About INgene blog : First ever Indian Youth trend Insights blog

About INgene : First ever Indian Youth trend Insights blog:
This blog explores the detailed characteristics of Young-India and explains the finer & crucial differences they have with their global peers. The blog also establishes the theory of “adopted differentiation” (Copyright Kaustav SG,2007) and how the Indian & Inglodian youth are using this as a tool to differentiate themselves from the “aam aadmi” (mass population of India) to establish their new found identity.

The term youth refers to persons who are no longer children and not yet adults. Used colloquially, however the term generally refers to a broader, more ambiguous field of reference- from the physically adolescent to those in their late twenties.
Though superficially the youth all over the world exhibits similar [degree of] attitude, [traits of] interests & [deliverance of] opinion but a detailed observation reveals the finer differential characteristics which are crucial and often ignored while targeting this group as a valued consumer base. India is one of the youngest countries in the world with 60% of its population less then 24 years of age and is charted as the most prospective destination for the retail investment in the A. T. Kearney’s Global Retail Opportunity Report, 2007. With the first ever non-socialistic generation’s thriving aspiration & new found money power combined with steadily growing GDP, bubbling IT industry and increasing list of confident young entrepreneurs, the scenario appears very lucrative for the global and local retailers to target the “Youngisthan” (young-India). But, the secret remains in the understanding of the finer AIOs of this generation. The Indian youth segment roughly estimates close to 250million (between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five) and can be broadly divided (socio-psychologically) into three categories: the Bharatiyas, the Indians & the Inglodians (copyright Kaustav SG 2008). The Bharatiyas estimating 67% of the young population lives in the rural (R1, R2 to R4 SEC) areas with least influence of globalization, high traditional values. They are least economically privileged, most family oriented Bollywood influenced generation. The Indians constitute 31.5% (A, B,C, D & E SEC) and have moderate global influence. They are well aware of the global trends but rooted to the Indian family values, customs and ethos. The Inglodians are basically the creamy layers (A1,A SEC) and marginal (1.5% or roughly three million) in number though they are strongly growing (70% growth rate). Inglodians are affluent and consume most of the trendy & luxury items. They are internet savvy & the believers of global-village (a place where there is no difference between east & west, developing & developed countries etc.), highly influenced by the western music, food, fashion & culture yet Indian at heart.








Thursday, September 15, 2011

the youth in India- La Tomatnia or anna team?


To me, India is not one country but a "theme & ideology" under which many countries stay together...the demography, psychography and even economy changes in each 500kms...we have more than 200 languages, varied cultures, rituals, society. Even the religious belief for each religion are diversified (even within same religion)...it is actually very tough to create one movement pan-India.

Interestingly, I understood that we do have common AIOs (Youth segment) for few factors...one of them is the "hatred against the politicians and bureaucrats". the "anna team" (the team behind anti corruption movement in India) understood it well and created the movement successfully. This is the first ever post-independent movement in India which appeals to all the youth in India across the demography, culture, class, economy and social barrier. the team successfully promoted it through alternative media, word-of-mouth, open press, radio stations to gather support. The govt was bent, finally.

in other hand, we have "other india" who lives in socio-cultural Utopia and dreams of being "exotic" in this very country.

In the wake of a popular Bollywood movie which glorified Spain through its crap story, half Indian actress and a six fingered Hero, the “La Tomatnia” came in India!

The original La Tomatina festival which once started in Spain (once a year) to overcome the over-production of Tomatoes and reincarnate Spanish tourism is now being enthusiastically “copied” as a “social activity” by some enthusiasts in Bangaluru and Delhi! It’s unfortunate that we, being Indian, fail to understand that this country is culturally rich enough to arrange or re-invent any mode of “social activity” (which is fit for our demography) rather than merely copying the “others”. A socio-cultural activity as “Holi” (which unfortunately became religious, later) was designed by our fore-fathers to initiate the social network, break self-barrier, social belonging, spreading happiness and peace; the same motto, that La Tomatnia has in Spain.

The fetish of being “westernized” is rooted so deep in our gene that we fail to recognize the price of a tomato (in India) vis a vis the hungry Indians (for original La Tomatina at Spain, the tomatoes come from Extremadura, where they are less expensive and are grown specifically for the holidays, being of inferior taste)!

Or is it actually a fetish of showing off the power of money to the “other India”?
A fetish that is growing in monstrous proportion in the cities like Bangaluru and Delhi… “See I can smash so many tomatoes with my girlfriend which you might never have eaten in your life”…a Spanish dream in dreadful Bangaluru traffic!

The most common disease in “India.inc” is ‘living in a socio-cultural Utopia’ which many youth relishes everyday. When these day dreams break, they lands into the Smokey, polluted, poverty ridden, class barricaded roads of modern India…

Read more about Anna team and La Tomatina, India:

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/nation/north/anna-team-anticipates-every-step-centre-plans-meticulously-214

http://www.benglued.com/tomato-festival-in-bangalore/

http://www.latomatina.co.in/

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:854YhvOwXGIJ:post.jagran.com/juice-up-your-coming-weekend-with-la-tomatina-festival-1311845291+la+tomatina+delhi&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=in

1 comment:

shaswati said...

two extreme faces of our Dear India..tomatina here!!