Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | Friday Review | Young World | Property Plus | Quest | Folio |

When women shop...

Time comes to a standstill, or so men would like the world to believe

VIEWPOINT Shopping has to do with getting what you want PHOTO: H. VIBHU

A hapless member of their sex turning grey waiting for his wife to return from a shopping spree is part of male lore.

So steeped is this fallacy in everyone's psyche that some salesmen give women quizzical looks if they leave their store in ten minutes. Like they did to Sanjana. As she walked into a reputed store, her eyes met that one sari she felt was woven just for her. After a quick check to see if she had enough money, she bought it and walked out. But not before a flabbergasted attendant asked her how she had made up her mind so quickly.

"These pre-conceived notions irk me. Why do they think we take longer to choose? If you know what you want, where's the need for any delay?" she asks.

It has not helped that movies and mega-serials have perpetuated the image of the indecisive woman with growing mounds of saris in front of her looking more confused than ever.

The store attendant is treated with great sympathy too. He looks faint, having had to model sari after sari for a customer who shows no sign of being impressed. And, heaves a sigh of relief only when the customer finally leaves after buying a teeny weenie kerchief.

Not just women

Such stereotyping is annoying. "Okay. Women delay when it comes to choosing clothes. But, who says men are any different? ," says Sangeeta Sharma, a homemaker. "I still remember the time when we walked in and out of not less than 11 stores in search of an elusive shoe," she recalls. Shopping with such a partner would be fun, right? "Wrong. He takes time, but hates it when I do the same," she complains.

Who you are

As someone who shops for a living, Radhika, owner of a sari store, says lazy shopping is more a personality trait than anything else.

"Some women will find what they want in two minutes; others will take two hours. It has to do with getting what you want," she says.

Quick shoppers who breeze in and out of stores in record time say their greatest advantage is knowing what they want. Something Kausalya and Usha, partners in a boutique, agree. "Some people keep looking, feeling they have not yet got a good deal. The problem occurs when they are unsure about what they want and are not confident in their choice," they say. And, such people also want much more for much less. Shopping, Radhika says, is also therapeutic. "So, why rush people. If they love spending time on choosing something for themselves, what's wrong with that?"

As a `sometimes hapless' man who waits out while his wife, Namagiri, shops, physician G. Lakshmipathi feels women must be allowed this one indulgence. His occasional salvation: when he encourages her to shop with a like-minded friend.

SUBHA J RAO

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail