As I sat down after a busy Navarathri season, my phone lit up and an advertisement from a popular e-commerce company claimed the biggest sale for Diwali was coming up soon. Wait! Didn’t a big one for the Navarathtri season just get over? I casually browsed and found everything- right from mobiles to gadgets to home use items to clothes to even groceries under sale. I picked up the newspaper and the page that usually used to carry the main news of the day was flooded with more offers. It seemed like the best time to replace the fridge, get a new air fryer, think about the latest mobile, buy more than 3 pairs of latest designer wear at the price of 2 and even think of a 2bhk on OMR. All these endless offers from stores to e-commerce sites made me wonder, "When did Diwali become about festival offers?"
How many know why we celebrate Diwali? In the South, it is the killing of Narakasura that we celebrate. In the North, it is the home coming of Rama. Yes, we celebrate it with sweets, joy, crackers, new clothes. Slowly, with work taking us far apart it became a reason for families to get together. My childhood memories are filled with early morning sleepy oil bath, followed by unearthly hour bhajjis and sweets, bursting crackers before we see sunlight, eating a sumptuous meal together and being fast asleep by noon. Pre Diwali fervor would include an evening of clothes shopping and another evening spent at the hot cracker shop and many mornings seeing my mom make variety of sweets and savories at home.
What does the current generation see in Diwali? Oh!! “Diwali is a season of awesome festive offers.” We have already lost aadi masam to festival offers. The latest to join this list is Diwali. Buy 2 packets mixture, get badam halwa free. We don’t even make sweets and savories at home anymore. What does an exchange with no cost EMI on a brand new washing machine got to do with the festival? I don’t blame the customers for getting swayed, who does not want discounts? But do we really need the products? All these companies have found an effective way of pushing our people into compulsive shoppers. I perhaps wouldn't need the badam halwa, but the idea of getting it free is going to make me buy the 2 packets mixture, one of which is extra for me. I see the many offers on TV and paper and start wondering what my entire house needs. I do a mental check of all the gadgets that gave me a problem in the last 3 months. I buy that extra dress for 499 without batting an eyelid to reach the target of 2500 so I get that cracker gift box worth 1000 free. Did I mention that gift box has some crackers that I absolutely hate? Why? Discounts! Our people look forward to the offers and discounts associated with the festival more than the festival itself. So do we actually save money? I doubt. We end up buying things that we need, that we might need, that we hardly need and things that we fancy. The companies and products offering you those fancy discounts did what they wanted to! At the end of the day, you think you got a great deal. Festival mood sets in with all the new things and a feeling of having bought them all that at a great price. Everyone is happy. Or should I say, everyone seems happy. Then soon the next big festival is right around the corner.
