DESI UPRISING

Gaurav Tower in Jaipur is a favourite shopping center, particularly for the youth. It is 

a likable place with it’s ambiances, spaciousness and absolutely no parking hazard as is 

common everywhere in Jaipur. The variety of goods and their display in the Shopper’s Stop is 

exciting and provocating enough to shed some weight from our pockets. The Planet, the 

music shop is very well stocked with choicest selections of Western and Indian music both 

classical and pop. The completely foreign goods shop, only of its kind in Jaipur, with an array 

of consumer goods, all imported, meets the taste and requirements of the imported goods 

faddists. There is the Bata, the ubiquitous shoe shop. Some branded apparel shops and then 

there is the inevitable Mac Donalds, the eating place. The vast open space in the enclave with 

a sprinkling of fruit juice and coffee stalls and thereafter wide parking space with no parking 

ticket, completes the aura of Gaurav Tower, which has a distinct personality of its own. The 

complex is a ‘mini west’ in an otherwise traditionally ‘desi’ Jaipur. The transformation of 

Jaipur youths from ‘desi’ to ‘videsi’ in their attire and conduction can be best seen at the Mac 

Donalds. 

It was a Sunday afternoon, I and my wife had gone to Gaurav Tower ostensibly to buy 

a pair of ‘chapples’ for her but essentially for a change to enjoy driving straight on the now 

beautifully laid out JLN Marg and a bit of shopping with lot of window shopping which is 

always a visual delight; particularly at the watch and perfume counter in the shop where we 

both sampled the expensive and very expensive watches, which we could not afford to buy, 

but nonetheless tried on our wrists, some looked good, some out of place on our wrists, 

commented on the size, colour and make and returned them all to a smiling cooperative 

salesman giving an impression that we really meant to buy, but did not feel satisfied with the 

pieces available and promised to come back again when fresh stocks arrive. At the perfume 

counter, the fragrance permeated the air, drawing you to beautifully chiseled perfume bottles 

of various foreign brands. We made inquires about certain brands like a connoisseur, but 

fortunately for us they did not have them, so we did not have to buy any. But as a matter of 

courtesy to the sales girl, my wife picked up an organic, a fad these days, ‘morning nectar’ 

lotion, saying that winter is not far away when this would be needed to smoothen the dry skin.

2

Next we entered the Bata shop for the ‘chapples’ my wife wanted to buy. She sat 

down leisurely and tried many pairs, some were high, some low and some flat, and yet others 

did not have tasteful design. After trying each pair, she would point her finger to another pair 

displayed on the showcase and when it is brought to her feet, she would disapprove it for 

some fault or the other – things from a distances always look good. But finally, the salesman, 

who never showed any exasperation, succeeded in selling a pair to her. While making payment 

at the counter, to compensate for the patience and labour of the salesman, I picked up a pair of 

socks, which I did not really need. 

After about an hour, standing and walking all the time in the shopping arcade, we felt 

a little exhausted, so we decided to have a coffee break at the Mac Donalds. The place was 

full to the brim and oozing with vibrancy. I looked starry eyed all around and could just 

manage to find a place in a corner to sit, meanwhile my wife queued at the counter to collect 

two tumblers of hot coffee which tasted good. It was after a long time that we visited the place. 

The change was noticeable, it was now almost completely a teenagers place. Both of us senior 

citizens, were a odd couple out and looked alien to the place. One thing that struck me 

immediately on entering the place was a remarkable change in the social milieu of the crowd. 

Earlier, such places were frequented by somewhat well off to well off strata of society, 

generally English speaking, well dressed, cultivated and a mix of gentry. No more so. It was 

mostly youngsters, perceptibly from the lower to upcoming middle class level. Girls were 

predominant, though not one good to look at. They were of all shades and hue with odd 

combinations of features and stature, dressed in clumsy jeans and tops of varying lengths, 

mostly black with funny patterns and captions unaesthetically printed both on the back and 

front. On their wrists were watches prominently large with bold with distinct letters that one 

could read from a distances, just as one would read a wall clock, held in place with a wide two 

to three inches strap round the wrist, as if the wrist has been bandaged. There was barely any 

difference in the male and female attire and the accessories, both were competing with each 

other. They were, girls particularly, gesticulating, giggling, and talking non-stop 

simultaneously both to the group and on the cell phone, often intervening their sentences with 

wo, ya, yaar etc. The language surprisingly Hindi mostly with sprinkling of few English 

words badly pronounced. There was gaity and exuberance all around undoubtedly.

3

I realized that Mandalisation has indeed changed the complexion of new India. Lower 

middle class and the so called deprived or depressed class of people could not have been seen 

anywhere in places like Mac Dolands and the likes a few decades back. No more so. They are 

there all over throwing away the complexes they lived with for so many years. They are 

radiating confidence and pride in themselves, completely at case in rubbing shoulders with 

their rich unequals .

It was also interesting to note that they were conversing in Hindi predominatly. While 

on one hand we are clamoring to give public school English medium education to our children 

because we believe that career progression and prosperity lies in English language, on the 

other, we cannot escape noticing that youngsters from small towns and rural areas with Hindi 

medium schooling to begin with are now making their presence felt in all walks of life, be it 

admissions in IIT’s, IIM’s, in Civil Services and in newly emerging sector of 

entrepreneurship and even in the elitists sport like cricket as we saw the other day in the 20-

20 Final. 

This self reliant youth from the erstwhile underprivileged classes is announcing in no 

uncertain terms that look – we have arrived – shall face the world on our own and be unequal 

to none. This is a remarkable societal transformation in India – a ‘desi uprising’ indeed.

We must not forget that 70% of India lives in villages of which about 60% constitutes 

the youth. It is this rural youth which is shedding their rustic ruralness and gradually adopting 

urban culture and it’s sophistication, howsoever, superficial though it may be. They are getting 

higher education, acquiring professional skills of high level and emerging as competent and 

as capable as their erstwhile privileged urban brethren. We must recognize this change, as 

this transformed youth, which will constitute the majority of the country’s youth – is the future 

India. 

Jaipur