Chennai Shopping Guide

The Festival Season has arrived and so have exciting offers from the popular brands.

Now before you loosen your purse strings, beware of bloatware !

Well, bloatware is still a software concept, but not necessarily irrelevant in today's marketplace. A bloatware, simply put, is a brand that gives more than what you want and charge you for it, when all you end up getting is useless features for extra price.

Some promotions to notice in this shopping season:

1. Lifestyle says it will give you assured gift for any purchase over Rs.4000 and the gift is worth Rs.350 (not even 10%. Add to this service charge of 2% if you are paying by card. Do you need this offer?)

2. Globus once told the same thing (assured gift) and I bought for Rs.2000 and I got A COFFEE BITE chocolate!

3. Cookieman - The moment you step into a mall that has cookieman, you can not escape the aura of freshly baked cookies. But taste any cookie, they dont taste as well as they smell. Aroma Branding or False Promise?

4. Cafe Coffee Day - I counted. A glass of frappe had 29 ice cubes in it. The tender said its to keep the frappe cool. Is it experience or cheating? Your glass of frappe without ice is actually only 1/4th of a glass!

5. Pizza Hut - A combo offer costs 75 bucks and the tax is 18 bucks over and above!

6. City center in chennai charges 30 rupees for parking if you are there for more than an hour

7. Murugan idly shop - Your chilly powder costs Rs.4 extra and you come to know of it only after you have it!

While you have every right to be lavish, there is a saying in tamizh - Even if you throw our mony into the river, count it and the put it, so that you know how much you had just lost!

And now if all this making your heart burn, there are still good things happening around you - like this initiative of helping HIV patients (See the second picture)

Its a Christmas Tree with a difference. You can give donations for HIV patients and based on the denomination a card in your name (and denomination note) will be stuck to the leaves and when everyone donates, the tree will look like a snowy white X-mas tree, but just that the snow is actually more than snow...its your contribution towards making yourself a better human being.

Happy Shopping! Happy X-mas! Happy Donating!