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Take Five for 'O5
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Check out the five trends that are nudging the contours of the New Year, wondering if they will be allowed in, to stay and spread.
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THE RETROSEXUAL finds his match in the contrasexuelle, the item girl goes mainstream, transumers are new consumers in transit found captive at airport lounges, the martini makes a comeback, so does rock music, an American channel creates desi home turf back home in America, the cell phone is the new car, says The Economist, India is being re-discovered by Indians and a New Year is upon us.
Five trends
Below are five trends for oh-five, some nudging and sniffing the contours of the New Year, wondering if they will be allowed in, and some here to stay and spread.
* One dish cooking and the art of conversation: this is a trend hovering on the thresholds of hostesses and social butterflies but has never quite made the cut at parties in India largely because as good Indians, we do believe excess is best. After all, this is the land of chhapan bhog.
But going single is an act of supreme confidence and as the focus shifts to fine conversation along with fine food, hosts and hostesses are switching to kawaksuey, paella, biriyani, bouillabaisse, haleem, shabu-shabu (the Mongolian/Japanese hot pot cooked at the table) fondue, appams and stew. Less sweat, more fun. And if it doesn't work, call in for gourmet pizza.
* Older woman younger man: Aishwarya Rai has done it, Farah Khan has done it. So can you. The new paradigm — older woman younger man. Women have the power, men want to be `babied'. So if you are 35 and single, make sure your arm candy is 28, cute and helpless.
* Boom boom rooms: In the old days that little extra room was the puja room. Or doubled as the storeroom. Now entire rooms are being dedicated to the audio video, home theatre experience a.k.a the boom boom room.
* The cell phone is the new car: The Economist called the cell phone the new car because the consumer's involvement with his or her cell phone is almost the same as with his or her car. The brand, model and design defined his or her identity and customisation is key to image.
The universe of cell phone users is now estimated to be one and a half billion globally and half of India is certainly ready to `kar lo duniya mutti mein'. If China has 320 million mobile users, can we be far behind? Mms scandals notwithstanding, get ready for the real mobile explosion to happen this year... ring tone wars, games online, jokes, video clips, saral messaging service into rural areas, Internet capability, and almost all social connectivity moving to the mobile. It is more likely that the mobile phone in India will be the new jet plane, connecting us to distant worlds and giving us instant access to new information. And the real explosion will be in rural India, so get there quick before the competition does.
* The search for Indian values or the much-bandied word `sanskaar': There has been the implicit assumption that there is some nebulous, intangible construct that defines Indian values. Yet no one has been able to give concrete shape or words to this term. But we always know or are told vociferously by the media and the powers that be when something has gone against Indian values — from a kiss to an act of terrorism — it is almost as if there is a ready reckoner for this entity.
So anyone who can define it will be the new messiah. As the western world turns inwards, we will see a new search, a resurgence in the quest for both identity and values largely from an international globally linked generation of Indians as well as from a new generation of rural/town Indians absorbing urban mores from television and films.
For more trends to follow or to create, stay with me and have a wonderful New Year.
GEETA RAO
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