The second helping…

One of my social acquaintances - a voracious consumer of books, movies, TV serials, newspapers etc  mentioned he’d seen only one TV series again as in twice.  No, He wasnt showing off - but it was purely a mindset that a lot of folks have including my better half - my wife.

“Why are you watching this again, havent we seen this before?” if I am watching a movie on TV - one that we have seen before. I sigh and move on.

This blog - my blog is created on the specific premise that some experiences be it food, films, books, places are meant to be relished and enjoyed many many times and can offer us a moment of reliable relief.   Very few of these are ones that I have not enjoyed many times. 

And I think I am not alone in saying that most of mankind would also think and behave similarly.

In fact, at the heart of a products’ success is not just the first trial / experience but the subsequent ones.   I have written about the South Indian film industry which was unique -in that each movie was definitely seen at least once by the majority (easily by >60% in the decades pre-‘90s).  But for a movie to become a super hit, it therefore meant that it had to be seen several times, many many times by them and bringing in more folks each time.  In fact the number of tickets sold would be over-capacity for hit films as they would allow viewers to sit in the aisles or in the front rows. 

I was visiting Tiruppur when the super hit film "Chinna Thambi" was released and a driver in my father’s bank had seen it several times over and wanted to take us also for his nth viewing. He was a big fan of Khushboo.  Similarly another college friend had seen a Telugu hit “Samsaram oka Chadurangam” so many times when it was adapted from the Tamil hit - which he again had seen several times (Samsaram Adhu Minsaram). (and when it was released in Hindi - he saw that too I am sure).

Exactly what happens in the second and subsequent occasions of consumption.  Why are we not tired or not surprised as we know fully well what this is about.

I am going to speak for myself.  To a great extent this applies. You already know what happens so it might not be surprising - i.e. in the ideal context.  But at least for me, a lotta times, in fact the majority of times, I have already forgotten some of the key scenes or moments and relish it like it was the first time.  The few times I have sat in the front rows with the Taporis in Mumbai they would start reciting the dialogues or start clapping or even sometimes dance to the songs or throw coins (my office folk especially loved viewing movies in the front rows as there would be ‘live’ commentary from one of the taporis who was viewing this for the nth time) 

But there’s also another benefit of learning something new.  You sometimes notice something you had missed earlier, or an insight hits you in the gut or you find it relates to something you had experienced in your life in the past.  One of my bosses mentioned how in many of the ‘Addas’ he’d been part of (he was a Bong of course!) one of them would mention they saw Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali again, and how he noticed something for the first time, and then each of them would get melancholic.  Thats possibly one of India’s best movies ever, and I wouldn’t be surprised at this.   Even when I read a Tintin comic for the nth reading (or recently Eat,Pray, Love - I sometimes notice a small detail for the first time - something I had missed earlier and it feels like a nice thing to discover and experience.

More prosaically the reason we return to places of interest is not just to relive the good times we had there but more importantly in my case its the fact that it is reliable to deliver me at least half a good time.  I became a fan of Starbucks not because of its god-awful coffee which I absolutely hate, but because it was the only outlet which was open one holiday evening when I had taken my aged parents for an outing to a cinema, and there were no decent places in the vicinity which was open save for the Starbucks.  We spent close to an hour before the movie just sipping some beverages and having our fill of the snacks, and that was a good memory. These days I settle for the Hot Chocolate which is a meal in itself, and while the coffee is something I don't like - its the fact that Starbucks can be relied on, which makes it to one of my faves.

And then there’s the marketing angle of course - whatever be the reason, its important for brands to have repeat purchasers/ users who become so to say ‘loyal’ to your brand and continue to give it patronage so that it can grow, sustain and survive.

But from the consumers’ side I am glad to each and everyone of my experiences - most of them have more or less given me the same satisfaction on a repeat occasion and I look forward to many more in the future…