Keeping Up With the Joneses in Delhi
Emily Wax writes today in the Washington Post about a growing trend in India’s large cities — extravagant birthday parties for young children, complete with catered buffets, moon bounces, performers, and elephant rides. The parties are rivaling the extravagance of Indian weddings and are becoming a growth industry in and of themselves. And parents are attempting to outdo each other:
“The birthday party is the new wedding in India, and the sky is the limit,” said Rakesh Gupta, a party planner who has seen his business double in the past few years. “It’s a serious industry now, and people want to spend lavishly and outdo each other. People in India don’t like to save. They want to enjoy life and live for today after so many years of poverty and struggle.”
Sounds like the US to me.
I’ve been to a few lavish birthday parties for children here in the U.S., so I don’t think India has cornered the market on this, but it’s interesting to observe the parties as another example of the rise of India’s upper middle class. Wax also describes the dramatic gap between the rich and the poor in India, something that becomes more apparent to me every time I visit.
As for extravagant Indian weddings, mine (yes, I was married in Delhi) was a bit more modest: I didn’t get to ride in on a white horse. But I did get to wear a turban!