There are a few things that can drive people to stand in line; early on a Saturday morning, and the arrival of international brand H&M to Chennai sits very close to the top of the list. Hundreds of people at Express Avenue, in a crazy-long queue, patiently waiting for the doors to open, is something you had to see to believe. From the looks on their faces, the first few had been there for a while, but thankfully measures had been taken to ensure that the wait was an experience in itself. 
The celebrations included DJ spin offs and a choreographed dance performance, by a bunch of youngsters that I mistook to be a professional dance troupe. A couple of minutes in, I realized that these were the H&M employees themselves. Nice! Then the chanting began – “H and M! H and M! H and M!” I’ll admit it was pretty catchy and I found myself wanting to join in. 
The employee mob keep the chant going for an impressive amount of time, then proceeded to hoist Janne Einola, Country Manager of H&M India onto their shoulders. Thankfully he was brought safely back down in time to cut the ribbon. At this point you could almost hear the waiting crowd thinking – ‘Finally!”
The old adage – ‘good things come to those who wait’ was proven to be more than just a saying, with the first three in line scoring mega vouchers for ten thousand, five thousand and three thousand rupees each. Images I had in my head of stampedes and young fashionistas elbowing each other to get in, all evaporated as I watched the crowd enter the store in an orderly single file. Pushing and shoving were replaced by smiles and pouts with everyone busy recording the historic moment on snapchat.
