The Urge To Splurge

‘I want to drink life to the lees’—this seems to be the mantra of the gen-next Indian youth. Exploring every nook and corner of the journey called life, the Indian youth is living life to the hilt. Swanky cars, latest gadgets, eating out at exorbitantly priced restaurants, to dancing away into the wee hours of the morning in discotheques—the HIP urban youth is doing it all in style. The present generation is surely riding high on cash and aish(fun).
Splashing out at body workshops features at the top of the spending list of the body conscious generation. Inspired by the John Abrahams, Salman Khans, Hritik Roshans of Bollywood every Indian male wants to flaunt rippling muscles to woo the members of the Y-chromosome. Both college goers and multinational executives can be spotted at premium gyms pumping iron with unfailing punctuality. Good cash, a concoction of brawn and brains and a confident go-getter attitude—that’s the NEW Indian male for you. The dainty females are also not to be left behind in this fitness mania routine. Meenakshi Rawat, a call-center executive spends 30% of her monthly expenses on health and fitness. What other youngsters loosen their purse strings on may vary but fitness ranks high on the spending list .
Closely following the heels of the fitness splurge comes the cash that is spent on various skin/hair products, clothes and accessories to make one look good. And surprisingly the fair sex can no longer be accused of ‘wasting’ money on such narcissistic pursuits. The metrosexual man is breaking the traditional idea of the rough and rugged male. Beauty salons like Habibs have a mixed clientele of both men and women spending upto thousands for a trendy haircut or a glowing skin. Fashion designers across the country are having a ball since not only the pretty ladies are churning out lumpsum amounts for the ‘oh so exclusive’ lehenga ,saree or nightgown. Their male counterparts too are going gung ho about looking hip and cool in a Sandeep Khosla or Abu Jani creation. ‘Look good , feel good’ , is the motto for the fun loving generation of the 21st century.
Gruelling work schedules, late night shifts, meeting deadlines and stiff professional competition also contribute to this ‘work hard , party harder’ syndrome. Parties, nightclubs and movies drain a considerable portion of the young generation’s hard earned money. For most of the high-earning youngsters, it is juggling tough working hours with nightlong partying. The BPO sector, banks, multinational companies pay hefty pay packets which allow their employees to indulge in multifarious epicurean pursuits. After 5 days of hard work, the young office crowd unwind at various nightclubs and discs on weekends.
The present generation’s lust for the trendiest gizmos also burn a big hole in their pockets. From school going adolescents to multinational executives, every person is smitten with cell phones. And the good old sets with just normal call and sms features are a big no-no. To be in with the times you got to own a colour handset which is the bare minimum. Cell phones costing around ten thousand or more such as the Nokia N-series, Moto Razr V3 or the Sony Ericsson W- series are must haves to be considered fashionable. I-pods, DVD players, handycams to digicams—today’s youth wants it all and is ready to spend astronomical amounts for a lavish life style.
Multiplexes, shopping malls, fancy cars, nightclubs, restobars---options are galore to satisfy the urge to splurge. Moreover, single children brought up in the lap of luxury do not have to think about securing their future with a decent bank balance since their parents do it for them. The gen-next loves living life in a carefree manner and without having to worry too much about the future. What matters is living for the moment. To lap up the pleasures of life with open arms. So, life for most of us is a joyride which seems to go on and on and on…..