When I was young, I had witnessed a craze for foreign products. Pen used to be Hero - Made in China, fabric used to be Wooly or Bosky – Made in Japan, radios were Philips - Made in Holland, tape recorders used to be Sony - Made in Japan, and Watches - made in Switzerland. This list can be endless, but the height was that our most popular radio station was in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka)! With Binaca Geetmala and Amin Sayani, Radio Ceylon was a household name in those days of early seventies!

But now, everything has changed. With the opening up of the economy, we get anything and everything in India. We are so globalised that leather goods produced in Dharavi come to us from London or Paris, of course, with some international label affixed to them! This makes me realise that suddenly, we have not only become label-conscious, but in so many instances, label-crazy! With sky-rocketing Disposable Personal Incomes and Yuppies (Young Urban Professionals), DINK families (Double Income – No Kids) and similar lifestyle approaches, the urge to splurge has become visible and vocal in India.

Surprisingly, this label-craze is not limited to metropolises - it has spread to Tier-II and even Tier-III cities like wildfire! One can see glamorous malls showcasing almost all international brands in places like Ludhiana, Kolhapur, Patiala, Ahmednagar, Nashik, Amritsar, Mangalore and Kochi to name a few. Thanks to the windfall wealth, mostly because of real estate, people in these towns have become nouveau riche or first-generation millionaires.

This has changed everything. We Indians were known to appreciate the difference between cost and value. We used to buy things with an intrinsic value and not because of the monogram it carried. But now, things have changed, and changed drastically! Now, the brand or monogram is more important – cost, no bar! In fact, more costly, the better is the emerging mantra in a society, which is putting all its efforts (and money) into one-upmanship! In Gujarat, farmers who sold their land and became millionaires overnight buy a car with “four bangles”!! Do you know which? Audi!!

By writing this, I don't want to profess the 'Be Indian, Buy Indian' approach. But I only wish that 'We, the people of India' do not become brand-centric people, where anything and everything with a foreign label can be sold at ANY price.

Let us also look at our own labels, for a change! There are brilliant designers producing out-of-the-world products. We need to patronise and encourage our own labels, rather than 'Made in Foreign' labels only!! By the way, did you see The Times of India picture where talk show queen Oprah Winfrey is patting Sabyasachi's cheeks after her shopping stop at his boutique? What an endorsement by a 'foreigner' to an Indian label! Do I need to say anything more?