Author: Saira Kurup & Insiya Amir
Publication: The Times of India
Date: October 31, 2010
URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-toi/special-report/Diwali-From-pujas-to-poker/articleshow/6843910.cms
Introduction: In the 90s Diwali was all about a simple celebration at home.
In 2010, people are going to the mall for food, fun and festival shopping
Sleek iPods, edible family photos ringed with
pink icing on cakes, and weekend holidays in Singapore. Believe it or not,
these are some of the items on the Diwali wish-list this season. If gold and
silver are beyond your reach, and steel bartan seem infra dig to buy this
Dhanteras, indulge in a shiny new laptop. Bored with celebrating Diwali at
home every year? Have a swinging weekend elsewhere, be it Goa or Singapore.
All this seems a far cry from what Diwali
used to be 20 years ago. Remember whitewashing the house a month ahead of
the festival; taking out your best bedsheets and curtains from the trunk;
lighting coloured candles bought from the neighbourhood store; gorging on
barfis, ladoos and pedas without fear of adulterated khoya or diabetes and
exploding the noisiest crackers without dreading court rules and deadlines?
Have those days been truly blown away by globalization
and satellite television? Maybe not yet. There are still some constants within
the churning. Pujas, sweets, parties, gifts, shopping, facials at the mohalla
beauty parlour, resplendent lighting - all the wonderful elements that made
this festival sparkle are still alive. What's new is their 21st century avatars.
Now, there are aromatic diyas, Chinese lanterns and lights. online shopping
discounts, Diwali nights at the mall, designer room and wardrobe makeovers,
botox facelifts, baked samosas and gujiyas and sugar-free rasmalai... The
essence is there, but the flavour has changed.
Sweet edible photos
If you have a sweet tooth, then the in-thing
to do this year is to bite into cupcakes. "Mithai is so old world,"
says Gauri Pant, a 30-something homemaker in Delhi. "No matter what people
say about buying jewellery, painting their homes and the like, if the goodies
are not nice, there is no glitter at all," she says. "Every year,
I try to do something new. This year, my specialty is fruit-filled chocolate
tarts and cupcakes. I ordered them from a friend who caters from home."
Indeed, cupcakes seem to be the gourmet crackers.
Gayatri and Anushka Kakkar, who started their cupcakes kiosk at a South Delhi
mall last year-end, say they are looking at the "best business"
this Diwali. "Not only do we have cupcakes in all kinds of festive icing,
we even have photo cupcakes with images of diyas, 'Happy Diwali', the shubh
labh symbol and so on. These are turning out to be the season's favourites,"
says Anushka.
Corporates, too, want a slice of it. "Companies
are giving us their logos to put on cupcakes, which we are making into hampers,"
says Anushka.
Not just that, if you want to gift relatives
your family photo, then do it as photo cakes which have edible ink.
"This is taking off from the western
idea of Christmas and New Year cards with family photos," says Akhilesh
Kumar, who has ordered 50 cakes with his family portrait on them, for family
and friends. "Who has the time to visit everyone anymore? This way, meetha
ka meehta bhi ho jaata hai and people can think of us fondly too," says
this Mumbai-based businessman.
The easy availability of almost anything you
crave in the shop round the corner is certainly taking its toll on cooking
at home. "Even three years ago, I used to make everything at home,"
says Zareen Malik, a management executive. "From namkeen to laddoos to
sherbet. But now everything is so easily available in the market," she
says.
But some are still holding on to tradition.
"I still make small samosas and besan laddoos on Diwali," says Reema
Kaushik, a homemaker in Delhi who has two small sons. She has fond memories
of her mother making puran polis and puran ki sabzi during her childhood in
Maharashtra. Media professional Maya Venkateswaran is a whiz at churning out
crisp dal vadas but the Mysore Pak sweet that her mother used to make on Diwali
still fails her. It seems an era is passing with the older generation.
Puja, the traditional way
That's probably true about the Diwali puja
too. Much of the younger generation doesn't have the patience or the time
for rituals. "Diwali was celebrated earlier more out of faith. It was
more pious. Now it's commercialized. It's more of a show," says Reema.
But she adds that there are some who still do Ganesh puja and aarti, light
diyas and draw the Satya sign. "I make rangoli outside my home and decorate
it," she says.
Even the business class continues to do puja
in their shops. Atul Bhargava, president of New Delhi Trader's Association,
remembers that his father used to get a pandit to do puja at the open safe
in his shop. Now, "however modern my wife might be, she comes to do puja
at the shop. After all, that's where the bread and butter comes from,"
he reasons.
Game for casino parties?
Diwali parties have also been a tradition.
But their glitter has changed with the times. True, there are still get-togethers
where people like Reema organize simple card parties with friends. But for
a number of others, "Diwali parties are like mini sangeets", says
Ruchi Chopra who runs a personalized gifting service that helps people organize
surprise parties. Despite being in the business, Ruchi was amazed when she
attended a party that resembled a casino in Las Vegas. "There were eight
tables with different denominations and I was asked to stop at the one with
Rs 50 as I was a novice!" she says. "The most noticeable change
has been the almost complete replacement of traditional card games like rummy
with modern ones like poker. Roulette tables with a dealer are the rage but
these are slightly more expensive and not as common yet." Ruchi has organized
everything from "personalized drinking games to poker games" and
even designed personalized gifts and return gifts like "the very popular
card decks".
Vandana Gotra, an independent event planner
based in Delhi, also likens Diwali parties today to traditional Indian weddings.
"There are many days of revelry and the celebrations begin at least a
week in advance," she says.
At the individual level, regional nuances
are beginning to melt under the overwhelming influence of cosmopolitan culture.
"Everybody is hosting card parties these days, not just north Indian
communities who believe a bit of gambling brings good luck during Diwali.
Most of us are invited to at least one card party every night in the run-up
to the festival, and I know a few this season that are being hosted by Maharashtrian
families too," says T Anupam, CEO of Lifestyle Center Management in Mumbai.
That boredom with the old is also impacting
the kind of gifts people are buying. Mehul Choksi, CMD of diamond and jewellery
manufacturing and retailing company, Gitanjali Group says, "There's an
increase in people's buying power. They now want to buy products which are
new and modern." He adds gold, silver and diamonds are doing very well
despite their high prices. "There's been 75% sales growth since the beginning
of Navratras." Gold and silver coins have always been a favourite. Nalini
Mohan, a mother of two married daughters in Delhi, remembers that she didn't
have to buy any gold for their marriages, "because we used to buy gold
or silver coins every Diwali."
T Anupam adds that the festival of lights
comes a close second to family weddings in terms of shopping for high-value
garments and accessories. The value of gifts has risen phenomenally, spanning
many items, ever since the birth of malls in India some seven years ago. But
the rush hasn't started yet this year, says P G Makhija, CEO of Bombay Dyeing.
He thinks it's possibly because of inflation. "People want to buy more,
but the volumes are close to last year's figures," he says. He is upbeat
about the large number of inquiries about their new fragrant bed linen called
Aroma Rich, the launch of which coincided with the festive season.
Gizmos on Dhanteras
There's a widespread consensus that gadgets
are the 'new gold' for consumers now. On Dhanteras last year, Anna Shekhar
did not buy any gold, silver or jewellery as she had done for the past 25
years of her marriage. "Instead I bought a laptop, a shiny gold one,"
says this Nagpur homemaker who thought the laptop would be of more use and
she would also be keeping to the tradition of buying metal.
"It was the first time that I bought
a gadget on Dhanteras. My daughter has been doing that since the time she
was 15. Even in her new home (with her husband in Delhi), they buy gadgets
mostly, sometime appliances too. I think I am going to end up doing the same.
After all, like jewellery, gadgets are a status symbol too," says Shekhar.
Probably that's why corporates are hoping
for an upswing in sales this year. Sony India's marketing budget is Rs 45
crore this festive season. "We are expecting at least 50% growth in sales,"
says Tadato Kimura, general manager, marketing, Sony India, adding that the
company's special this time is digital photo frames.
Mobiles and cameras are the usual favourites, but another hot-selling item
this year is portable hard drives. "They are sleek, very useful and unlike
cell phones, it does not matter whether 'you get yet another as a gift',"
says Mumbai-based Mithali Sharma, who has bought "30 slim 100GB ones
for all her friends."
The craze for new gizmos is making its impact
on online shopping. Who would have imagined 20 years ago, that if you didn't
have the inclination or the time for some market hopping, then one day all
you need would be a plastic card and a Net connection to get 'Diwali dhamaka
discounts' and have the gifts delivered within a week? "Just the thought
of the crowds, the traffic and the parking nightmare is scary," says
Rajyashree M, who ordered 200 dry fruit boxes to be delivered to her colleagues,
friends and even some family members online. "The best deals are online,"
says Mithali, who bought hard drives, a cellphone and a laptop online. eBay
India has launched a television campaign specifically for online Diwali shopping.
Rangoli at the mall
Changing consumer behavior is driving other
business innovations. For instance, malls have customized themselves to offer
what is popularly known as 'the family experience'. DLF Place in Delhi did
extensive research to not only assess the kind of purchases made during the
festival but also what activities families like to do together. Says Arindam
Kunar, VP, DLF Place, "Our revenues are expected to grow anywhere between
25-28% as compared to last year. More and more people are coming to malls
to celebrate Diwali."
It's the convenient alternative to visiting
friends and family, one that combines shopping, food and fun. "There
is some kind of shopping for everyone in the family (two sons aged 17, 14
and one daughter 19, and wife). While the boys play games and such, the women
get their beauty treatments and I have a drink. Sure it's like any other family
day but then these malls always have something new on Diwali," says Delhi
businessman Rohan Desai. "It sure beats dragging the kids to a friend's
place they don't want to go to, or making small talk at one of the over-the-top
parties my wife takes me to."
No wonder, malls are laughing all the way
to the bank. T Anupam of Mumbai's Lifestyle Center Management, says sales
at malls are rising 20% year on year. "This Dhanteras we expect another
20% rise over the previous year," he says. Agrees retail entertainment
professional Vijay Dewan who is designing the Diwali entertainment programmes
for three malls in Mumbai - Inorbit, Oberoi and Korum. He says that sales
in general are far more robust now as compared to five years ago. "Where
five years ago a customer spent Rs 550 on average, he is now spending Rs 750
per trip," he says.
Expectedly, bargain deals and freebies are
pushing up sales during the festival. "We have devised a game in Oberoi
Mall, Goregaon, where people, who have made purchases over a certain amount,
can participate by showing us their bills. We find that 30-40% of the bills,
or tickets as we call them, come from the purchase of electronic items as
compared to 4-5% from jewellery stores," says Dewan. "The sale of
electronic items, especially during Dhanteras, is likely to break all previous
records."
Business is doing great but many are lamenting
the breakdown of community spirit on Diwali. "Over the last decade, the
after-hours aspect of the festival when the entire neighbourhood gathered
to burst firecrackers has all but come to an end. Increasingly, the new generation
tends to isolate itself with computer games and internet cliques. Parents
like me fear they will never know the joys of celebrating the festival in
community spirit like we did as recently as in the 1980s," says Sheela
Damania, a 42-year-old mother of two who lives in Andheri, Mumbai. Agrees
Nalini Mohan: "I still make it a point to sit down and spend time with
people.
Hitting the travel trail
Some of those who don't have relatives in
town or would like to bond with their closest kin are looking for new ways
of doing so. Anandan NT, working with a media house in Delhi, is spending
his Diwali night in the desert. He and his brother are taking their families
on a holiday in Rajasthan during the long weekend next week. "I felt
like doing something different this Diwali," says Anandan.
He's not alone in wanting to celebrate the
festival away from home and hearth. Manmeet Ahluwalia, marketing head of travel
firm Expedia India, says, "We have seen a 50-70% rise in hotel and airline
bookings during Diwali on domestic and international sectors. People are travelling
overseas to celebrate during the long weekend. Most of those going overseas
are double-income couples, going alone or with friends to nearby destinations
like Malaysia, Singapore, Dubai and Thailand."
So, instead of dressing up in kurta-pajama
and zari saris for the Diwali party next door, people are donning casuals
and backpack. "There's been a 12-15% increase in international travel
during Diwali over last year. Many of them are looking for newer experiences,
and might not care for the traditional Diwali celebration with family. Travellers
are also going to domestic leisure destinations like Goa," adds Manmeet.
Twenty years ago, there were no mobile phones,
broadband, satellite television or mass credit cards in India. Liberalization
changed all that. As did cable television, Bollywood movies and the K-serials
which changed the way people saw festive celebrations. Purists might feel
unsettled with the face of Diwali 2010, but then it's only a reflection of
what people want. After all, the customer is king!
