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'Madam, that is your room!’ The attendant lifted her bags as he simultaneously dragged the suitcase inside the room.

‘Your other colleague will be provided the room next to yours. Do let me know in case you need anything.’ Priyanka flashed a fake smile to which he nodded and left the room.

It was a Sunday morning and Priyanka had just entered the guest house provisioned for accommodation by her company. There was another girl expected to join any time.

‘It’s so much better now’, Priyanka muttered to herself. She had freshened up and was now popping her head out of the window out of curiosity. It was a plush apartment with her room facing the park and a swimming pool visible at a short distance. There was a flashy department store on one corner. Many of the residents were frequenting in and out of it, in a hurry as if falling short of time for an appointment. A lady in her chic attire strutted around with her pet. Like any other girl, Priyanka looked at herself with a comparison frame of mind. Her T-shirt and track-pants were oversized by those standards.

‘Hi, You there?’ Priyanka hurried to open the door. ‘Hi! I am Diya. Your colleague and your neighbour who is going to eat your head for some time!’ The duo roared into laughter at Diya’s dramatic introduction.

‘Lunch has been laid madam. The emergency numbers have been pinned beside the landline in the dining room’, announced the caretaker. They joined for lunch and got along like a house on fire.

Both were from completely different backgrounds. While Diya was from Mumbai completely aware of the cosmopolitan culture Priyanka was from Patna, a city on its way for the same though not completely. Both were selected from their respective colleges to join as interns for the FMCG company, based out of Gurgaon.

‘Thank God for the company else I would be looking around for accommodation in this unknown city’, expressed Priyanka.

‘Don’t worry I know a couple of people here. I could have arranged for our joint lodging with any of my family friends.’ Priyanka smiled in thankfulness.

‘That reminds me, I have to visit one uncle, my papa’s friend. He knows I will be here and will feel offended if I don’t pay him a visit.’

‘Go along. I will be surfing television’, mentioned Priyanka.

‘Or wait! I will pay him a visit next weekend. We still have time. Let’s look around the malls and shop for some formals.’

‘Really? I brought some along. We can catch up for some movie instead.’

‘Madam, you are in the millennium city. You don’t want to miss a chance of shopping in this one!’

They hired a cycle-rickshaw to the nearby malls. The roads were bordered by occasional embellished fruit carts and hawkers dissipating the aroma of spicy food, under bright hoardings. The magnificent metro train darted over the flyover crossing past them while there was herded traffic on the roads. Imported sedans and SUVs blew dust as they sped past them. They finally reached the malls and paid their twenty rupees for the ride.

They simultaneously observed a well-built guy quarrelling for his twenty rupees parking, at the exit.

‘Oh boy! He owns a Mercedes and can’t pay twenty rupees?’ Diya smiled at Priyanka’s comment and pulled her, ‘Come-on in!’

They were inside the mall. Swanky stores flaunting paraphernalia. Pretty girls with salon-straightened hair pranced around in hip-hugging jeans or skirts. Guys with gelled hair wearing bracelets and pendants sauntered nearby with their gaze fixated on them. Trendy teenagers in gregarious groups babbled as they multitasked on their I-Phones, clicking selfies and simultaneously uploading them onto Facebook. It was bright, colourful and happening. It was flamboyance personified!

It felt nice but not quite as much. Amidst the trendy crowd in the splashy mall, Priyanka completely stood out of place due to her attire.

‘That’s exactly how our industry works,’ Diya murmured to Priyanka. Though Diya’s outfit was no good either, it was not as gawky as that of Priyanka’s.

‘Time for a make-over!’ announced Diya.

Allen Solly, Van Heusen, Blackberry……Both ladies had punctured their pockets by evening. Diya was right. The style which these outlets had to offer was not even close to the locally- tailored formals which she had brought with herself. She was also way self-conscious to buy those clothes online – wouldn’t her chicken legs look too thin in those stretchy pants, wouldn’t she look too flashy in those silken tops, would a scarf suit her? Plenty of inhibitions. Nevertheless, both returned back with hands full of plastic bags and nearly empty wallets.

The attendant saw them loaded with shopping bags and smiled understandingly.

‘Madam in case you have not had dinner there is some laid out at the

table.’ Both colleagues who by now had become friends said, ‘No, Thanks!’ as they hurried to their respective rooms to catch on some sleep.

The next was their first day at office and they were completely showered with welcomes and greetings. Priyanka met a lot of colleagues who scanned her from top to bottom during the introductions. Thank God for the shopping the previous day, else she would have been the odd one out! The other two interns in her group namely Rohit and Ranveer were from Delhi and Gurgaon respectively and were hence not staying at the office guest house. They were nice to both the girls but when it came to the coffee break and lunch time, the ‘cool guys’ hung out together and discussed upon their common interests. The office was busy with immaculately dressed seniors willing to offer guidance at the slightest hint of it. This was however more to underline their knowledge than to assist. The first day came to an end.

Mundane training lectures, coffee breaks and online tests; it was tiresome. Seniors guided each of them in their projects in fake accents buttered onto plain linguistics. It was funny how grammatically incorrect sentences could be disguised under accented jargon. The only respite for the two ladies were the late evenings left to themselves in which they could surf, study or move around to get acquainted with the city. Well, the city offered sky-scrapers in all shapes and sizes. And roaming around would make them land in one mall after another; either grabbing a bite at an expensive eatery or shopping for accessories and make-up kits that Diya assisted Priyanka with.

Priyanka wondered, ‘I can either be the odd one out or allow a little change and get accepted.’ No matter how smart you are, you have to be heard first to make your view-point. She had to look presentable and who better than her Mumbai friend to help her out. Apart from the career-oriented study material, Priyanka was also studying the art of applying eyeliner and mascara onto her eyelids. After a decade of wearing her thick rimmed glasses, she had finally switched over to contact lenses. Poking yourself in the eye was never an easy thing! She was also training in which clothes could make your figure look better and how to tame unwieldy hair with a hair-iron and some products. Diya also gave her the excruciating training of walking in high-heels. Her new look did boost her morale and gave her the confidence to look upon herself as an equal with others. Priyanka had slowly transformed from being a timid self-conscious colleague who people hardly noticed to a more confident version of herself. She had surreptitiously sneaked into the crowd and become one amongst the group.

Weekdays had the routines of morning greetings and attending training sessions. At lunch hour all would go to the food court. Diya would feel hungry lured by the hoardings of luscious snacking menus. Priyanka would munch and even gulp on overhearing the filthy jokes of the supposedly cosmopolitan men with modern viewpoints; huddled up at the table next to theirs’. Each day would bring in a professional challenge for the intern group and also an opportunity for each one to display their newly bought accessories. Both Diya and Priyanka enjoyed the latter as well.

A few weeks passed by and it was a Friday evening. Dinner was planned together with all the colleagues. Kebabs served across steaming talks. Priyanka remembered the times one had to underplay his achievements in humility, in respect to the other person’s feelings. This dinner was exactly the opposite. Each one was narrating a story of his own; stating his skills and abilities. In blunt, each one was boasting of his achievements to the other. The listeners looked disturbed and anxious while waiting for their turn to brag. The only ones slightly less bothered by the discussion were the two ladies. While Priyanka was busy helping herself with the kebabs, Diya was munching on the rolls and flaunting her attire. The talks switched from range rovers, Audis, BMWs, to music speakers, iWatch , Galaxy S6, to holiday destinations in Mauritius and Singapore, as each one rhapsodized about how awesome their own life was. The insecure ones were flashing fake smiles.

Fresh from the crash-course in sprucing and grooming herself, Priyanka realized that showing off was the next course she would have to undertake. With her new looks she had managed to get a ticket into the group but in order to truly ingratiate herself with the others, she would have to learn to boast without feeling awkward. Dinner was over and both girls were back in their rooms.

‘There is one thing I learned today. You cannot wait for someone’s appreciation. You have to highlight your own glories,’ Priyanka mentioned disgusted. Diya nodded back in acceptance.

Thankfully it was the well-deserved weekend.

‘Oh God! I need to visit that uncle I talked about. He will feel offended if I do not meet him this weekend.’

‘I can accompany you. I should have at least few acquaintances in town!’ responded Priyanka.

Both had to resort to a bus and then an auto-rickshaw to search their way to the mentioned address. They entered the premises of the apartment. Manicured parks, magnificent villas, SUV displays, tennis courts, swimming pools, palatial clubs…..it was another world.

‘Diya, you should have given me a call. I would have my driver pick you up.’

‘Not a problem uncle. It was easy locating this apartment, seemed like everyone has heard of it! This is my friend, Priyanka.’

The hefty uncle with flab flowing like melting butter from his chin and stomach, turned around and looked at Priyanka. Till then, it had seemed like she was non-existent.

‘Hello lady. We are the Jaikars of Gurgaon! Have a seat.’

The introduction threw Priyanka out of her poise.

‘Who the hell introduces himself like that?’ rang in her mind.

‘Uh…me….Priyanka sir!’ Priyanka fumbled in response as she tried to gain back her composure.

‘You are Diya’s friend. You can call me uncle. Look aunty is here!’

The stylishly dressed aunt enveloped in perfume, stepped into the garden.

‘Oh Diya why didn’t you tell me you were coming? I was on my way to the gym!’

She was in sporty attire with light make-up and soft lipstick. Priyanka simply observed in silence.

‘Wait a minute, was she not going to sweat-out in the gym? Sweat would wash it all!’

Diya concluded that the washed out aunty would look very pale and ordinary if she hadn’t decked herself up.

‘How is your mother Diya? It’s been really long that we have chilled out together!’

This lingo tickled Diya and Priyanka. The aunt overpowered their conversation with ‘health tips and fitness’.

‘If she is so health-conscious, why doesn’t she apply these on her hubby!’ mused, a bored Priyanka.

‘Why are we still sitting at the garden? Come, we shall have lunch together.’

The aunty whispered a few instructions to the house-staff possibly the cook. And then, they entered the bungalow.

Priyanka was amazed as she stepped into the drawing room. Divya scrutinized the furnishings of the room as she looked around. The royal sofa with illustrious upholstery, the bright lemon-coloured tapestry, the lavish carpets and finally the show stealer – the majestic chandelier; certainly the art of an interior designer! All created an atmosphere of exquisite luxury.

There was more to observe but uncle had already started stories about his real- estate business, one following another. Both Diya and Priyanka were least interested but they pretended to listen. Aunty had moved to the kitchen in the middle of it, while they were simply waiting for lunch.

In the process of talks, it was becoming consecutively evident that uncle was not as rich as it appeared to be. EMI burdens behind the facade of luxury affordances! A lot of his business was burdened with loans, debts and losses. He had a Mercedes and a Jaguar, both under loan. Priyanka just wondered why he needed to do that since he could at least replace one of them with a more economical option. Diya had already concluded that all this was a status symbol, to deceive the rest of the world.

Lunch was laid and thankfully everyone let their tongues enjoy the flavours rather than wag endlessly.

‘You both can rest now. We’ll show you around the place in the evening.’

Aunty guided them to the room which was presumably for the guests. The tiles were spotless and had their faint reflections stare back at them.

‘I thought this uncle of yours is stinking rich.’

‘Not really. Just that he tries to appear to be so. It is just to be a part of the crowd. Else they would feel completely out-of-place. You need the nerve to stand alone! And he certainly doesn’t have that!’

‘Let’s sleep. My head is already reeling’, stated Priyanka.

Both managed a nap on the mahogany master bed, before aunty called out.

‘Come darlings…….tea is ready.’

‘Wow!! Only a queen can be treated like that,’ whispered Priyanka.

‘Just enjoy,’ responded Diya.

Tea first and a stroll in the campus is what followed. Both uncle and aunty accompanied the girls in showing around the place. Obviously, one could not help but observe as well. Extravagance was the order of the day. Elders strolled while kids played around in splashy clothing. There was instant flash-of-recollection of Priyanka’s childhood spent in shorts and T-shirts mostly dust laden and ripped by the branches of trees she had been attempting to conquer over.

‘Don’t worry…….that is just till the parks. They will be dressed just like you and me when no one is watching’, Diya responded as if reading Priyanka’s mind.

A pretty lady walked to her car in her sunglasses.

‘Hadn’t the sun already set?’ wondered Priyanka.

And yes, one could tell from her somewhat floundering walk that she could barely move in her leather pants that stuck to her body like a second layer of skin.

‘C’mon everyone is style-smitten just like you and me’, explained Diya as she caught Priyanka’s gaze.’

Aunty and uncle were comparatively slow-paced and hence missed upon all these expert comments.

Their concentration was interrupted by some youngster in a car, honking over them. Whether there was enough space or not, was a different concern, he was surely drawing everyone’s attention to his car. Before Diya could blurt out something, the guy alighted out of his car and called out.

‘Hello Jaikar uncle! How is business?’ He did not bother to greet aunty.

‘Hi. How are you doing? This new one I have undertaken has huge profits. I would suggest you to invest in this property………Where is your dad these days?’

Aunty deviated from the conversation probably because she could not comprehend much of it.

‘This is the super mart from where we pick our necessities.’

‘This might be the only convenient choice, since the road-side grocery stores were almost non-existent while vegetables and fruits carts were minimal. You would have to go for a hunt if looking for fresh ones,’ reasoned Diya.

There were attractive packages, the buy-one get one free offer, loud and bright advertisements; consumerism swallowing it all. Festivals sugar-coated with market offerings!

The guy joined in, ‘Hi, I am Arjun!’

Both Priyanka and Diya responded with a lopsided smile, out of disinterest.

Uncle elaborated, ‘Arjun is in the process of joining the liquor business of his father. ‘

Priyanka thought he just appeared like a youngster while Diya wondered whether he had earned his car.

‘Once upon a time, this city was a village like every other. The residents were facing similar problems as any other place‘, Arjun filled in his unwanted inputs for the baffled ladies who were not looking for any explanation.

Jaikar uncle added, ‘And then, time scurried off and real estate made a lot of aspects overturn for its residents!’

Uncle guffawed as he moved to join aunty to remind her of the grocery shopping leaving the kids to themselves.

‘The non-residents are mostly people from smaller towns moving in an attempt to realize their ambitions…….But people like us…….We rule the roost’, announced Arjun.

Diya had already been irritated with all the show-off around her. And this comment had provoked her enough to burst out her bottled irritation.

‘Actually, I’m from Mumbai where you have businessmen with exemplary revenues. But the world is pretty down to earth. Possibly, people who have grown rich suddenly maybe due to their existing property or inheritance are all excited about their money and don’t know what to do next. And hence the splurge and extravagance which we get to see around.’

Priyanka tried to divert this much understood personal attack by mentioning, ‘The markets are set to witness a correction in property prices according to analysts. The real estate in Gurgaon might hence deflate gradually.’

This zipped off Arjun’s lips partly because of Diya’s in-the-face remark while the rest because he did not know upon any actual statistics. Uncle joined in again totally missing upon the ‘nouveau riche’ conversation.

‘Yeah…True…Uh…..see you all!’ He gave an awkward smile as he waved his hand and walked away with the pretence of having pending work.

Uncle’s driver dropped the girls at the guest house.

Priyanka had a laugh. ‘You could not control yourself huh?’

‘These people need to be told that they need to step out of their opulent houses and look around,’ replied Diya in absolute disgust.

‘Self-indulgence is still fine, but they are drunk in themselves. No time to look beyond themselves. It’s as good as a cocoon. They need to be told that there is a delightful world beyond this!’

Both discussed upon this topic till they were swept by sleep.

The hectic week followed with huge workload and no time to breathe. And, within the blink- of-an-eye it was Sunday again. Both decided to go for shopping again for one last time since, the next weekend would see them packing their bags and moving to the respective regions assigned by their teams.

‘Let’s explore a different mall this time,’ chimed both friends.

Both unknowingly landed themselves into another world. This was the land of Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Versace……. It was an ethereal dream-world. But this time, they did not enjoy the experience as much as their previous shopping outings. The reason was simple. This time they were just window shopping since these brands were completely unaffordable by them.

They had no option but to just look around and feel awkward. Haute couture costumes, suave mannerisms, modern in style-sensibilities, in gadget-usage. This was an elitist, affluent crowd where everyone around had a genuine accent and were dressed like models walking down the ramp in their aromatic personas.

Self-portrayals delved into superiority complex. The pompous store managers looked at them like they had committed some crime. At the ethnic ensemble stores, you would have to first validate your ‘price range’ before you were allowed to view the collection. And the fellow shoppers gave them an arrogant look as if telling them – ‘There is no way on earth you can afford these!’ Priyanka’s self-confidence was being munched upon once again.

‘Let’s go. I feel pretty much out-of-place.’

‘C’mon Priyanka! You don’t have to feel guilty if you can’t afford these. It’s just fine!’

Diya dragged Priyanka to the lounge.

‘Look at these!’ She indicated towards the placards and banners advertising the offers.

‘Would you have even bothered to find out which brand this is, had it not been marketed by this celebrity? I wouldn’t have even known the name! Look at the positive. It gives a delight to its customers and creative wings to its creators. But, the brands don’t define these people, the people define these brands! They make it a style statement!’

Priyanka inferred, ‘They are supposed to enhance your personage and not make you feel low.’ Though, she felt just the opposite.

Both had a meager lunch and exited to finally have a wholesome dinner by the guest house attendant.

Weekdays passed by. The projects were now nearing submission as the training session was coming to its closure. The trainees had to sum up the concept behind raising a demand amongst the consumers. And there were very good insights from each one. Some mentioned the pricing technique while others highlighted on the supply chain and the logistics involved for online demand.

Diya underlined on capitalizing upon the consumer’s insecurities.

‘Luxury is a relative term and there is no end to parallelism and hence the desire to jump onto the next ring of Saturn. It’s applicable and prevalent from toothpaste to cars.’

Priyanka added ‘Self-identity dissolved into herd-following, insecurities buried in social parties…. Consumers’ likes and dislikes are significant. But, bigger the insecurity more exorbitant the expenditure better the ROI for the brand. ‘

The session concluded with an applause. This was branded nirvana, for everyone!

And then, it was a final dinner party at the terrace garden of a restaurant. The tiny lights flickering below amidst the sizzler smoke looked dreamy and made Priyanka feel dizzy.

A scrumptious buffet was splurged before them. Diya said, ‘What we pick onto our plates depends on our taste!’ Their training session was complete.