Student wishlist gets pricey

Student wishlist gets pricey | Deccan Chronicle | 2010-06-10

June 10th, 2010
Student wishlist gets pricey

Back-to-school wish-lists would rival those left out for Santa. City students have come a long way from demanding fancy bags and multi-compartment pencil boxes. From the latest phones to designer accessories, demands are getting bigger and bolder and parents are stretching budgets and credulity as they try and justify some as ‘reasonable’. But the reasons for wanting them are as old as the hills — making your peers go green.

Akshara Raj Singh, a class XII student at Chirec Public School, is waiting to show off her new iPhone when school starts, “All my friends have BlackBerrys and iPhones and I wanted one and it was about time I got one. I can’t wait for school to start to compare my phone’s applications with my friends’.”

Time’s running out for Pranati Reddy, a student at FIITJEE who is desperate for an expensive watch before she leaves school, “A Movado watch (basic model priced above Rs 25,000) tops my wish list right now. Since this is the final year, it’s the last time I can show off at school and a classic designer watch would be perfect. I want all my friends to go ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ because it is going to make a style statement. And since none of my friends wear a designer watch to school, it will set me apart.”

Pranati’s mother, Vishali Reddy believes this is a natural progression of the have-it-all generation, “Earlier children wanted the basics but now they look forward to indulging in grander things. Since all their primary needs are covered, they want luxuries and as they grow older, their demands get bigger. Every child wants to start the fresh school year with something new to flaunt.”

Even for Akshay K., a class X student from Little Flower, it’s about everyone else. “I saw these expensive shoes at a mall and absolutely loved them. Even if I saved up a whole year’s pocket money I still wouldn’t be able to afford them so I’ve been begging my parents to buy them for me. I am on the school’s basketball team and having new shoes would be really cool and my team mates would be really jealous,” he says.

On cue, “I saw the iPad online and really want one to flaunt in front of my friends,” says Sisir Sagar, a student at Hyderabad Public School. “It’s the latest must-have tech wise and it would make my day if I owned it!”

But Kirti Chaturvedi, vice principal, Hyderabad Public School makes sure that no one brings fancy gizmos to school and has made it a point to inform the parents not to indulge their children with expensive things. “Whenever we have found school kids carrying any fancy item, we have confiscated them. Even in the school diary we have pointed out that any expensive or fancy item will be confiscated. All the teachers are always on the lookout for phones and valuable items. We are discouraging this trend among the teenagers.”

But that doesn’t stop young Hyderabadis from showing off their “it” accessories. From sneaking them into their bags and pockets to showing them off at recess, they’ve learnt how to work their way around rules just to exercise their flaunt power.