The other day I was at the new airport terminal in Delhi. You know the one I’m talking about. Anyhow, a cup of tea was for Rupees seventy, served in a plastic cup – also available outside for one tenth the cost. I’m guessing this airport has been made for the super elite.

Not so long ago, Indians had the liberty of walking into a shopping plaza; buy clothes for a family of four under Rupees four thousand. With the country in kick-start economy mode these liberties have been revoked. You can no longer live, eat, sleep, drink or even dream like an Indian.

Now, like many others who’ve gathered the facts, I travel abroad to purchase clothes and gadgets – simply because they’re cheaper there. Even the best cars of the world are available at half the price.

This brings me to an argument that has been tinkering away in many minds. How did we get into this soup? Where will go from here?

We are like three-year-olds in a candy store – bewildered with options, overexcited and anxious to take a bite of anything thrown at us. Switch on a television channel and you’d come across a cheesy version of ‘lets-find-talent-to-jump-our-trps’.

In addition, as aspiration levels skyrocket, more and more become slaves to anxiety, stress and ill health. With the advent of technology, we’re impatient and intolerant like never before. Divorces are no longer a rarity. Everyone wants the best, even if it means selling off the utensils at home.

Where will go from here only time will tell. But, if we learnt something from those heady days when British were around, we’d have a better grip of things. We wouldn’t blindly sell ourselves to starved companies of the world.

This article was originally published in Sector News.

Image: Corbis

Tags: consumer, India, Indian economy, mall culture, T3

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