Dear Friends,
Today I went to the market to buy some fruits. The mango season being well and truly past, the market is now stocked with apples and pears. I went to a shop and started looking at some apples. Almost immediately the shopkeeper prompted me, "Sahab ye waale chhodiye, ye desi hain. Aap to yeh waale lijiye. Vilaayati Hain. Importaid...". (Sir, let these ones be. These are Indian and not so good. Take these other ones instead. These are imported..). I bought some of both (Indian and Imported) and came home. But what the fruit-vendor said would not allow my mind to rest in peace. His words kept on hitting me. "Don't take these ones. These are Indian..." My mind dwelt on other similes. "Desi Gulab" is worse than "Vilaayati Gulab". "Desi Sharaab" is worse than "Vilaayati Sharaab"... I kept wondering how and when the word "Desi"-which translated into English means "Made/Produced in India" became a synonym for "Ghatia" or "Bad Quality"? Perhaps it happened in the years that the British systematically destroyed Indian industry and handicrafts and flooded India with factory-made products from England. But even if that was the case, the situation should have been corrected in the 65 long years after independence. But, even today, the connotations remain the same. 'Desi' is still a synonym for 'Ghatia' and 'Vilaayati' still denotes 'Superior Quality'. I found the answer to this question when in the evening when I put on my Adidas sports shoes in order to go for my regular table-tennis practice. This pair of Adidas sneakers I had bought for Rs:2500/- from the Adidas Showroom in Vinayak City Palace Mall at Allahabad only a few months back. They were practically new and the only wear and tear that they had been subjected to was while playing table tennis which, in itself, is rather a mild sport compared to running or cricket. As soon as I started walking after wearing the Adidas sneakers, I felt a strange flapping sensation in the sole of the right shoe. I examined the shoe to find that the entire sole had gotten detached from the upper of the shoe ! I was shocked. After all Adidas is a world renowned company and you don't expect such 'Ghatia' quality from its products. I took the shoe the showroom expecting that they would apologize for the bad quality and replace the shoe. Imagine my further shock and surprise when the boy at the counter of the showroom started misbehaving with me and even went to the extent of accusing that I had deliberately damaged the shoe. When I insisted on a replacement, he refused flatly and said that the maximum he could do was to repair the shoe for which I would be charged !! I took the shoes and came back home and sat thinking. I wondered if this is how the agents of Adidas would have behaved with a customer if it was America or Europe. I wondered if such bad quality would have ever reached the customer in the 'First World', in the first place ? Then another incident came to my mind. A friend of mine had gifted me a "Parker" fountain pen (It was the popular 'Vector' model). Now, Parker, as a maker of writing instruments is an international icon. However, when I used the pen I found that the quality of the nib was so bad that it was scratching the paper and flow of the ink stalled several times during writing. I felt that this could be due to the fact that the pen was new. But after several days of persistence the pen still did not behave itself. So per force, I abandoned it and now it lies in my collection of pens as a useless relic of bad quality. Long time ago, when Parker had not launched its products in India, I had used a vector fountain pen belonging to a friend of mine. It was imported and was a wonderful writing instrument by all counts. So I was hard pressed to explain how the same brand and the same model could become so lacking in quality in India. As I sat brooding on the problem, it dawned on me that pretty much every international brand that is now selling in India-especially those brands who have also outsourced their manufacturing to Indian companies-is selling products much lower in quality when compared to the same models being sold in developed countries. And, even when the quality is at par, the after sales service support of every brand, without exception, is either virtually non-existent or a den of thieves and decoits !!( How many of us have gone to a "Nokia Care" center and received anything but "Care" ?!!)
After giving a considerable amount of thought to the phenomenon, I came to the conclusion that it was the "India Effect". All the major international brands that have launched their products in India have to ultimately use Indians in the manufacturing (if they are manufacturing in India), distribution, sales and after sales service. And the moment they do this, their quality plummets. That happens because their products are no more 'Vilaayati'. They are, instead, now 'Desi'. So its small wonder that the soles of Adidas shoes start coming off and Parker pens refuse to write once they become 'Desi'.
So we come back to square one-i.e. the point that I have been trying to highlight through my articles. The private sector in India is like an organized mafia. The 'Dharma' of this mafia is to somehow loot the hapless Indian consumer who has little choice and almost no mechanism for redressal of complaints. Moreover, as I keep saying, we Indians, by nature love to harass and thieve from our fellow citizens. That tendency is clearly reflected in the quality (or lack of it) of products and services reaching the customers and the callous manner that customers are treated by the agents of nearly all the big International brands manufacturing/importing and selling in India. Go and buy a Sheaffer pen worth Rs: 3000/- and they will give you a guarantee card proudly proclaiming lifetime guarantee. But after the purchase dare to return to the showroom with a complaint and you will find that it will take you a 'Lifetime' to get the company to honor the 'Guarantee' that it has given to you on the card which is actually not worth more than the paper it is made of.
So at the end, my conclusion is that the fruit vendor was ultimately correct. If you want to buy quality, buy 'Vilaayati' because 'Desi matlab Ghatiya' !!
