But, all clichés explode and all rules are off when, it comes to that quintessential feminine activity: Shopping. Freud asked, "What does a woman want?" Mall owners and dime-store keepers all over the world are asking the same thing. Its time someone awakened them to the fact that a woman doesn't want anything when she is shopping. She is fulfilling an age-old tradition and urge of the female soul when she hits the stores. With. maybe, the exceptions of purchases like a 325 litre refrigerator or a stereo with a 5-CD stack (when the alpha-male of the pack insists on putting in an appearance) shopping is essentially and intrinsically a word coined for women.
I should say that the shopping patterns of the Indian urban woman are no different from women over the world. She, too, grabs her bags when she is feeling desolate, lonely, in a celebratory mood, or simply, just when she feels like it. The buying curve has seen a steep incline since the liberalization of the Indian economy in the early '90s.
The entry of many multinationals has also given a choice that was almost non-existent a decade ago. Anything and everything is jostling for shelf space, and the housewife's eye and the competition is almost suffocating. But it is interesting to note that not all and sundry can hope to woo the Indian shopper with a fancy name and an expensive price tag that supposedly denotes "quality".
For the Indian woman has one major advantage, namely the presence of a vast and a varied network of indigenous products that are as good as a foreign label. As 40-something Mrs. Kaul, puts it, "Victoria's Secrets may be the last word in sensuality, but when I want something practical for my growing niece, there is nothing like looking nearer home. That is because our people understand what we need subconsciously. And isn't that true of all countries, though?" Well, she does have a point there...
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