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Shoppers Shock!

I went to one of those branded fashion stores that had unveiled their summer collection and i thought its a great chance to just check out what the design range and prices are like. I usually like to buy stuff from there if its affordable, of course.  

There was this nice young affluent family who were making a lot of noise in the womens' trial  room section where girls and women were trying out stuff they wanted to buy. I noticed this family because they seemed so cozy and full of laughter, which is usually the case when there are more than two family members nearby. 

The father was striking because of his booming voice and too loud personality. He looked like perhaps he is in his early forties, the mother looked like she was in her thirties.

The daughter seemed to be in her teens, she looked very young, pampered, i-always-get-what-i-demand types. She had a high pitched voice and she talked down to the sales girls and seemed to find fault with everything around her. She had this scratchy, whiny type of voice that just got onto your nerves even though she looked pretty and had a really nice smile. Personally, I find it difficult to be friendly with people like that because they take this high and mighty attitude and inflict it happily on others around them, thinking that is a fine and acceptable way to behave, which is not the case.

The family seemed to have come on this really important mission of choosing the girl's first 'inner wear' stuff. That's ok. I can understand that. 

What I couldn't understand or find acceptable was that the girl's father was the one who was choosing all of it very selectively.  He would hold up stuff, peer at it, debate about it and I found this behavior very unbecoming in a store that was full of women. He was the only man in the womens' trial room. Even girls who had come with their husbands or boyfriends had come in to the trial room on their own, leaving the guys to stand outside at a decent distance away from the trial room.

Maybe this is a new Indian upper class fad or something, I don't know nor do I want to know but it was shocking to find the father debating about the measurements and the designs so intimately with the daughter and the sales girls. He talked like a man who knows too much about womens' inner wear, which is fine if he hadn't been articulating it so loudly for all the women to hear! 

The sales girls were being given instructions to get measurements right, to get the brand right, etc. When the girl is trying out stuff, the father is hovering around outside asking her, too loudly, "Does it fit?" "Is the color okay?" "Should I check?" "Can I get you another measurement or brand?" "Is this good for gym?" 

The mother - whom I frankly felt sorry for - sat in a corner, looking completely defeated. Not even the sales girls paid her the slightest bit of attention. The daughter too addressed only the father as "Papa." 

The way in which he was deciding for his daughter - discussing it vis a vis her anatomy so loudly - i can't believe Indian fathers would go into such hour-long details about this with their daughters. I felt sick but I consoled myself thinking that perhaps these upper class affluent families did things differently from ordinary families.

What do you think?

♥♥  I thank you with all my heart for reading my post. I dedicate this post with love and gratitude to all those who want to see a better value system in the society. REQUEST: Please SHARE this article on your favorite social networks. Every share, like or tweet makes me reach out to more people who work towards a better society and a happier world. I am grateful and I appreciate you for doing so. ♥♥

Comments

Harish P I said…
hm.. the society is changing. or may be they have their own reasons.
Shilpa Garg said…
Shocking and surprising indeed!! But, if the mother is silently sitting in one corner for this kind of shopping, there must be a reason (story) behind this!!
Changing face of Society??!!
Hey Harish, I don't know what to think because its just very difficult to accept certain types of behavior.

My thoughts were the same as yours, Shilpa. Why's the mother sitting quietly in a corner and not doing something? The changing face of the society is turning bizarre.
Swati said…
Strange ..my father used to choose / play most important part in choosing all my external clothing , since our choices matched , more than they did with my mom. But I can never imagine him choosing that stuff for me or even discussing :P
Rachna said…
This is truly disgusting. I mean what in the world could make a father and daughter comfortable in taking bras and cup sizes. This is obscenity and I feel really sorry for the wife that she has to put up with such a jerk, and the daughter is pretty weird herself. No matter how rich one becomes, there are just certain things one doesn't do with fathers. What is next choosing the right brand of sanitary napkins for her, ugh...
Tan said…
What I feel is that, when a girl becomes too close to her father, she might see her mom in him. This might be th reason why she discusses such stuff with him. But, I too did not like the fact that he was behaving the way you described in front of other women. That should have been avoided.

I have heard of motherless girls being brought up by their dads such that the dad becomes the mom for the girl.

If the mom is sitting silently in a corner, that could mean something else.

First time in your blog. I liked your space:)
Rama said…
ican't digest this situation.i think he was not a father.
@Swati, I feel the same way as you do. There are some things that are just not done and this is one of them!

@Rachna, u r absolutely spot on about this! I felt sick to the core just seeing and hearing this.

@Tan, thanks for the warm words of encouragement. Means a lot to me. And yes, sometimes it happens that a daughter feels her father is like a mother but then, the father's behavior balances it out. Here, the father was behaving like a total pervert.She should be careful for her own sake.
Rama, I had the same doubt then i thought maybe I've been watching too many movies and am getting far-fetched ideas....at first glance, they really seemed like a family. Truth, however, is stranger than fiction.
Palash said…
This is totally unacceptable..As a father of a 10yr old, I cant even imagine doing this stuff. Many can say its "Changing face", but to me, its crossing "certain boundaries" which differentiate us from a "Organism" to a "HUMAN BEING". Apologies if I had been blunt.
Rachit said…
quite intimidating.. :)
Time is changing so the trial rooms.
I like the post 'With compliments from Adi'.
Adi's pic with the bird : Brave boy!

Thanks for the comment on my blog.
Keep visiting. :)
@Palash - Absolutely correct!

@Rachit - Yes, it's nauseating!

@Chandrika - Many thanks for the encouraging words. Hope to see you soon.
Life Begins said…
Oh that does not sound right at all. Something surely misfit there.
@Life Begins - Exactly my thoughts!
Shafi said…
"Indian upper class fad" .. i like it it read like "Indian upper class faggot". you should have taken his picture and send it to news channel .. lol
@Sharif - Didn't cross my mind at the time.

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