'Virasat aur Vikas' in clothes and food: Embracing global and desi vibes

How we've shifted from loving all things Western to embracing global, desi, and global desi vibes -- with fewer value judgments

The theme of this Republic Day, “Virasat aur Vikas”, heritage and progress, is an invitation to examine how our Indianness in everyday life has evolved since liberalisation and how far we have travelled from an earlier love for all things foreign to a comfort with our Indianness. Food and clothes are the most interesting lenses through which to examine this.

 

In the early 90s, global consultants advised Indian marketers to prepare for Indians significantly westernising in their choice of clothes and food, following the pattern of most markets that developed before us. The sari would go the kimono way and