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June 27, 2005

No Mall-Practice in Matunga

This was published in today's Mumbai Mirror.

There is a small shop called Vijay Stores, on the market road from King’s Circle, just after the turn. It sells undergarments, socks, handkerchiefs, pajamas and all items that come under the heading “hosiery”. The owners sit at the till and also look after the customers – they know my preferences – the moment I enter the shop, all the right stuff is laid out for me to see – new items are also tentatively displayed, in case I might want to look at something different – and they have most of the new brands and styles that are advertised and found in other upmarket shops as well.

The same thing happens when my wife goes to Pramanik or West View or when my Mom goes to Chheda Stores.

Compare this to the SOP and script driven service, rendered by shop assistants and clerks, in big stores and malls. Sure, they’ll be nice and courteous and polite and sometimes may even be really interested in helping you…but they will be gone tomorrow and deep down, have no commitment to want to be nice to you and sell to you. And no amount of CRM software can match the innate superiority of a neural circuit that makes the bhajiwala outside Matunga market remember my Mom and her specific preference for a particular type of potato, even after an absence of six months.

So when the rest of Mumbai sings paens to the glory of malls, I wonder where the real progress is. Customer service? Naah! Choice? Absolutely. Even though the whole of the Circle and the station road upto Matunga Gymkhana (the Matunga downtown), is a huge open-air mall anyway, choices are restricted. Whereas, if you don’t like the stuff at Wills Lifestyle, there’s always Pantaloons, or Marks & Spencer, or other more focussed niche-shops, all enclosed within one common space at Phoenix Mills.

So it actually becomes very simple. When I know what I want, and I want the personalized service I am used to, I shop locally. When I am not sure of what I want and I need a lot of choice, I go to the malls. And drive out of Matunga. Which is as it should be!

Most of Matunga is a pretty nice place to live in. Most roads are quiet, there is a reasonable sense of camaraderie with the neighbors, the kids can play gully cricket in most streets and there is minimal noise and air pollution the further away you are from the “downtown” and RAK road.

Malls and multiplexes are magnets for people and cars…traffic…noise…pollution. All cumulative. All of which makes the adjacent area a bit more painful to live in.

Take the area around CineMax (CinePlanet, until last month), in Sion, for example. There is complete chaos. These days, it can take upto around 15 minutes, just to get from Sion Circle into the theatre. The area is noisy and crowded and an impossibly difficult place to walk through as well. Its definitely not a very nice place to live in. As compared to our single-screen theatre, Aurora. Though it rarely has a worthwhile Hindi movie running (Tamil films are not counted)…there is never ever a traffic jam outside.

My take! Let Mulund and Malad and Borivli and Parel and Vashi have their big malls and multiplexes and five-star and seven-star hotels…we’all come there to have a good time…but, please, don’t bother returning the favor to Matunga. We’re fine the way we are…thank you!

PS:
After the last piece on “Dimple Ice-Cream”, Dineshbhai sought me out and called me to clarify that only one brother had migrated to the US. He himself is still living in Matunga and makes Dimple ice-cream for wedding caterers. Wow…and all these years, I was completely clueless…

Posted by bhavinj at June 27, 2005 06:43 PM

Comments

Dimple in New jersey is called bombay Talk and they have one more called khasiyat
I liv in the US and whenever I go to the Panwalla next to Madras Cafe, next to the Cycle store , he still remembers which paan one eats. If you go to Star for a hair cut and if you go upstairs to Mani ( I think) he knows you by name and how can you forget Abbas!!!!

Posted by: Vinny [TypeKey Profile Page] at June 13, 2006 10:45 PM

Omg .. memories .. my ears just rise up when I hear any term thats familiar to my matunga jargon .. this is good stuff .. yes and I would also like to remind you guys about the cheap books sold all around kings circle and the famous health juice center and classic pav bhaji :D

Posted by: cekaay [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 9, 2007 06:53 AM

Hey Bhavin,
I was surfing theu the net and read all the artcles you have written about Matunga. Great Stuff! R u a member of Matunga Gymkhana. Me too! I used to live at Hindu Colony and now moved near SIWS college next to NKES High school. My parents still stay at Hindu Colony. But there is so uch calm and peace in Wadala. One feels as if you are out of Mumbai. Though it is in Wadala it has a lot of Matunga culture due to South Indians and Gujaratis. amolparanjape@hotmail.com is my id. Keep writing. Thanks
Amol

Posted by: p_amol [TypeKey Profile Page] at April 21, 2008 03:05 PM

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