Brand Consciousness - Bane or Boon

BRAND CONSCIOUSNESS – BANE OR A BOON

Gone are the days when people were judged on the basis of who they are or what they do, now the only criteria to judge one’s “respect” is whether the person is wearing an “Armani” suit along with a “Movado” watch or just a plain “zainab market ki t.shirt” along with “bata ki chapalain”.

This statement of mine would make me appear like someone who is all traditionalist and someone who despises all the brands and is always in his kurta pyjama, sorry to disappoint you because that’s anything but true. I love to use all the brands out there, all that are affordable for me and which do not create a hole in my pocket and I love the unaffordable ones even more mainly thanks to the brothers who are frequent on foreign soil [if you know what I mean;)]

What made me realize that all is not hunky dory was the conversation that I had with my young cousin who is a 5^th grader in one of the best(read burger on the scale of burger or peela:p) schools in town. I was actually shocked when he told me about the hummers and what not that his classmates conveniently flaunts and the sad part my cousin’s description of all those assets was filled with so many sighs and all those gestures that made this so very obvious that how he wish to get his hands on all those cool gadgetry, although mind you my uncle (cousin’s dad) is no ordinary gentleman and he himself holds a profile that can be a source of many sighs. Yet my cousin’s reaction made me wonder how even such innocent minds nowadays are filled with all these brand wars that are going on in our society, at a age when for me the ultimate asset was my Rs.350 casio and I wasn’t really concerned whether my school mate is coming to school in his papa’s honda civic, a school van or even a public bus.

My only concern with the ever increasing brand consciousness is; that no one has the right to be judgmental just on the basis of some one’s material belongings as this will create, infact has already successfully created a section in our society that is suffering from different levels of inferiority complex which results in either;

A) Accept the illusion that you are inferior to Mr.X or Y as you do not own a merck and let the world molest you like anything.

B) Try to achieve all that Mr.X & Y has through quicker/shorter routes (snatching, bribing, ransom kidnappings are common examples)

In either of the cases the person suffering from such conditions is the one who is always at a great loss, be that in the form of lack of self confidence, absence of peace of mind or even actual physical punishments. Who is responsible for all this?? In my opinion there are several sources including ever increasing consumerism, the wide class divide or even our very own (mazloom) media. Media, especially media as immature as that of our country is of course one of the major sources in promoting this psyche as they will easily make you believe that your life is all but wasted if you don’t own the latest smart phone with 50 mega pixel camera (even if the only use of your cell phone camera is taking a picture of your friend’s bulging tummy or different poses of your own nostrils), and to think of this that all this is being done in a country where per capita income is not more than couple of hundreds of dollars, its gross to say the least.

Nevertheless this gives birth to the question can we stop all this?? Or is it just one of those evil blessings that have been gifted to us by the modern times and there is absolutely nothing that we can do about it except accepting it.  

Well as far as I see the whole situation the ultimate responsibility of trying to avoid the aforementioned situation lies that with the parents, Yes the Parents! As they are the ones who can inculcate the core values in their offspring so that when they go out in the world they have enough sense of differentiating between right and wrong and what is actually good and should be respected and what is a mere sham…How that can be done is obviously anything but easy as the poor parents of today have far more adversaries then what were there for the parents of yore. Yet this is not the only thing that can be done to stop the constant decline of the moral values in our society and to stop our society from becoming a material jungle or perhaps not even a jungle, as Zohra Nigah beautifully puts it “Suna Hai Janglon Ka Bhi Koi Dastoor Hota Hai !! 

  

Book Reading A Dying Habit

“Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.” -Sir Francis Bacon.

Curled up in bed, cozy under my blanket with a book in hand and a packet of chips, this is my idea of a perfect weekend night. No I’m not some boring old person with nothing do in my life, just some one passionate about reading.

When was the last time you came across such a person, someone who still purchases books instead of downloading them from the internet (O! the hassle!!), who looks forward to a book launch and actually pre books it at bookstore and has it delivered to their home (are you for real!!??) who visits a library regularly (dinosaur age!) and actually loves the smell of a new book (Please! for the love of GOD, what a drama!). In case you were one of those people who had the same thoughts while reading my sentiments regarding book reading you sure aren’t alone. In today’s fast paced techno savvy world where the modes of communication are way more than the actual number of people you really wanna talk to, book reading has become a habit of the past.

My first memory of book reading goes back to when I was in pre-school and my parents used to tuck me in bed between them and we together used to visit the colorful magical world of books. Oh, the sheer joy of snuggling in with your parents and enjoying a good read right before bedtime will forever be etched in my mind. Let’s just say I’ve been hooked every since.

Coming from a typical middle class family, where education is the most prized and respected possession, books were a pre-requisite. Starting from the ever loved Enid Blyton, the collection of Famous Five and Hardy Boys were my constant companions. As we grew so did our tastes and we graduated to the Sidney Sheldon’s and more recently Dan Brown’s. Books were shared with those few who shared the love of books and were then o so proudly discussed when all the books by the author were read. Second hand books stall at the Sunday bazaar used to be the highlight of the month.

Over the years, as we grew older and the simple joys of life started getting out ranked by routines and schedules, sadly this love of mine has somehow been pushed back a little. Lost in the rat race of excelling and then post marriage issues when you come home exhausted with little time for the social obligations and the usual “dahee laa dain”, “bublee ko bukhar hai Doctor k paas lay jain” “tara aunty k ghar jana hai” etc.

While some(those lucky few)people, who still share the passion of books, still manage to read to their hearts content, shifting trends and life styles has affected this great hobby. People prefer to download the PDF version of any book they want or if very brutally said book reading is considered as a waste of time by majority nowadays. “Yaar kitna lamba status tha tumhra Facebook pay simply bata do kia kehna chah rahay ho”, people generally have such short concentration spans that everything has seen a quicker, shorter version being introduced. Book stalls usually remain deserted, libraries (the rare few which are still left) give a gloomy look and book shelves at homes gather layers and layers of dust. I know I’m painting a little dramatized version of my melancholy, but for me books have remained ever sacred and I honestly do feel saddened by the diminishing love and interest of people and specially our newer generations for books.

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies, said Jojen. The man who never reads lives only once.”
― George R.R. Martin Sharing somewhat similar views and sentiments about books, I guess I’ll go complete my new book on Bin Laden sitting on pot (best place to hide from your wife/mom) like old school times when ammi used to tell me to study and I used to take refuge in the loo and complete my newly acquired book. Some things thank God don’t change.