Sep 26, 2010 09:12 AM
7976 Views
The answer to CWG mess was always amongst us and in front of us - Fabindia!! They follow the slogan of Athithi Devo bhava to the core and infact to the extent ignore normal Indians for the sake of NRIs and Non Indians.
So is it a new revelation? No not really. I have always felt self conscious when walking into a Fabindia store in Bangalore - be it Koramangala, Indira Nagar or Garuda Mall. You cannot be yourself, you need to go as an informed shopper as someone who is all decked up for a bow and tie dinner gathering! I am an average looker, casual shopper who believes shopping is a therapy not a board meeting. But I endured it all these days because I loved the clothes. I had other options like Khadder and Soma but Khadder wound up in Bangalore and Soma is far and not VFM. So it was FabIndia.
But then for how long would one endure the British Raj feeling when you walk into their store? I decided to cap it yesterday (Saturday September 25, 10) when I walked into the FabIndia store at Garuda Mall at about 11:15 a.m. I waited near the racks of XL clothes for a good 5 minutes but the lady from the Fabindia store was busy helping an NRI lady who wanted to buy a kurta for a puja which had to be thrown after the pooja.
Sorry for eavesdropping but that's how close I was to them and if I was shopping for XL size, then you can imagine that my height and frame cannot be ignored :) But then I was! I was discriminated because I was wearing capris but I was not throwing an attitude and demanding attention. I was the normal average boring Indian who wants to shop for herself, choose her colors and style and not demand the store to be rolling at her feet. Duh!! Mistake big mistake! Hence I was ignored royally ignored. They didnt attempt to budge at my polite '"excuse me". Finally the self dignity woke up and kicked me hard in my gut and asked me how long was I going to wait and grovel before they moved with that one damn kurta (Sorry but this verbatim from my gut). I walked to the staff who had taken my other shopping bags and informed him that a board needs to be placed in the store that it caters to NRIs and flashy shoppers alone (doubt if he understood, but I vent my frustration) and stormed out.
Its a promise never to go back to Fabindia store. I cannot change my attitude of wanting to choose my own clothes and I will not want the staff to roll at my feet, what I can do is stay away from discriminating stores. And yes, this will be mailed to them, not that I care, but atleast I have done my due to my self respect.
