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Only for the glitterati
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A new card for women, Vanity, was recently launched in the City. This card entitles the women to offers such as a free aerobics workout and fitness assessment for would-be gymnasium members at Chisel, gifts on buys at designer Deepika Govind's outlet, and special discounts at restaurants.
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"LADIES, LADIES, ladies, could you please stop chattering?" rose the loud, booming voice of the mistress of ceremonies, Kate Read, over a hand-held mike, as she made her rounds of the gathered Bangalore glitterati. "I'd like to have your attention, please, for just one minute and 33 seconds... "
"How rude! Infinitely crude! It feels like a bad scene from a back-to-school book," a woman at a neighbouring table muttered into her mango-laced mocktail as Read bullied the almost women-only crowd at Geoffrey's Pub at the Royal Orchid Park Plaza Hotel into near submission. Some sweet talk would not have proved out of place amidst chatter about beauty secrets, best buys, and junkets abroad. But the cool, stained-glass, lamp-lit, poster-studded interiors had not heard the last of her.
"We are proud to announce the release of Vanity, the historic, women's only privilege card for Bangalore," Ms. Read blustered on, as we tucked into tender morsels of skewer-roasted chicken and tandoori paneer. Rather a skewed perspective on history, even recent marketing blitzes, we observed.
What's special about the card? "Vanity is designed as an exclusive preserve for discerning women who demand quality at competitive prices," explains Pinky Baljee, Director, Baljee Hotels, at the launch. It stems from extensive research into how and where Bangalore's women dine out.
The Vanitycard, to be selectively marketed to "the top 2500 women" in our city, according to a handout, is priced at Rs. 2,999 for 52 weeks. What does it entitle them to? A complimentary weekend room to celebrate special moments; special discounts at restaurants like Geoffrey's, Limelight, Orange County, A Pinch of Jazz and Tiger Trail; a free aerobics workout and fitness assessment for would-be gymnasium members at Chisel; free gifts on buys at designer Deepika Govind's outlet; 20 per cent off on a secret botox treatment for frown lines at the Skin and Cosmetic Laser Centre; and a monthly lucky draw for new Vanity members, with the winner entitled to a week-long accommodation-only holiday at a Resort Condominiums International (RCI)-affiliated resort at Goa.
But where does RCI fit into the Vanity overview? Its 1987-born subsidiary, Hotel Dynamics, which runs 70 programmes in 26 countries, is assisting Baljee Hotels with card-related member acquisition and relationship management.
The hype, the hoopla, the heat over issues of privilege formed the backdrop to a launch mistakenly labelled as "an afternoon of jazz and blues." The Jazz Revival band trotted out Stevie Wonder's "I just called to say I love you" and old Hindi film tunes, with an occasional jazz standard, in an extension up a winding stairway, past models of glider planes and ancient ships.
Were they dismayed at having to compete with a gaggle of gregarious women? Or the repeated displays of air kissing, the constant refrains of "Oh, darling, you look wonderful! Much younger than the last time I saw you!" or the look-alike chiffon and diamonds, perfectly-coiffed chic, with its attendant bejeweled heels and Parisian perfume?
We lunch on excellent, exotic fare, including burnt garlic fried rice, a mellow Thai green chicken curry, baba ghanoush from Lebanon and tabbouleh from Turkey, with irresistible chilli and sesame roasted potatoes, entertained by a constant procession of dumb charades.
"Vanity makes me feel independent," declaims a lady, waving her fluttering, flowery georgette sleeves, tapping her fuchsia-tipped nails on the tablecloth, as a TV crew asks for her response. "It makes me feel like a complete woman. Now, I don't have to depend on my husband to take my friends for a treat... "
Amidst a gathering that included two women who run art galleries, fashion designers, French instructors, trousseau specialists, social workers, albeit all drawn from the crème-de-la-crème of Bangalore, hers sounded like a sentiment from the dark ages. While millions of educated Indian women earn their wings through economic independence, through talent and intelligence, do the fashionable crowd live on a planet apart from the Kalpana Chawlas, the Naina Lals, and the Kiran Mazumdars of our world?
The launch had a fringe event in store, an attention-please raffle drawn from visitors' names dropped into a `fishbowl,' in Read terminology. A Dr. Mukta won a free botox treatment. Will her medical knowledge grapple with the ongoing debate on botox? The general manager of a five-star hotel won an RCI vacation. "Are you sure the draw wasn't rigged?" joked a treatment-perfect beauty to her companion in a floral pantsuit. "Hasn't she had her fill of the hospitality industry?"
All the glitz that trailed in the wake of Vanity threw everyday issues into focus. What is the point of offering additional privileges to those who can cover them with a blank cheque? Why not offer privilege cards to woman professionals, who could do with a helping hand up the ladder of hope? How will the organizers allot membership to this exclusive club of 2,500?
At this bazaar, the convoluted mathematics of card cost recovery was convincing only within the framework of incessant consumerism. This "gateway to great times" is not for the majority, excluded from exclusivity.
ADITI DE
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Metro Plus
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