“Mysore is not just a namesake cultural capital of the state, its people are in the forefront in taking forward native culture and traditions. Festivals are a sure way to conserve and develop culture. And, it is time to celebrate. But what is celebration without good food and clothes, not to forget decking up one’s house to give a new look.
A few decades back, one spent out of one’s savings, as there were no credit cards. So spending was not as we see it today. Consumerism has had a huge impact on our culture — especially spending habits. Business establishments encash on this and make all out efforts to attract customers.
Most of the big supermarket chains in the city have decorated their buildings — greeting people and announcing festival offers — to woo customers. Festival season in such super, mega and hyper markets have continued since Dasara and will go on till Ugadi in various forms and magnitudes. However, Deepavali and New Year stand out among them.
Deepavali is celebrated throughout India uniformly, so people from all parts of the country in the city and also foreigners interested in Indian culture unite in the celebrations. In some traditional private companies and public sector companies, this is the time when the employees get some extra money in the form of bonus. For the new generation IT, ITES and BT people, money is not a big factor to worry about. So spending is extremely visible.
Maria, store manager of a mega store, said the daily footfall in her store during festival season is roughly 2,000 more compared to normal days. She said her company took festivals seriously. Her store has concentrated on promotion of all products of all brands in a big way by displaying them prominently and offering considerable discounts.
Deepak, who was in a megastore shopping, said he did not know what to buy, but he was looking at offers on various products.
Pallavi, also shopping in the store, said she had not planned her shopping but depended on her instincts. She was planning to buy whatever was useful to her and also affordable. However, traditional businessmen on Ashoka road, Devaraja Urs road and Sayyaji Rao road have done little to attract customers. Even though they know business would be good over the next couple of days they are not ready to part with their margin of profit. Apart from some big shops, none have offered any festival discounts.
Badrinarayan, owner of a jewellery shop that is being run for three generations, said there was no need to offer discounts as he had loyal customers, who trusted in quality of his products.
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