For hire,the good life

Image,clearly,is everything. As television and tabloids bombard us with images of fairytale lifestyles of the rich,it’s hardly surprising that some of us get impatient to get into that league. And if you can’t wait till you make it big,you can live the unattainable life,at a fraction of the cost. Whether it’s a ride in a flashy car or a private jet that flies you to your holiday destination,or simply the right handbag that you can carry to a party,it’s up for hire in India.

Traditionally though,Indians have always been buyers. If we’re living in a rented flat,we save for that dream home. We save to purchase jewellery for weddings and prefer to own our cars. Credit card use in India,though higher than ever before,continues to be among the lowest in the world,with even flashy,city-bred youngsters being suspicious of debt. Yet,somewhere,there’s been a fundamental change in how we view life and the perks of money.

Cookie Singh,30,sensed a new brand awareness on one of her trips back home to Delhi from Dubai where she worked as a fashion stylist for three years. A lover of branded bags herself,she saw the craze for designer bags among Delhi’s fashion-conscious women. With a partner based in Dubai,Singh started http://www.bag4aday.com,a rental service for designer handbags in Delhi. The firm offers 24 handbag brands,some of which are trendy this season: the Cavalli snakeskin and the Louis Vuitton Damier Canvas Nolita that sell in stores for as much as Rs 40,000 and Rs 90,000 respectively.

Singh also has a range of bags by brands like Jimmy Choo,Furla and a leopard print Miss Easyway by Dolce & Gabbana. Rents range between Rs 800 and Rs 1,400 per night,with the Louis Vuitton ones being the most expensive. Within a month and a half of starting her service,she has over 48 registered members,who joined for an inaugural fee of Rs 7,000.
Singh’s clients are usually from south Delhi and vary from 20-year-olds in their first jobs to well-travelled women in their 40s. “Most own a designer bag or two but can’t afford to buy any more,” says Singh. She quotes the example of a 42-year-old executive who recently rented a Louis Vuitton bag for a job interview in the hospitality industry. Or a 25-year-old girl who was going out on a date with a prospective groom and wanted to sling an expensive bag. She opted for the Jimmy Choo with a blazing label. Hardly subtle,but a clever way of making clear to a future husband that she’s used to buying the best.

According to Singh,men tend to be more practical about renting. “They call me,asking about memberships and sign up for their wives. They know that if you want to change your bag every season,it makes sense to rent,not buy,” she says. Currently she’s contemplating stocking designer jewellery and watches for men and is working out the capital investment.

If you need the right image,you also need the right frame on your wall. Delhi-based Adishwar Puri established Art Bank in 2006 after a visit to the Netherlands. “The Dutch government promotes renting of art as it leads to art education and I thought the practice could be successful in India. I hear so many people complaining that art is too expensive,” says Puri. In Delhi,he slowly built up a collection of work by MF Husain,Ram Kumar and Atul Dodiya,as well as artwork by younger,less prominent artists like Shivaji Seth,HS Gill and Atul Mehra. He has over 2,000 artworks on offer for rent. He points out an MF Husain canvas that cost Rs 2.5 crore. The rent? Rs 5 lakh a month.

At the Religare arts.i gallery in Delhi,Mukesh Panika too is working out details of art rental. He plans to introduce the service in a month. “There is a market. We usually focus on the corporate and hospitality sector but we are willing to rent out a work to an individual we can trust. This will appeal to people who want to enjoy art but cannot afford to buy it,” says Panika,who stocks both well-known and emerging artists. “The rental would vary and could be two to three per cent of the value of the work. There will be a deposit too,” he says.

Puri,on the other hand,has rented out his art only to corporate firms so far and says he is hesitant to entertain individual clients and will only rent to those he knows well. “People approach me and there is a growing market. But there is a risk of damage. We also charge two per cent of the market value and a deposit which is approximately 10 per cent of the value of the work. That will be too expensive for an individual,” he says.
On another aspect of home décor,people who don’t have time to tend to their plants have begun to outsource them as well. Sharmila Prabhudesai in Pune provides a wide range of plants on a rental basis. “It’s not so easy changing furniture but you can alter the room’s look with the right plant accessories,” says Prabhudesai. Some of her clients change their plants every 15 days. She stocks phycus,philodendron,palms and their sub-varieties,and other exotic greens. Smaller plants cost Rs 5 per day,the bigger ones cost Rs 8. “It works because if you go to buy full-grown plants,they can cost up to Rs 3,500 each. Then there’s the hassle of taking care of them. When you rent,the upkeep and health of the greens is maintained by us,” she says.

Appearances count everywhere,not just in big cities. That explains the success of Lovely Food Plaza,a popular food joint in the bustling market area of Ambala cantonment. Over three decades old,its scope of activities has now gone beyond legendary milkshakes and homemade pastries. A small notice on a board at the entrance proclaims: Yaahan Par Har Kism Ke Baarati Kiraye Par Milte Hain (you can hire any kind of wedding guests here). “North Indians attach importance to the size of a wedding party. If a groom doesn’t arrive at the bride’s house with a sizeable entourage,it implies that the boy’s family isn’t well-connected or respected,” says owner Bharat Bhushan.

Lovely Food Plaza has 250 registered members who pose as baraatis,eat,dance,drink and make merry as and when required,and get paid anywhere between Rs 200 and Rs 1,100 per night. “Unofficially,my father was providing baraatis for weddings as long as 50 years ago. We’ve just made it more organised,” he says. Bhushan has an impressive variety of candidates on offer: from the upstart who’ll get a little tipsy and dance wildly,to the more sophisticated ones who can pose as the groom’s long-lost cousins. Then there are the septuagenarians who can slip into the roles of elderly relatives,without whom no Indian wedding is really complete. Not surprisingly,the swanker,better-looking people are more in demand and tend to get paid better.

With competing restaurant openings,fashion shows and brand launches in Delhi and Mumbai,drumming up the right crowd is becoming increasingly difficult since there are five different events going on simultaneously and the same crowd floating everywhere. Many event organisers have begun to rely on what they call The Friend of The Brand,a step ahead of hiring hostesses and models to make an event look good. “This is different from a brand ambassador who’s contractually bound with a salary,” says Anshu Khanna of Goodword Communications,a PR company that handles accounts like Amrapali,Debenhams,Inglot and the restaurant Manre in Delhi.

Khanna recalls how she hired a popular 40-something socialite to host a party at a jewellery store. What was on rent were her connections and contact list. “She invited all her female friends to attend and came up with the idea of a treasure hunt. The store came up with the prize,a half-carat solitaire. The evening was unforgettable and many of those guests ended up becoming clients,” says Khanna.
The stylish life was never easy,nor this complicated.
(With inputs from Dinker Vashisht and Jaskiran Kapoor)