Who's Afraid of Big Bazaar?

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When I was 18, I never thought I would be sitting in a shopping trolley at 27. Who does? The UN? Sure. The first million by 25. But of course. CEO at 26. Naturally.

Since none of the above have come to pass, I'm sitting in a Big Bazaar trolley. Why am I doing this? Funny how these questions pop up. And to think that this retail series was my idea. The least you would think it would do for me is to make me look good but clearly, no.

On a Wednesday afternoon, fighting hard to do a "fun" piece to camera or a PTC, this is the only thing I can come up with. In Ludhiana, my colleague Shreya is gambolling, or atleast I think gambolling, with the Sardars. She is wearing a blue dupatta, maybe she will do a DDLJ in the fields?

In Delhi, Neha is probably getting a month's quota of groceries free. Her kirana-wallah immortalised on-air, indebted forever. Madam tussi great ho, I can see him saying.

In Jaipur, Swati, a bit of a princess herself, learning how to cook pasta and watch dancers do a neck twirl.

From the heart of Chattisgarh, Aarti and I are discussing how to shoot temple bells.

A lot of this is under the looming shadow of Big Bazaar and other such giant mall/hyper stores.

But among them all, its Big Bazaar that is the big story. The retail giant from the Bollywood lover Kishore Biyani who started his first store in my home town Kolkata and whose Pantaloon chain is now the Wal Mart of India. In towns like Sangli and Kolhapur, it is Big Bazaar that has changed the way people look at their lives. It allows housewives discount cards and credit cards which cuts off a few rupees everytime they buy milk or fruits or even get their mehendi done at the store.

All that is not solving my existential angst sitting in a Big Bazaar trolley and all this, including my existential angst is not bothering Radheswari Badhe. The 61-year-old, broken toothed housewife loves her mehendi sessions at Big Bazaar. At this moment, she clearly thinks I'm an idiot. She says if I want to interview anyone for TV it should be her.

And I do. She is the face of aspiration across the small towns we are visiting. She and the desert princess who shops in a sari and with old family retainers. She and the tribal boy in Chattisgarh who dreams of Ray Ban sunglasses. She and Puran Mal Gupta in Delhi who is fighting the big retailers by small deliveries and home deliveries.

In Ludhiana and Amritsar, the farmers and knit warn manufacturers look at a Reliance Retail and a Big Bazaar and ask - not why - but why not?

They are creating their own brands, their own stores, some even want to start a air-conditioned van to sell veggies door-to-door to counter the comfort of buying at a hyper store. So people will buy groceries at their doorstep, just like their parents. Nothing changes. In the word of retail, like the world of technology, things just get upgraded, actually in retail - revamped.

Ask yourself why all this is changing? Why what we buy and sell is so important? Because buying and selling at a day to day level is a reflection of who we are and more importantly - who we want to be.

Who says the big retailers will take all the business? Who's afraid of Big Bazaar?