On Sunday, September 7th, the US government stepped in to take over control of Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE) the two quasi-government companies which hold about $5 trillion in mortgages. Families in America spend their weekend adding to debt. Governments reflect their people - and people reflect the governments they have. So Treasury Secretary, Hank Paulson, is the biggest spending American on record. He loves weekends. And he loves shopping on weekends.
Most people spend their weekends with their families. Since India offers very few choices in terms of playgrounds, we take our children to the malls – the modern day temples of fun and enjoyment.

After fighting our way through unforgiving traffic, we squeeze our way into the parking garage entrance of the mall – the gap of dusty air between the unfinished wall on the left of the car and the shaky bamboo sticks on the right side of the car. These bamboo sticks probably bear the weight of the entire building. We shudder at that thought but move on to the fun and games of a weekend at the mall.

Gold at the mall
Once inside the air-cooled environment - with some relief from the dust - we let the children run up and down the escalator. I remind myself to write a letter to the Ministry in Charge of Sports and Promotion of Youthful Exercise and Better Daily Habits to consider introducing a new sport in the Olympics, the one which India plans to host in 2020. (Please read – A 2020 Olympic). “Dear Sir”, the letter will read, “Please can you introduce the Escalator Race in the 2020 Olympics which your esteemed organisation will be hosting. It is possible that a child from India may win a gold medal in that sport.”

An interesting statistic: students (former and existing) of Stanford University in USA won 25 Olympic medals in China, of which 8 were gold, 13 were silver, and 4 were bronze. If Stanford were an independent country, it would have ranked as the 9th in terms of gold medals won and 11th in terms of total Olympic medals won. Stanford, by the way, probably has 15,000 students and maybe 500,000 former living students of all ages. Probably 50,000 are US citizens of the “Olympic relevant” age. India - with the 200 million young people (the “Olympic relevant” age) that Goldman Sachs wrote so excitedly about in their BRIC report - won 1 gold medal and 2 bronze medals for a tally of 3 medal – ranking at 50th. Well, that is a start.

But, we were talking about the weekend. Yes, the joy of letting your children run around in an air-cooled mall and then buying them a few cookies or an ice cream. And watching young teenagers on their first awkward date - they walk around and eye each other like peacocks in a mating dance. And nodding a weak “hello” at other parents who also bring their children to play around in the mall.

Yes, the Indian mall business is booming. Though not as a place where people spend money, but more as an air-conditioned garden. Many politicians took the land owned by municipalities for building schools and playgrounds away from the people. They were sold or auctioned off for commercial buildings and malls. In a twist of fate, those malls have become playgrounds again.

Mall mauled
Look around you and a typical mall and count the number of shops with people standing in front of the cashier line, ready to pay for a purchase. Look around and count the number of people with shopping bags in their hand. Are those bags large and fall, or small and light? Hmm, we spent two hours in the mall and bought ice creams and cookies. Add the parking bill and a typical family spends Rs 200 in 2 hours. Maybe the mall developers should consider leasing their empty buildings back to the municipalities and convert them into playgrounds – a few slides, see-saws, swings, and some sand and mud would do the trick. They could always work out a Build Operate and Transfer deal which would push the losses of the malls built, now running up a huge operating loss, back to the municipalities. With some innovative agreements, they could even make a profit from the over-built and ugly malls that they have constructed. But the death of the Indian real estate bubble – ready to crack in November - is not the subject of the story.

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