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I was watching this song “Bolo shava shava…” from K3G today evening. The house picturised in the movie is an amazingly huge one. Lot of lavishness, naukar-chaakar, many cars and a huge lawn.
Even the K-serials show a lot of such things. The ladies in the house are studded with jewelry and wear expensive sarees throughout the day, even at the time of going to bed! The men wear business formals and tie throughout the day. None of the members are ever involved in house-hold activities. All have immense time to make plots against each other.
I wonder which section of the society of India do these movies and serials depict? Hardly 0.000001% of the Indian population can afford all the lavishness shown. They show people getting down from helicopters that land on private helipads. Which family in India does all this? Only a countable few very rich families.
The major sections of the Indian population are the economically lower class and the middle class. Even the percentage of upper middle class is small.
And yet many people in India watch these movies and serials. They are easily carried away by the fantasies and luxuries shown. They dream of acquiring all these luxuries. The long suppressed middle class wants to venture out and attain lavishness. The flashy clothes, goggles, dancing, songs, cars, bungalows, servants, bank balance that are shown, attract the common man. A truck driver in Chalte Chalte can go to Greece then why not our Common Man? If he can get the cash to travel to Greece and also international license to drive a car there, then why not my dear Common Man? If the son of a bank clerk can wear flashy expensive clothes and go for dates in Mohabbatein, then why can’t our friend Common Man do the same?
If movies are made depicting the real lives of Common Man, then who will go and watch them? Those incidents of the movies are anyway being experienced daily!
But our Common Man has one serious shortcoming. He wants to achieve his lavish dreams through someone else’s money.
Well, when we used to go for job-treats at college, all the students except the treat-giving guy, would gulp down at least 5 pegs of alcohol and also swallow as many varieties of dishes as possible. Why? Because someone else is paying! That poor treat-giver tries to save some money by eating less or by starving! And when the same guy comes at the receiving end, he too gulps down five pegs and dishes.
Last week, some of my colleagues and me were discussing this thing at a restaurant. One of them clearly pointed out that the general mentality of the people in many parts of India is unfortunately like this. Only a small percentage of people are ready to enjoy life with their own money. The mentality of spending is slowly reaching the masses, but still that traditional culture of ‘save everything for future’ exists. Its not that we must not save, but certainly not at the extent of starving in the present to live in the future. I had a room-mate of mine during my first year of college. He used to eat his afternoon lunch during alternate days. And his reasoning was “why not save money for future?” and “what’s the point in eating lunch daily if we can survive with lunch on alternate days?”
So, Mr. Common Man wants to save all money for the future by suffering in the present…that future which is not known. Saving is of course needed. But, it doesn’t mean that we deprive ourselves of all necessities for the sake of future.
But, the mentality is certainly changing now a days. Supported by decreasing interest rates on savings, the easier availability of goods has given rise to a new trend. People have started to venture out into newer horizons. The growing cosmopolitan culture in many Indian cities has ignited the fuel of spending. Mobile phones are no more a luxury and a tool of the rich. People don’t mind paying more for a better quality or service. Electronic money in the form of credit cards has brought goods nearer to the buyer.
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