The power of a brand

One had never seen such motley of well heeled people jostling and waiting in a line. You know, the kind that wears Prada and Dior, whizzes past into chauffeured cars leaving behind a whiff of their perfume. I was naturally very intrigued as I walked across to the concierge to ask what was causing this flurry. The man peered at me over his reading glasses and said “Madam, Hermes is having a sale.” Not being the kind to be easily intimidated I asked the tacky question of the discount percentage they were offering. He frostily told me that he understood it was forty to eighty percent. At hearing the latter figure I enthusiastically said I would visit the event. I was informed that one needed to be invited to gain entry but since I was staying with the hotel for a while they would be glad to acquire an invitation for me.

The next morning we were surprised to see that the crowd in the venue was not the regular mayhem one had viewed as it was Father’s Day in the country. We grabbed our card which was written in a language that we could not comprehend and made our way to the gate. We were redirected to a reception table where a pretty lady in tiny attire asked us for our invitation. She peered at the card and stated that what we possessed was not an invite. She gave a long sigh and gave us a form which we were required to fill up to gain entry. We were thereafter given two huge orange bags, the size of potato sacks in subzi mandi, in which we were instructed to keep all our purchases till we reached the cash counter.

The event was very enlightening. Some of the male consultants were wearing pink and canary yellow pants and advising people on what they were trying. I was educated on the existence of infant booties and sweaters that equaled one’s monthly salary. People had stuffed their large orange bags and were running out of space. Lots of folks were very stressed about their purchases. The stocks on the hangers kept flying off at an alarming rate. Only a pre-determined number of people were allowed to enter at a given time like a visit to the Alhambra or the treasury containing the Queen’s jewels and the crowd outside the venue was building up. We soon realized that scarves and ties were the best options to consider. Well heeled women would come up and ask if I really intended to buy the scarf I was holding for they wanted to include it in their booty. This suddenly seemed like a sari sale at Vichitra in South Extension market where Auntyji and I would grab the same sari at different ends and play tug of war. Even men would grab any tie that one put down for a moment.

Now nothing gets one’s heckles up better than other people coveting what one is undecided about buying. I held on to the objects which I had originally no intention of buying. I slowly began to listen to the male consultant who insisted that color of my hair matched the specks in the scarf, a line that I seemed to remember from some old romantic novel of yester years. The power of needs being created where none exist by the hands of marketing was casting its spell on me. The two of us who had stepped in for a lark were suddenly feeling bad about how little our bag contained. We stepped into a line to make a payment.

My daughter asked for a tax refund after the purchase. The man disdainfully said “Sorry, you should have told me before the transaction and not after its completion.” He underestimated my daughter who just stood there and refused to budge until the distraught guy had to manually write down the refund voucher with a pen. She tried to humor him by saying this was her present to her mom and dad for Mother and Father’s day to which she received a cold stony gaze. The last event dispersed the magic spell that had been cast over us in a Poof!

As we returned to saddi Dilli and handed over the ties as gifts we hoped people recognized the brand and the effort behind the purchase. And as for my tiny scarf – I shrieked in dismay when Kantabai asked me whether she should wash the “Roomaal” (handkerchief) in the washing machine or hand wash it with the sweaters.