The willingness to splurge on leisure, or a couple of hours of a break without having to bother about the cost strings attached to it, has redefined the meaning of entertainment for the next generation. Anything new, novel, innovative and, mind you, expensive is catching their fancy. A dinner at a premium restaurant, a movie and a lunch at a mall or a weekend at an expensive resort are all just routine.

Eyebrow raising salaries, huge amounts of savings, disposable and double incomes and nuclear families are the usual reasons.

But there are other subtle reasons too. Peer pressure for one. Today if you don’t do these things, you are the odd one out — and you will get your share of uneasy stares and backstage whispers (“Psst...do they earn enough?”)

Most youngsters do not want to be at the periphery of this ‘wow’ experience and hence go all out — whether it be spending thousands on a Saturday of bowling or catching a movie at a mall (with some fast-food thrown in) or dining at a premium restaurant known more for its ambience than the food, or smoking hookah at a dimly-lit lounge bar, youngsters are willing to do anything to find that elusive entertainment.  Says Anamica T Chada, Manager-Recruitment at Merit Track Pvt Ltd, who is in her late twenties, "My husband and I absolutely love good food and movies. Our routine is Thursdays at the Oberoi, weekends for long drives and great food. The price we pay is worth it.”

Says Poonam Bhandari, a young executive in her late twenties who enjoys dining often at Ebony or at the Leela Palace, "With a surge in salaries, a lot more people have spending power and they are able to explore a wider range of entertainment options. If you ask me, weekends are for spending.”
No big deal

Rohit Parigi, a manager in HR at Pantaloons Pvt Ltd, reasons that today’s youngsters work so hard that they deserve to party hard.

"For the present generation, buying a house or building it is not such a great deal as it was for their parents. Everybody gets loans and there are credit cards, of course!”

The trend of spending at exotic places has increased in the last decade with an increase in pay scale structure and the attitude shift among people to 'live for today'.

With a warm nostalgic smile Dr. Prafulla Thumati, dentist and a Rotarian says remembering his youthful days, " If ever we had time to spend on entertainment our options would generally mean reading or at the most catching a movie. Going out to a restaurant on Brigade Road with a group of 7-8 friends once in a couple of months would be a big event. "

 Sensing the present generation's obsession on spending extensively on entertainment, specific entertainment industries are posing to be attractive to lure these youngsters. Says Sonali Sattar, co-owner of the upscale joint Grasshopper on Bannerghatta Road, "With the world growing smaller and such a wide variety of food becoming available from around the globe, people are definitely becoming more experimental, and are looking for places with not just good food, but the mood that complements the place as well.”

Theme spaces
“In fact, Grasshopper was set up to satisfy our own creative needs, and with the belief that good food combined with good design, in a peaceful setting, will always be appreciated." 

Going by the trend where there are customers who are willing to spend time and money at exotic expensive joints, it is not uncommon to find restaurants and entertainment centres like bowling alleys to create theme spaces like a beach in a restaurant, or an Arabian ambience.

Today, there are an array of entertainment options for all those who believe- 'Spend on pleasures as though there is no tomorrow'.  You know, tomorrow may never come...