INDIAN FASHION INDUSTRY

Today, India is in vogue again as a result of the work of many talented people in the fashion industry.

Unlike before, the Indian motif is one of luxury and confidence. Designers in the West are using it to make a statement- whether it is Cavalli who put Goddesses on bikinis or Prada whose latest collection uses the peacock feather. The transformation that has already taken place in other sectors like business and economy is now finding expression in fashion in a significant way. It is a reflection of India’s larger engagement with the world. Behind the arc lights of the recent India Fashion Week, real business was being conducted. Buyers from major western retail chains came looking for genuine local talent. Be it Selfridges, Harrods or Browns, mainstream stores in the West now retail the collections of some of our best designers. More than a generic Indian “look”, the label of the Indian designer is also being sought after.

EXPORTING TERROR

Relations between India and Pakistan have a tendency to move on twin tracks. One is fuelled by Islamabad’s Kashmir obsession and its commitment to cross-border terrorism. The other involves periodic peace offers by Pakistan to ease international pressure on itself. It’s a double game that has been played with some success in the past but Islamabad bow finds itself hoist with its own petard.

That is why the question of whether the ceasefire along the Line of Control is an attempt to appease the global gallery or a genuine desire for peace remains an open one.

SECRET DESIRES

In a survey on young men between the ages of 16 and 25 across 11 cities shows that they are less confident and more confused about sex, surprising in today’s social and economic environment. A majority still want the woman they marry to be a virgin and 54 percent are not allowed to bring their female friends home.

Fantasy is clearly a preferable option with 62 percent saying they watch pornography with male friends.

The survey suggests a wide difference from the media image of free mingling of sexes. The single young man seems muddled. He is still trying to break free of the shackles of the family, and the restrictions of being brought up in still largely segregated environments. For these boys, other boys are still their best buddies, and 37 percent have even had one or more homosexual experiences. For young Indian men, appearance is everything- 58 percent say grooming is important and although only 19 percent have credit cards, 44 percent go to the gym on a regular basis and 35 percent eat out once or more than once a week. They are, however, careful when it comes to sex: 53 percent say condoms are a must use, which means there is rising awareness about safe sex.
As happens often in India, what appears on the surface is not the truth. However sexily the young may dress and however greater the interaction with each other, deep down when it comes to something as fundamental as sex, they are downright conservative. Or as the French are fond of saying: plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose –the more things change, the more they stay the same.

MAD ABOUT MALLS

My experience of shopping malls in India happened purely by chance after I shifted my place of residence to the outskirts of my city. I found that the distance to the nearest mall had shrunk and it became convenient to unwind after work by catching the occasional movie at the immediately struck me was how well maintained and clean these malls were, specially the public conveniences. No paan stains, no spitting, no dust, litter or foul odour- the curse of any public space in urban India. By itself, that is remarkable, but these shopping malls are also symbolic of another significant landmark. They are the prime drivers of an organized retail revolution in the country. At the rate new ones are coming up, it’s virtually a mall a minute. According to a recent KSA Technopak study of the Indian retail industry, there were just three shopping malls (of at least one lakh sq ft retail space) operating in India in 2000. By 2008 that figure is expected to reach 343. By 2008 almost 18 million sq ft of mall space will be developed across 12 cities in India, with 54 new malls coming up in Delhi alone. Significantly, a number of new and proposed malls are located in small towns. For India’s middle classes, riding the current economic upturn and a jump in disposable incomes, they represent the new temples of retail worship.

WRONG 'UNS

One day on the morning India plays cricket you will switch on the TV and a scroll will flash:"Breaking News: Sachin flouts rules, has aloo parathas for breakfast. Trainer furious,players envious!"

News about cricket on TV is no longer about runs and wickets. It is about packaging gone potty. About international captains dressed up in medieval armour for the most tasteless advertisements in the history of advertisements,about Sidhuisms, about nailing the "guilty" at the end of play, analysis programmes called "Silly Point", and anchors cutting live to reporters with brain-bogglers-"XYZ has just got a century. Hame bataaiye, what are his thoughts at this moment?" ("F***in'hell, just saved my a**.")

Then there is the meaningless micro-live coverage: the BCCI's working committee meetings, its team selections and now the movement of the cricketers before a big game. Well-coiffed men and women report live from outside hotels breathlessly announcing that the team bus is about to leave for the stadium. No one has yet hired a helicopter to track them to the ground but you never know. As things stand, the breakfast buffet is the next frontier. "What's it going to be for Bhajji today-skimmed milk or full cream? SMS us your answers, win a life-time supply of Amul Taaza tetrapacks.

Live cricket today is seven hours of action, in extreme close-up, direct to your living room. All other punditry on the idiot box is superfluous unless there is a spin on it. Today there is more spin, less cricket. The idea of a day's play throwing up a "mujrim" is toathesome because we live in a country where real mujrims sit in government. Get a grip, everybody.

All is, of course, rationalised by the tyranny of the TRP, the need to grab eyeballs. So players of varying capabilities, agendas and IQS, cast as impartial gurus, prattle on for hours.No wonder the entire circus goes ballistic, looking for "mujrims" when India loses. No victories, no feel-good, no feel good, no ratings, no ratings,no ads,no ads, no moolah. And you thought facing the new ball against Australia was tough. Try turning sport into showbiz and we'll see how those Aussies do.

In keeping with flavour of the sleazon, the day a spycam is planted on the team bus or in the dressing room doesn't look too far away. Tip for Team India: mind your language, guys, and work on those abs.

GENERATION ME

There are 250 million young people in India between the age of 18 and 35. Never before has India been a country of so many choices. Whether it is vocation or education, leisure or lifestyle, today's young Indians can go anywhere and become anything.

This growing and very visible demographic profile also contributes to the buoyancy of the economy and the general sense of feel-good we find around us. But India is not a homogenous whole and a decade ago, there were many Indians to contend with- urban,rural, small town, big city, metropolis and boondocks. But thanks to the expansion of mass media, those differences have got blurred. Not in real terms like opportunities or infrastructure but certainly in ideas and aspirations. Every young Indian, whether in Jamshedpur or Jammu, with access to TV and the Internet, believes he or she is an equal stakeholder in the prosperity that the country seems to promise today. when they travel to big cities to fulfill their dreams, they travel with more confidence and less trepidation.

NET DEFICITS

The Internet no doubt challenges ignorance, but it is also a purvey0r of false information. It is decentralised and anarchic, since nobody controls or owns it. To borrow a phrase from al Biruni, it is a mixture of pearls, pebbles and dung. Yet, many people utterly believe what is posted on the Net. Newspapers tap the Net for background information. Hence, noted astronomer-mathematician Brahmagupta is placed in 628 BCE instead of CE 628. The Jantar Mantar observatory is said to have been employed for predicting eclipses. Not true. Predictions require mathematics not instruments. A newspaper described Aryabhata as "a scholar at the Nalanda university" and credited him with authoring the so-called "heliocentric theory of gravitation". We know very little about ancient astronomers, our only source being stray comments in tersely worded scientific shlokas by them or in those of their commentators. Some speculate that Aryabhata was head of Nalanda university. Even if this were true, it does not necessarily mean that he was a student there. A website even displays a picture of Aryabhata standing in front of his university! As for the heliocentric theory, this is illiteracy of the highest order. A mathematical theory is constructed so that it can have wide application. It can't be centred on the sun or anything else. The Internet has 11,800 entries on Aryabhata. How does one decide which ones to reject? The Net also throws up problems of rigour. M.K. Gandhi is widely quoted as saying the earth has enough for everyone's need but not greed. Many versions of this statement are doing the rounds. Which are correct? Some Hindus in North America were the first Indians to use the Net. They have constructed an Indian past that would help them cope with their real or imagined problems in an alien setting. With dependence on the Net as a primary source of information growing, it is necessary to create an authentic web resource from an Indian perspective. Indian newspapers should form a consortium to set up an online Indipaedia or encyclopaedia Inica. A committed band of editors and contributors should prepare entries. This might seem like an ambitious and lone-drawn affair but may be worth the effort.