Social networking sites have spurred expensive showing-off contests among city’s wealthy.
The status race among wealthy Amdavadis has been accelerated by social networking sites like Facebook, with high-end cars being bought in some instances with the express purpose of embellishing online profile pictures!
A case in point is Dr Rajiv Tapodhan, 31, who picked up a Skoda after he noticed that a friend’s wife was flaunting a new Honda Civic on Facebook. Tapodhan’s response was provoked by Sheetal Joshi, a Bhopal homemaker.
Sheetal’s husband Malhar had gifted her a red Honda Civic for her 29th birthday, which fell on January 2.
Sheetal immediately put on Facebook her pictures that starred the shiny car.
The images may have fuelled smugness in Malhar, a 33-year-old textile merchant. But it made Tapodhan envious. “If Malhar can buy a Honda Civic for his wife and post the car’s pictures on a networking site for everyone in our group to see, I jolly well can keep up!” Tapodhan said.
“I lost no time in gifting my wife a beige Skoda Octavia on our fourth wedding anniversary, which was on January 28.” Tapodhan’s wife, Rakhi, a 26-year-old teacher, has become a greater fan of Facebook and enthusiastically posed for pictures with her new Skoda Octavia.
In fact, the images were uploaded on the site within hours of the car being delivered.
The braggart’s rally featuring Joshi and Tapodhan has drawn a third contestant, their common friend, Apoorva Gajjar, a 34-year-old builder. Gajjar is frantically trying to buy a Chevrolet Cruze just to pump up his Facebook profile.
“Initially, I had planned to buy a Honda City,” Gajjar said. “But when my wife Neha spotted the pictures posted by the Joshis and Tapodhans, we decided to buy a car that was way more posh than theirs!”
Gajjar’s wife Neha, 32, said, “The car is not in stock, so we are using all our sources and means to get it this month.”
She said she would have her whole family pose for a picture with the car. “When I post the pictures on Facebook, I will be sure to add its price tag!” she said.
(Names have been changed to protect identities)
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