With apologies to none at all

By Vikas Mehta

Many a moon ago, I learned about a new type of commerce. The ‘guilt commerce’. Living in Dehradun and having a daughter in a boarding school for a few months was a revelation.

This year in January I revisited the phenomena. Wherever in Doon we went that weekend, the place was teeming with boarders and their parents. Stationery and gift shops, eating joints, malls, cinema, the cash registers were jingling everywhere and the businessmen couldn’t hide their glee.

Let me explain. All boarding schools have a monthly off wherein the parents or the local guardians can take their wards away over a weekend. Typically, the student can go out on Friday evening or Saturday morning and be back at the boarding on Sunday evening or Monday morning, before school. So, lot of outside parents come to town on a particular weekend. They check into hotels or a friend’s or relative’s places and then they get into indulging their children. Shopping for school stuff, boarding house requirements are par for the course. And then comes ‘guilt shopping’. Dining at favourite restaurants, shopping for the odd indulgence, buying of goodies, watching cinema, ice creams…..

For the students, it is a release. Not just from a structured and regimented life but in today’s day and age it also means access to technology. At the boarding schools, children have restricted and controlled access to the Web. Smartphones and social media are a no-go. So, god help a parent if they are not carrying the child’s smartphone or do not give them access to it. In fact, I do suspect that smartphones sales also pick up a bit on such days.

Every time my daughter came home she had a simple wishlist… a few canvasses, colours, brushes and books. All which I agreed with. And then one day she asked for a loomkit. I had no clue what it was. She not only knew everything about it but also knew where to buy it. So, we proceeded to a gift shop type of a place and I was bowled over by the number and variety of boarders. I think I saw almost all types of school dress and designs. (Some schools allow children on a day pass in school dress). And while standing in a queue to pay I noticed some interesting buying behaviour and parent reactions.

One young chap insisted he wanted the ‘Blood capsule.’ I had no clue what it was and neither had the poor mother. But remember the phrase ‘guilt shopping’? Well, the mother succumbed to it. Another mom was chiding her son for buying four pens as according to her he hates writing. At this my daughter, mumbled in my ears ‘ oh he must be buying it to play pen fight’. I was learning new things. And of course there was the usual. An 8-9-year0old insisting on the new Barbie, with a little help from the shopkeeper and getting away with it.

I chatted with the shopkeeper when my turn came. While furiously punching his calculator he told me, ‘sir once in a month we face bonanza. And when festivals like rakhi or bhai dooj come along the schools are again lenient, and we have a windfall’. So, there were parents from Punjab in their Audis, from UP in their Fortuners, from Haryana in their Brezza and from Uttarakhand in their Dezires. All justifying their child’s stay at a boarding house with their wallets.

And most of these parents and children have their favourite haunts. A stationery store, an electronic shop, a sweet store, a few restaurants. I learnt a few more interesting things. Some of these establishments are run by people who themselves are ex0hostelites from these schools. These places also therefore become reunion spots for parents. Mini alumni celebrations happen here.

To understand the guilt complex, one has to just watch the number of children in rags selling inflated balloons to ball pens to these parents or mothers with toddlers holding out for some alms in and around the favourite haunts. It is a sad reflection of the society but the reality is that the street urchins and the destitutes also know how to exploit the phenomena.

One of my grouses with business establishments in Doon has been that they open late, specially in winters. Don’t venture out till 11:30 am is the thumb rule. But because the schools allow the children to be off by 9 or 9:30 am, that one day many shops open early. Hotels have brunch menus and traffic is unusually heavy.

Post the pandemic, not much has changed. Except that a new, swankier mall has opened. At the mall the food court didn’t have an inch of space. Fancy new deli and cafes have replaced the fast food options.At the ice cream parlour, the chocolates and caramels were running out of stock and at the stationery shops there was a run on the pens.

We are local guardians for one child in a boarding school. The parents are in Rajasthan and if by any chance they cannot make it, they request us to take care of the child. The usual schedule includes mall, 2-3 different eating joints, stationery shop, gift shop and tonnes of time with smart phone.

The sense of freedom means the children want to go for a drive. This brings a windfall for cab operators too.  Maybe Musoorie or Maldevta or Rishikesh. It’s not really the love for the outdoor or a wanderlust. It’s just that they do not want to be confined to the four walls of a hotel room or a home. That in fact was one of the biggest reasons that we withdrew our daughter from the boarding.

Cities like Dehradun thrive on guilt commerce. And when I mean Dehradun, I also include boarding schools from Mussourie area. There is a tourist season and a guilt commerce season. Tourist season is for a few months but guilt commerce is a monthly phenomena. Dehradun’s economy is largely service driven. Schools, colleges, private hostels, dabba system for the students in private hostels, coaching institutes for defence exams, tourism etc. Guilt commerce, I suspect has a sizeable contribution too. Plus, it gives offline shopping a big boost too. Move over e commerce, guilt commerce is here to stay.