We had both arrived in 2004, were enrolled in the International Affairs program, became members of Model UN and were extroverts who liked attention, laughing and talking. And to make it more confusing – we were of similar height ("short") and complexion ("brown").
Needless to say I wanted to be me and not the “other her”.
So when she purchased the exact same tweed jacket – from the cut to the color - as I had the weekend prior, I was less than thrilled. In the dead of winter we would be even harder to tell apart when bundled in the same jacket!
Annoyed I complained to my boyfriend. He didn´t get it. "She liked your jacket, it´s a compliment," he said.
Why, of course, copying is the most flattering form of compliment. But, sometimes we take a complimentary compliment that we wish could be returned.
Coats and being silly set aside, Nepal takes this form of complimenting to a whole new level. This level could be tagged the lazy zone. In being lazy not only is the name copied, but sometimes the logo too – as if pressing the ctrl+v button will transport all of the original and not just the tag.
The other day I was taking a stroll around Patan and smiled when I saw "Republica College". I smiled because it had taken me five years to understand how copying, is indeed, the preferred choice of flattery (if flattery is what we are going for). Seeing the signboard that read the name of an academic institution instead of a national publication I realized Republica was now one of (not so) few to join the list of admirable places wherein copycats (I assume) believe copying the name of one successful venture adds credibility to theirs.
That has to be the main (if not only reason) places like Oxbridge, Princeton and Southwestern are mushrooming in Kathmandu.
In July last year, Dharma Adhikari wrote an op-ed titled, ‘Enigma of Imitation’ - wherein he commented our culture of copying.
There is, after all, a fine line between being inspiration and replication.
While on a deeper lever we would have to consider the gravity of plagiarism in academia and copyrights in corporations, on the surface we can smile.
When “copying” is the norm, what becomes odd is being, well the polar opposite, creative. When we flip through the yellow pages of established companies in the West and handpick the one that suits whatever business/academic/social venture we are about to launch – well, we become downright lazy, and on the side, rude.
If “Barnes and Noble Book House” in Thamel and “Starbucks” in Lukla think they are fooling customers into thinking each is an extension of the original company, well, I think they’re in for a surprise. Sure the former is known to sell books and the latter cups of coffee – but we do get it’s an attempt to recreate the images associated with the original companies so that we feel a connection to the fake renditions.
“5th Avenue” and “Loft” are only to name a few in Sherpa Mall that has us wondering why they didn’t just take the whole name - “Saks” Fifth Avenue and Anne Taylor Loft. I doubt they think they have us believing they are the real deal. The idea, it seems, is to conjure up images and notions that take us to the original company, so that we find their imitation company familiar.
Never having taken a course in Psychology beyond high school, I can’t say much about market strategy and the psyche, but what I can say as a mere observer is that it seems Dharma Adhikari has hit this spot on – we are a culture of breeding copycats.
When “copying” is the norm, what becomes odd is being, well the polar opposite, creative. When we flip through the yellow pages of established companies in the West and handpick the one that suits whatever business/academic/social venture we are about to launch – well, we become downright lazy, and on the side, rude.
In taking as we want and denying others credit we ignore the respect they deserve. Maybe Bill would like to have been asked if “Clinton” school could have used his name. Or perhaps Cambridge and Oxford deserved to approve the birth of their (legitimate) child, “Oxbridge”, by a surrogate name Nepal.
The best part is that it’s basically a win-win situation, no one will object so long as its effects are miniscule. Companies’ feather will hardly be ruffled by this culture because for all the branches illegally operating in pretense here, they pose little threat to the value of their stocks and products. In fact I dare say if a Starbucks manager heads to Everest Base Camp, she’ll probably smile, pull out her camera and click a photo of the “inspired” logo of Starbucks Lukla to add to her Facebook for friends to comment.
It’s a compliment maybe, though what it may be in the future is quite uncertain. For now, to have witnessed “Republica College” spring up in Kupondole I thought “hurrah – so these guys think Republica is worth copying”. Flattery! Maybe that’s what some of this copying is oddly about.
sradda.thapa@gmail.com
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