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Gruen Effect

For folks like me that don't enjoy shopping it could very well be that the Gruen Effect makes it so unlikable. When I was growing up in India, shopping for clothes was a event that took place a few select times for the year - connected with some important festival and something new for the birthday. There were two ways to go about it. Buy the fabric and visit the tailor to have something made or buy ready-made. I preferred the former so it turned into a multi-step process with no instant gratification involved anywhere along the way. 

The day of fabric shopping would have my mother and I dropped off at the largest fabric store in our town. It was pointless to go other places since the assortment was not comparable. This would be the one stop shop no matter what the project. The shopkeeper's assistant would pull down the bolts of fabric we liked, it would be unfolded a bit to spread on me. Everyone would look in the mirror and opine. So between my mother, the shopkeeper's assistants and other random people who were out there shopping, a piece of fabric would be pronounced a winner. It had the popular vote of looking nice on me. 

Some projects called for multiple pieces of fabric so we would go about the process step by step. Everything would be measured and cut. We would be done for the day. A few days later we would be dropped off at the tailor's shop. My mother and I would look over the design and style books to gain inspiration. Often we came with our own ideas. The tailor was a master craftsman and had my mother's respect. She laid out what she in mind, I provided my input and commentary. Kailash listened to us patiently, made notes in his ledger. Once we were done. He checked out the pieces of fabric that would need to make these ideas come to fruition. Then he would lay out what he believed to be the right solution. It would be a quick sketch accompanied by a flurry of words to describe his vision. Along the way, he would point out to some finished items by way of clarification. 

After some back and forth with my mother, there would be consensus and Kailash would have an assistant get my measurements which he would write down on my page in his ledger. Then we would wait for the appointed day several weeks out for the fitting. Generally all went well at this stage but he might task my mother with procuring specific lace, buttons and other trim that he did not have on hand. Depending on how long that took, it would be days or weeks after the fitting that I would have my dressed ready to wear. 

My first stop at Macy's upon coming to America filled me with a great deal of anxiety - I did not want a solution to my problem immediately. I was used to multi-week process to get to that point with hardly any choice - one fabric shop and one tailor. That was and still is my preferred way to get myself new clothing just that it is no longer possible home or abroad - I don't even know which is which anymore. India of today is a very far cry from those days with Kailash and his ledger.

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