Season's curses

When Navratri draws to a close, it is a signal for Bhayandar resident Mita Vira to keep aside her dandiya sticks and start cleaning her two-bedroom flat. With all four adult members in the family pitching in to clear the cupboards, kitchen cabinets and lofts, it still takes five full days to get her house ready for Diwali. Even the walls are given a fresh coat of paint.
"At the end of it, I am very tired. My legs ache after climbing up and down the stool umpteen times," she says. All things old and useless find their way out, and space is created for the new. This year, she has her heart set on an LCD plasma screen TV worth Rs 25,000 and a brand new washing machine. The pressure to complete buying and make the most of Diwali offers takes a toll on the health.
"But during this time, people will ignore minor ailments, though stress levels can lead to increased acidity and hypertension," says Dr Aashish Contractor, head of preventive cardiology, Asian Heart Institute. However, post Diwali, doctors often witness the after-effects of festivities.
"The abnormal intake of sweets and other high-fat foods causes a drastic increase in cholesterol and blood sugar levels," says Dr Saurab Goel, cardiac surgeon at Cumballa Hill Hospital. Heart attacks, he says, are also a major post festival backlash among the middle class who spend beyond limits to fulfil social rather than spiritual obligations.
Shops, along with banks and credit card companies recognise this compulsion of the Indian householder to splurge on the good life during Dussehra and Diwali.
Coaxing him to spend a little more, they line up the lures. Diligent shoppers don't disappoint. They don't let spacious showrooms with marble stairs that cause more harm to their legs, get in their way as they check out the deals on offer at various outlets before making a purchase.
At HSBC, festival time purchases account for one-third of the total card purchases. Last October, Pantaloon retail crossed a sale of Rs 200 crores for the first time ever, as against Rs 81 crore during the same period in 2004, recording a growth of 149%.
As per AdEx India, a division of TAM Media Resarch, companies spent Rs 15,439 million on television advertising in the festive quarter last year, compared to Rs 13,513 million over the same period the year before.
Careful consumer research conducted by retail outlets, banks and credit card companies over the last two years show that festivals are a time to loosen the purse strings for four sections - apparel, consumer durables, electronics and jewellery.
The transition from limited to unlimited spending is so complete, that when there is an attempt to shift the attention away from shopping, it is feeble. Outside a swanky departmental store in south Mumbai, Diwali shoppers are encouraged to light a diya and pay Rs 10 for charity before they enter. But several don't notice it.
Charity does not grab their attention like the hundred other brightly coloured goodies waiting to be paid for and taken home. Slowly and steadily, the elements originally associated with festivals like prayer and charity are taking a beating.
A few years ago, Navratri, for instance, was more about modest dance events and homely poojas. But today, mega events that rope in celebrities have commercialised the festival.
Diwali itself has come a long way from the point where all the children in the house, including the maid's, were made to stand in a line and given a stipulated quantity of firecrackers and one set of new clothes. Now even children demand their Diwali gifts as per the flavour of the season.
The five-year-old son of graphic designer Sandeep Patil has been asking his father for the latest cartoon CDs since last year. And parents prefer tangible gifts to seeing their hard-earned money turned into a heap of ash. Marketing professional Jayant Paranjpe has thought a way out of this unnecessary expenditure during the festival of lights.
His two sons are given a limited budget of Rs 250 each year to buy crackers. "They make reconnaissance trips to shops, find out the prices for a select list of crackers that I have decided they should buy, and choose the best shop considering my budget," he says.
It is difficult to find an Indian who does not want to shop during Diwali. Says Bala Naidu, men's couturist, "We are blessed to have so many festivals. I do not believe that spending during festivals is really any burden. Instead, one should save, in order to spend on things you would like to acquire, and for your wife and children."
(With inputs by Krishnaraj Iyengar)