packed houses are Gandhi, My Father and Chak De! India. Although they belong to different genres, India is in focus once more. It seems patriotism pays in Bollywood as well.

Exam?? Oh !! Is It Today ??

As far as engineering is concerned, 7th semester is going on at full swing, but we've neared our patience level to take studies anymore. The situation is getting worse day by day. We had our first sessionals this week (they got over today, whew!! what a relief) and almost all the people i know started studying for the tests, early morning in the bus. The one n a half hour bus journey was all, that we wanted to devote to the stupid tests. Seriously speaking, we all are tired of it. Everyone, n i mean EVERYONE is least bothered about sessionals now. All are tackling it with the "dekha jayega" attitude.

Three sessionals, every semester is too much of exams for any student. On top of it, the professors and the college authorities try to frighten us by telling that the marks will be counted in the final result. NO, it's not like they don't do it. We do have 30 marks alloted for our performance in internals n 70 marks for Final exam. N besides, we don't even know how those 30 marks are evaluated. Whether it's average of all three, or average of best two of three or simply best out of three, noone knows. But now noone even bothers to find out. When this concept was initially introduced two years ago, the scenario was different. Students used to study with the spirit of scoring and getting good marks in the internal exams as well. But now, after going through four gruelling semesters of the same kinda stuff, almost every student of the 7th sem is fed up.

Now, after getting hands on experience at the industry in the summer training, as well as going thru' few experiences of interviews and aptitude tests for placement, everyone has realized how much does theoretical study count for, in the end. It's all in one's aptitude, and attitude. The marks are just a ticket, for an entry to these interviews. All that the companies look for is whether you've maintained an aggregrate of 67% (ok, 66.66% to be precise!!) or not. Then whether ur aggregrate is 67% or its 72% or anything higher, it really doesn't matter to them. All the students above distinction are same in their eyes. N Many of the companies just want an aggregrate of 60% in the academics.

I mean, then why the hell do colleges stress on scoring very high marks?? How does it really help?? The companies look for practical knowledge, which can be gained only if you have participated in extra curricular activities like the techfests and other technical symposiums. What we've learned so far is that you gotta maintain a balance between both theoretical and practical knowledge. Score decently good enough and at the same time, devote that extra time n energy you spend on getting 4 to 5 percent extra to the extra curricular activities to gain some practical knowledge.

Also most of the students prepare for the entrance tests for their Masters programme at this period of academic session. Even that requires a pretty huge chunk of ur time off from the normal schedule that you've been following so far. So at such a time, such tests don't figure anywhere in the priority list of any student. The file pages, the drawing sheets, the assignments, they all are already calling out to us, saying we're pretty tough and time-consuming, we come with a dead-line and there's no escape.

7 n half hours of college, almost 2 hours of commuting, and when you reach home late evening, there's so much pending work already, n also you gotta take out time for the preparation of P.G. entrance tests. Any wonder why the tests don't really matter now ?? Last minute study is the best study, and that works out every time. I'm sure all the engineering students would agree with it.

One good thing about engineering students is that we have maths at our disposal. Any engineer is expected to utilize all the resources around him in the most constructive way so as to achieve the desirable result. And that is best seen, when calculcative bunks are planned out by each student, using the academic calendar for that particular sem, so as to maintain the required percentage of presence in the class, getting enough marks so as to maintain the pre-requisite for company interviews and tests, calculating the probability of any answer being asked in the exam based on the sir's approach towards the subject or simply by his interaction with the students, and various other deductions that require calculative risk towards any practical problem.

With efficient use of resources in vicinity, time-planning, calculative risk taking, keeping cool till last moments in tense situations and managing to come out of it successfully, no wonder engineers turn out to be extremely good managers later on.

When, inspite of studying at the last moment, most of us manage to score pretty decent marks; outsiders say that its because we're engineering students. (Yup!! Engineering students do carry an image of an intelligent species for the world, and nobody can bicker about that) So we manage to do it even by studying at the last moment.

All we would like to say is that we've got ourselves accustomed to the system and we've formed our own pattern of tackling it. And i'm sure anyone who enters into engineering will get moulded into this pattern. We, engineering students work on the rocket - principle, after all. But only those, who are into engineering know the charms of such gambles and the probability of it, paying off.

An Excerpt From 'The Lord Of The Rings - The Two Towers'

This conversation takes place between Frodo and Sam towards the end of the movie 'The Lord Of The Rings - The Two Towers' (those of you, who haven't seen the movie yet, WATCH IT asap. you don't know what you're missing). This is when Frodo feels like giving up and he feels can't bear the burden of the ring anymore. But the significance of the talk is not just pertaining to the movie or that situation itself. Whenever I feel that life's become too cruel or I feel that "This Is It!! I won't be able to move on..." That's the time when I read these lines to re-energize myself (yeah, i have it written in a paper, on a wall, in my room). Works for me everytime, and even in normal happy times adds a new breath of freshness to stick to the 'right', come what may. Here it is...

FRODO: I can't do this Sam.

SAM: I know... It's all wrong... By rights we shouldn't even BE here... But we are... It's like in the great stories Mr. Frodo... The ones that REALLY MATTERED. Full of Darkness and Danger they were... And sometimes you didn't want to know the end... Because how could the end be happy ??? How could the world go BACK to the way it was when SO MUCH Bad had happened ??

But in the end; it's only a passing thing; this shadow... Even Darkness must pass... A new day WILL come... And when the sun shines it will shine out the CLEARER... Those were the stories that stayed with you... That MEANT something... Even if you were too small to understand WHY...

But I think Mr. Frodo, I DO understand... I know now... Folk in those stories, had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't... They kept going... Because they were holding on to something...

FRODO: What are we holding on to, Sam ???

SAM: That there's some GOOD, in this world, Mr. Frodo... And it's worth FIGHTING for...

An Unnamed Piece Of Work But One Of My Favourites

When the heart pounding reality strikes your face,
And its bitter terror nibbles you to shreds
Away from it you wanna make a run for your life,
Wishing that it’s all false; wishing that it never happened.

A restless feeling empowers you,
Falling short of breath, you feel crippled,
But what’s happened is a fact you gotta accept,
The roaming lost mind needs to be brought to its abode.

A detour sought to free you from these mind numbing fallacies
But whoa! It’s not at all easy to find it,
A desperate prayer to help your own self,
A soul needed to alleviate your impoverished plight.

But who’s he gonna be?
How is he gonna help?
Will he be able to help you let it all out?
Or will you have to contain it to yourself?

Dressed in pricking robes of agony
You start searching for equilibrium
A pretence, you put up in public
Trying to hide whatever is your problem

But let’s take that experience in a positive way,
Those people, those days, those times have gone past sway,
They added a pinch of salt to your flavouring experiences
To bring to your life, the perfect taste.

The Amusing Guilt Transference

I was shopping for the occasion of Friendship Day... I was in one of the card shops in my locality, going through greeting cards... After sometime, a girl comes into the shop and starts hunting for cards. Not that there weren't any girls earlier!! She was one of 'em. But here's wat happened. She was quite close to me as we were looking for cards in the same rack. Then all of a sudden, she calls up someone, and says "Wat are you doing ?? If you're at home, then call me."

What?? Overhearing others' conversations ?? I'm not even a tad bit interested in it. I tried to move a bit aside, so as to concentrate on the cards, but that lady wouldn't lower down her voice. She had her voice loud enough, for me not to hear it. The way she was talking seemed as if it was some guy. So within 10 seconds, she gets a call, from that person. (One more reason for the person to be a guy)

Then she asks him, in a very childish, swinging quality of tone girls can miraculously blend into their speech, so as to melt anyone in front of 'em, or the kind any girl would feel comfortable using, only with the closest of friends or her family. That still sounds sweet most of the times. But this was very funny. She said "Wat do you want? For tomorrow? I'm really very confused. I dont' know what to buy for you. You tell me what do you want." Damn sure now it has to be a guy.

Poor guy!! Instead of being able to think that what a friend is she, who can't even buy a gift for me, gets carried away because of the tone of her voice. She lovingly lulls him into telling what he wants. At first he argues that he doesn't need anything (as anyone has to, for courtesy sake... only few people actually mean it when they say, that they don't need any gifts) She was counter arguing for a long time, "No.. I want to buy something for you.. Tell me what you want tomorrow. No, you tell me... No, you tell me... No, you tell me... No, you tell me... No, you tell me... No, you tell me..." (ughh!!! so irritating na !?!?! That you've to read it so many times !?!? Just imagine how weird it must be sounding there. N yes, she repeated this sentence more than ten times...)

Finally that he gives in, I get to hear out loud, "A Tie!!!"... She was pretty much shocked to believe that he was actually talking about a tie, any man wears with a formal suit. (I know!! pretty weird a choice for a gift, but hey!! Maybe he needed one direly) "Now tell me the place where-from I can buy it... What what ? A tie!! Wat else!?!?! Any place near my house.. I said, a place in 'my area'.." During this entire conversation, I was trying to move further away and away. But that girl, it seemed, wanted me to hear, and also make out the other side of the conversation. She also kept coming towards the other side, looking for cards as I moved along. At one point, I had lost my concentration completely from the written material in the cards.

I was like, "Lady!!! Why don't you now ask him to buy one for himself and then you pay the bill !!!" Cos that was the only thing left to listen to, now... First of all, YOU are buying a gift, and that too you can't do it yourself, that you ask the other person for whom the gift is (and that too out of the blue), that what does he want, then where is it available in the vicinity.

And then the next thing that comes up, "You're good for nothing... Don't even know one shop in my area where I can find it..." Beg Your Pardon Lady !!! But if he's good for nothing, then how useful were YOU?? Can't even find a gift, ask him everything and then shout at him saying he's not of any help... WOW.. I wanted to go and congratulate her... How magically she hid her guilt and fault of not knowing his choices first by talking so sweetly, childishly and slyly, got him into the melted-heart (oh, you're so sweet a girl, I'll do anything for you) phase, made sure he doesn't realize her fault, then got him into speaking out what he wanted.

And the best of all, made him feel guilty for not being able to help her find a gift for himself. I seriously couldn't control myself from smiling (I wanted to laugh out, but then it was a very silent place, and I can maintain my decibel level at zero when I need to, unlike that girl, who made her private conversation public by talking out so loud)

This is really funny and weird. We guys always will keep wondering how (typical) girls (typical ones, cos not all girls are so... Also typical girls are huge in numbers these days) manage to turn the guilt factor around. But then, not all things are meant to be understood. It's these little mysteries that actually develop attraction between males n females. In retrospection of the adages of people of old times, which said - 'One can understand everything on earth, but not women', I think they must 've gone through some incidents of these kind. But then again, its such behaviour and acts that get the guys going crazy behind the girls. Then you can get to see a guy wondering, she's so weird, yet I can't help loving her.

The reverse is equally true. There will be some things about men women will never understand. But, then I'm not wanting to go into the details of why men and women are so. Let it be so. It adds a bit of mystery to the relationships which otherwise, would have been dull had men and women been alike. Also, then, this incident would not have taken place, giving me, and hopefully, you all; a light, enjoyable moment.