Logomania

Out of the millions of nonsense SMSes I get daily, one caught my attention. It promised all the international brands in one store in Hyderabad and at less than half the price. The store was called Voila! On Road No 2, Banjara Hills. I ascertained its position the next time I passed that way. And then finally more than a month later I decided the time had come to check it out. So there I was whizzing along but keeping an eye along the left side of the road, when I saw a store that nearly made me crash the car.

Diesel.

In Hyderabad.

By the time I wrapped my brain about that I'd passed it, but oh boy, when I get over being lazy I'm so going back! If nothing then for the store design - I heard so much about the way it looked in Bombay. Also, uhm, one does wants to try on the pair of jeans one would have to shell out the many moneys for.

Well, on I went to Voila! and what should be the first thing to catch my eye but a shelf of Hermes bags. Not the Birkin and the Kelly, thank god, which are so done to death with everybody lugging them around, mindless of whether it's day or night.

Any other brand and I wouldn't ever have asked but with the 'we make everything by hand' and 'our waiting list stretches for years' Hermes, I asked point blank whether they were the genuine article.

The man attending to me seemed rather wounded and not only assured me that everything was real but that they could also give out certificates to that effect.

Ok then. Whenever I feel like shelling out 10k for a bag, which I know is a fraction of the real price, I'll land up there.

I tried on a pair of Louboutins, they assured me they had sizes; they had some Burberry jackets and dresses, some Gucci shoes, a Roberto Cavalli dress, some pretty BCBG, MaxMara - and all these brands would probably have a seizure - hung alongside Zara and Juicy Couture.

Happily for me (for when I shop sometime in the future) the price were all between 2-10k, decently affordable for the genuine article. Who cares if it's a couple of seasons old?