Souvenir hunters throng stalls

Souvenirs and mementos form special part of one’s life. To reminiscence, recollect happy memories, go misty-eyed, and when meeting happens share those with others through these memorabilia.

Cashing in on this innate desire among souvenirs and memento hunters was HAL Families’ Welfare Association at Aero India 2013. Manned by a pleasant quartet of four charming women, their stall, at Hall G, was a beehive of activity, with a near stampede of people drawn in droves, vying for a piece of eye-catching, attractive array of items on display.

In fact, there was more crowd near the stall than at the aerial display area of the five-day showpiece aviation and aerospace spectacle now on at the Yelahanka Air Force Base. Sure enough, there was every reason for the crowd to mill around the stall to pick their choice of collectibles and later stash them away in their homes in showcases or personal cupboards and share it with near and dear ones.

From attractive Aero T-shirts in vibrant colours, a variety of caps in all sizes and shapes, posters large and small, tantalising toys of airplanes, jets and aicraft, that would simply draw a child and the child in an adult, too. Different models, both working and displayed, of wide range of military aircraft armaments were there for the picking. 

With souvenir and memento seekers vying to buy their choice items, the association’s ensemble collections were an instant hit with those visiting the venue. What’s more, the womenfolk served customers with military precision.

What made the purchases attractive and irresistible, whose prices range from modest Rs 70 to Rs 120 for caps, to Rs 220 onwards for T-shirt, and models in affordable ranges, was the demonstration and sales pitch of Srikantaswamy R K, an HAL staffer. With live demos he had the audience captive and query him with a string of posers till their curiosity was satisfied. Like the ladies, and the wares, he too, was the centre of attraction.