Arvind Singhal: Guilt-free leisure

MARKETMIND

As one of the few privileged millions among the nation of almost 1.1 billion, I cannot but feel envy every time I travel out of India either on work or on leisure. Almost every country that I have been to, and irrespective of its economic status, makes some conscious effort to acknowledge that leisure and entertainment is almost a basic need and perhaps an unstated fundamental right of all their citizens. It is only in India of grown-ups that most of us forget that we were ever young. As soon as we become parents or grandparents or else become politicians and bureaucrats, we start preaching and forcing the young""whether in age or in the heart""to believe in the virtues of asceticism and self-denial.

For a nation that everyone acknowledges is demographically amongst the youngest in the world, our options for recreation are extraordinarily limited. In most other parts of the world, leisure and recreation would include easy, affordable access to myriad sports and outdoor activities; swimming and beachfront activities (on and near coastal areas); hiking and trekking where such landscape permits; ubiquitous presence of pubs and bars and cafes to spend an evening at with friends; pedestrianised zones in city centres that can become the meeting point for all kinds of people who can soak in some window or actual shopping; some street music and painting, and some street or restaurant food sampling; theatre, concerts and other performing arts options to supplement the cinema halls; theme parks etc. etc. Where nature does not permit many of these activities, some nations try to challenge nature itself such as Dubai in the Emirates having ski-slopes, Japan having "indoor beaches", Disney in the US creating Safari parks in Florida, and the Singapore government following suit in the tiny country itself. In our "incredible India", by and large, the options for the young and not so young are just limited to television, cinema, and eating out (even that is under threat if some recent moves in Delhi are to go by where cooking on the street is being threatened to be banned). Further, both TV and cinema content are increasingly coming under the control of puritanical elements and the so-called moral police representing mostly the lumpen elements of some political parties. Film-viewing, where modern multiplexes have come up, is coming at such high prices (average price per person including some basic refreshments easily exceeds Rs 150-200 in most of the major cities) that this option is available only to the so-called upper middle income groups and not even the middle class.

India's town planners, exemplifying extreme myopia and total lack of awareness of the various elements of any civilised society, refuse to provide for large public parks, shopping zones and sporting arenas, and complexes and public beachfronts or walking/hiking trails. India's leading developers are obviously driven only by greed to eke out the last saleable square foot from their land holdings even as they routinely manipulate corrupt local politicians and civil servants to allow changes in the land use from open public spaces to commercial uses. Hence, even modern townships like Gurgaon and NOIDA do not boast of stadia, public sports complexes, parks and walking/jogging trails, auditoriums for performing arts, etc.

As I write this contribution from a vantage point in beautiful Mauritius, I cannot but recall this week's images of dozens of normal Indian families, including both young and the patriarchs, enjoying, with gay abandon, para sailing and undersea walks and snorkeling and canoeing and a host of other activities usually associated with their European counterparts. In a few days, each one of them will be back in their congested cities in India with practically no accessible or affordable, exciting options for their weekend recreation.

We have been talking in recent years almost ad nauseam about India's demographic dividend. We would be frittering away a lot of it if we do not provide non-work options to vent the throbbing energy of the hundreds of millions of youth and active adults. As a nation, we must actively propagate the philosophy of working hard and playing hard rather than extol the virtues of only working, and repeatedly put down the necessity of the "play" part as something that is only the prerogative of the affluent and affluent nations. Further, adults have to be accepted as adults and their "rights" to go out pubbing or watch/indulge in adult entertainment amongst other activities have to be respected by our politicians and overzealous bureaucrats.

For entrepreneurs, the lack of recreation options in India presents an enticing business opportunity. The range of feasible choices is absolutely incredible since within such a large, diverse population base, almost every genre of leisure and entertainment activity will find the critical mass in terms of the number of enthusiasts to make an investment in that particular genre of recreation option commercially viable and sustainable. The key, of course, is to offer options that are accessible and affordable to the "mass" of the targeted user group rather than just the very affluent or the very diehard enthusiasts.

Let us make our resurgent India also a fun India!

arvind.singhal@technopak.com