At the Indian store last evening, while I was trying to navigate my way through a jar full of assorted to find the supari of my choice (a.k.A., Laxmi, paradoxically written in Urdu and made in Pakistan), I flipped upon another brand, called “Shaan” and underneath the bold logo the words “Deluxe supari“.
At that instant, it stuck me – when was the last time I’ve heard of something being labeled as Deluxe to make it look more posh and and something higher than your usual fare. Not in a while actually. And then it stuck me – The word Deluxe and its branding quite predominantly happens to be an Indian thing.
Seriously. If you’ve lived in India long enough then you must have surely come across these terms:
“AC Deluxe Room” – Trust me, almost every hotel I’ve been in India (save probably the five stars) always have a room – Deluxe Room, Deluxe Double, AC, AC Deluxe, Deluxe-this, Deluxe that. At that point in time, I fell for it – the word Deluxe automatically ensured it was classy, higher than the usual stuff, and because it was only few rupees more, I could afford a better Deluxe room. Never mind the fact that if I had tried, the deluxe and non-deluxe rooms would have been pretty similar…
“Deluxe Coach” – Travel operators, especially Bus operators seem to have an unique love for Deluxe. There’s always a Deluxe Coach, Deluxe Seat – heck I have seen even VRLs spotting AC Deluxe Coaches; As if the AC Deluxe coach would somehow be much better than normal Deluxe coach. I have tried it too, to disastrous results. The AC Deluxe coach had the AC only from 11.00pm in the night to 7.00am in the morning, which is when it worked. Nonetheless, this Deluxe obsession remains rampant amongst travel operators. I have been Deluxe tempos too…
Believe it or not, I have actually seen “Deluxe Thaali” listed in a restaurant menu, and have ordered it thinking it must be something special. It was no doubts as the number of condiments significantly increased between non-deluxe and deluxe thaalis.
Then there was this Deluxe Hotel which we had passed on our way to my village. It was named “Deluxe” hotel and had a huge advertising board which had the words “Lift Facility Available” written in large letters as one of its features… don’t really know which century the owners lived in.
Come to think of it, I think the word deluxe has been used and maximized in India – I am not sure how it picked up and where it picked up from; but I am pretty sure that you can go to any remotest corner of India and offer someone a Deluxe product, and they’ll fall for it.
Any other deluxe items I missed out on this post? List them in comments 😀