Effect of recession on Puja shopping

Thanks to the unique positionings of the tithes and nakshatras, this year, Goddess Durga will be arriving in Martya (read it Kolkata) a month earlier. Generally thev Durga Puja is held in the month of October and in some years its gets started from the end of September and ends by the first week of October. But this year the mother Goddess is in a hurry and will wrap up things by September 28. So its high time for Bengalees to start shopping for their family members and close ones. Generally the rush for puja shopping starts just after 15th August and as the puja is more close this year, the shopping malls should have been overcrowded by now as it is the fag end of July. But things are little different this time. Till now the craze for Puja shopping has been felt in Kolkata. Undoubtedly it is surprising but there’s a genuine reason behind this year. It’s the effect of recession.

Though the effect of the economic melt down has not been felt in India compared to USA and Western countries, life has becomes harder for the common people of the city. Till now thee has been no news on major job cuts by companies, but many have gone for pay cuts. There are thousands of professionals who have been getting deducted salaries and lesser allowances for the last few months. There are even companies that are not paying salaries for quite some time. Media has been one of the most worst-affected industries as the volume of revenue has gone down quite low due to decrease in advertisements. People working in the IT industry too have felt the effect up to some extent as several companies have warned their employees of downsizing.

Continuous rise in prices of commodities have made things more hard for people. Prices of every commodity, starting from items of daily needs to products that are purchased once or twice in a year have gone up significantly in the last one year. Situation has so arrived that middle-class people are struggling to buy vegetables in the market. Things that were priced at Rs 5, 7 are now available at not less than Rs 15, 18, which is beyond the capacity of billions of people. So if people can’t afford to buy things of their daily needs, how can they opt for shopping?

However, as a Bengalee, I believe that there’s nothing that can spoil the festive mood of Durga Puja. Natural calamities, family tragedies, personal losses do occur but nothing stands strong for long in between the people of Kolkata and Goddess Durga. The Goddess with her 10 hands kills all evils and bless her worshippers with a smiling face. The Puran says Goddess Durga killed Mahishasura and established the victory of good over the evil but in reality she kills all evils that keep us mentally disturbed. This year her challenge is bigger, but I believe, the Goddess will bring relief by slaying this new demon named recession, which has been creating menace all over the world. Perhaps this is the reason why she has is coming earlier this year.

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