Faded hues of Holi

City businessmen dealing in festival items say cricket World Cup, board exams and price-rise have dented their sales in a big way this year

Faded hues of Holi

City businessmen dealing in festival items say cricket World Cup, board exams and price-rise have dented their sales in a big way this year

The festival of colours is just three days away but there seems to be no build up in excitement for it. If city businessmen dealing with Holi colours and accessories are to be believed, the ongoing cricket World Cup, board exams and price-rise have taken sheen out of the festive spirit.

Lost Sheen?u00a0People shopping at Sadar Bazar in New Delhi.

The business simply is not going great guns. Thirty-eight -year-old Anju, a wholesale businessman in Sadar Bazar, is deeply worried about steep fall in sales this year. "Every year my shop used to be packed with customers lining up 15 days before the festival. This time nothing of such kind has happened. Only a handful have turned up. The craze for the World Cup and price-rise have made a big dent in my sales," he said.u00a0

The wholesale shopkeepers in the area claim most of the items including the pichkaris, colours, balloons, sprays and water toys are costlier this time. "There has been an increase of 20-25 percent in the prices of all the Holi stuff. A balloon packet that cost Rs 10 is now sold for Rs 12 and a Rs 22-colour spray comes for Rs 30 now. It is the same for other items as well," said Jagdish Gupta, chairman, Main Traders Association, Paharganj.

According to the shop-owners, there has been a 60 per cent fall in sales of Holi accessories this year. Ravi Advani of Sindh Colour Mart, one of the oldest shops in the area attributes the fall of sales in Holi material to the changing lifestyle of people over the years. "People these days are more hooked to television screens watching the World Cup and are least bothered about shopping for festival on holidays," said he.

New attractions
The sales might be low but the market is abuzz with new collection of Chinese toys this year. The hot picks include a fish shaped toy pichkari with a buzzing red light on it. It has become a favourite with the children, claims Advani. The other attraction is the huge missile pichkari, which is making some good sales.

Old steel pichkari forgotten
In the rush for modern items, the old steelu00a0 water guns seem to have lost their relevance Mohammed Ashu,u00a0 who owns a stall of steel and wood pichkaris in Paharganj, says "The Chinese dump all there goods here. The market is flooded with plastic Chinese toys and there is no place for the traditional Holi items. Even Chinese colours have replaced the all-time Indian gulal."