At first, this comparison may seem a bit weird and it is
indeed weird; but what I am trying is to compare two sources of enjoyment and
recreation. Mall represents the choice of modern shining India while Mela is
usually the choice of rural India and urban middle and below middle families. Though we may see some bunch of people both at
Malls and Melas who we think doesn’t belong to the respective places.
Mall has gathered widespread publicity in the past decade
and it has become favorite place of almost every middle person to the
aristocrats. Teenagers like it because it’s a safe and standard meeting place
to impress both their friends and ‘beloved ones’. Women like it because it’s a matter
of maintaining standard to visit malls for shopping or for nothing. Men like it
because they got no choice; they have to comply with their kids and wives.
Mela existed for a long time and in past its primary purpose
was to facilitate business by providing a common place where every useful
commodity can be made available. In recent days there is a shift in the trend
and apart from a business place Mela has also become a fun place. Common men
like it as it’s cheap, it’s a good source of escape from day to day trouble and
tension and a good place for a family hangout.
Though the classes of people visiting these places are
different but purpose of each class is same. Some fun, some shopping, and an
escape from day to day monotonous routine. Children, no matter, whether they
are in mall or Mela have the same curiosity and enthusiasm. They want to play;
they want to eat; they want to experience everything that the surrounding
environment is providing them. Mela usually have speedy and quick entertainment
stuff like magician’s show, death well, giant wheels and other kind of
thrilling adventures whereas mall has standardized entertainment also; it
provides multiplexes, ice skating, bowling, 3-d and virtual reality games etc
etc which only rich people can enjoy. A middle class person can only enjoy the
view of rich people enjoying these games from outside and he makes firm
resolution that one day I will also enjoy life in the same way.
If I talk from economic point of view, then there is an
amazing similarity between shopkeepers of both places. In malls, a major chunk
of profit earned by shopkeepers is given as rent and other service taxes so
they have to fight real hard to survive in the luxurious competition inside.
Scenes of new shops opening in malls, struggling for few days, and shutting
down are very common these days. So we may get a feel that people owning a shop
in a mall are very rich but we don’t know in reality how well they are doing,
and is it sufficient to thrive. Similarly people owning a shop in Mela
basically belong to the middle level shop keepers and they also have to give
huge rents to local municipality, administrations and bribes to local
officers. There is a limited amount of
time to earn profit, and there is excessive competition. I was once watching
this shop, they were selling every item for 5rs and I was wondering how much
profit they will earn eventually and will it be enough?
Though the mannerism, clothes, shoes and other accessories
may be different for a person having a shop in Mall and Mela but if you closely
observe the expressions on their face is almost same. Worried, tensed and
hoping that customer will come to their shop and they can continue their
struggle. Such kind of partiality can occur only in a country like India where
employment means just to increase the quantity and give people a basic medium
to survive no matter if it’s not enough to assure any quality life to them.
It seems peculiar to me, 2 places, completely different yet
serving the same purpose and you can trace as many similarities as there are
dissimilarities. Ultimately, both places show the human spirit of enjoying the
life, having a little fun, a little get together with family and friends after
a long time, different colors of life with all possible variations and a perpetual
struggle for survival and an attitude of never giving up.
