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How children spend in different cities in India

New kids in the investor's mould

The Cartoon Network survey highlights the difference in spending patterns of children in the four metros. While there was a marked similarity between the Delhi-Bombay children, those from Bangalore and Madras thought and spent differently.

Children from Delhi and Bombay are interested in fashion and lifestyle products whereas children from Bangalore and Madras are more interested in computers. Sonam Joshi, 13, who studies in Delhi's Sardar Patel Vidyalaya, spends her money on the regular teenage fancies --"books, entertainment magazines, chips and ice-creams in the school canteen". Her fantasy is to get a high-paying job once she grows up and save up enough to buy a car, and generally splurge on books and clothes.

The Calcutta-bred child prefers to save it all for the future. Says 10-year-old Arjun Bajpai, a child model who makes Rs 500-1500 per shoot and saves with a bank, "When I grow up I'll build a house for my parents on a plot of land my father owns." He does send part of his earnings to homes for deprived children, though.

Even while spending these children have different priorities. Given the choice, Delhi-Bombay children would either buy a car or spend on clothes, whereas children from Madras would build a house and Bangalore children would first like to donate in charity.

"I feel Delhi has a lot of liaison money, basically easy money, and hence the preference is for more fashionable stuff," says Ali Khwaja, director of Banjara Academy (a counselling and social sciences institute), Bangalore. Ali also believes that Bangalore children are inclined towards charity only because the city has a 'tradition and culture' of social service and charity. "In fact, in Bombay, children are more business-minded because people have set up business and come up the hard way," he adds.

But children turning thoroughbred money-managers is something parents will take some time adjusting to. Most parents still believe that money corrupts. But then, how does one dissuade a kid wanting to invest? Surely, that isn't criminal? A mother working with a top rung IT company in Bangalore explains her dilemma. When the company gave her a fancier car than the one she was already using, she still preferred to send her daughter to school in the modest old model. The idea was to instill values of simple living in the child. When the mother tried telling her daughter how she commuted to school by bus when she was her daughter's age, she was told, "You had an option to save the bus fare by walking to school, at that time a bus ride was a luxury. Why did you not save money instead?"

On being told by his mother that it was not right to make money at his age, the afore-mentioned Ramaswamy had a ready answer. "What's wrong with making money through fair means, whatever the age may be?" His contention is that most people are 'dumb' and it is when they can't make money that they brand it as 'unethical'. Despite his impeccable academic performance, Swamy's mother was very worried when she discovered more than Rs 5,000 in his cupboard. But he silenced his mother with, "Sonia Gandhi has made a lot of money -- who has ever bothered to ask her where all that money for the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation comes from?"

Brinda Subramaniam, the counsellor handling Swamy's case, says, "Children these days are far more intelligent and the problem starts when they sense any kind of discrepancies between what parents practise and what they preach." Besides, most parents feel that since the general standard of living of most people has gone up, children ask for the best of everything. "Also, there is a need to recognise and appreciate the growing independence of thought amongst children," adds Brinda.

While the debate for what's right and what's not is still on, the bottomline is that children these days like money -- their own money - just like their elders at some. As for parents, watch out, the next time you wrack your brains over which scrips to invest in, your child may have already got there.

Getting used to a downgraded lifestyle is never easy. Children today are all too familiar with the new, improved lifestyle of their parents -- it is something they have grown up with. "The problem begins when children take five-star holidays and air travel for granted," explains Ali Khwaja of the Banjara Academy. He recalls an incident where a child wouldn't accept a 'smaller' car after his father changed his company (which did not provide him with the same model he had been driving). "These are the kind of problems one faces, especially when you are part of the brutal corporate culture where ups and downs are all too sudden," he adds.

Anjali Agrawal was the head of the media relations department in a foreign bank with a fully-furnished apartment in South Bombay. She lost her job last year. More than her, it was her 15-year-old son who took it badly. A Tenth Class student, Rajeev could not come to terms with the fact that they would have to shift to the suburbs, that he wouldn't be studying in his south Bombay school or that his monthly allowance of Rs 3,500 will be reduced. After a couple of months he quit studies despite vehement protests from all quarters to start his own business. This was only to continue living in south Bombay.

There are others who grow up releasing that the lavish lifestyle and plush homes remain till their parents' jobs are intact. "Some times it's good that my daughter understands that our own house is not as fancy as the one we live in at present," says an anxious mother. "However, I sometimes feel she is a little insecure about losing it one day -- she does not like the house we built in the outskirts of Bangalore," she adds.

Most counselors feel a 'downgrading' of lifestyle does have an impact on the child's psyche. Says Anjali Chhabria, a Bombay-based counsellor, "It largely depends on how children are brought up. All these things can be tackled if parents are a little more sensitive and intelligent while handling such issue."

Asides

• In the 7-18 age group, the average allowance is Rs 30 per week.
• Average annual income: Rs 3,710 (Delhi); Rs 3,595 (Bombay); Rs 2,411 (Bangalore); Rs 1,591 (Madras).
• On the whole, girls get more than boys (Rs 43 against Rs 35).
• On the whole, girls spend more than boys (Rs 61 against Rs 56).

Responses to some commonly-asked questions

If rich, how would you spend your money?
• Delhi: Buy a car or build a house; Bombay: Set up a business or buy clothes; Madras: Build a house or set up a business; Bangalore: Donate in charity before spending on self.
  What's the latest thing people are doing?
  
• Delhi: wearing jeans; Bombay: wearing jeans; Madras: computers; Bangalore: computers.
  Where do you save your money?
  
• Delhi: in a piggy bank; Bombay: with their parents, rarely have a bank account; Madras: most likely to have a bank account; Bangalore: most likely to have a bank account.

Survey conducted by: Cartoon Network (Turner International Ltd).

Kind courtesy: Sunday magazine

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