HYDERABAD: This Diwali, given the inflation and the intermittent rain, turned out to be a damp squib. While skyrocketing prices of firecrackers forced many people to be content with bursting only a few rockets and bombs, the weather too played spoilsport, cutting short the festivities of the citizens.35-year-old Venugopal, who ran one of the cracker stalls at the wholesale cracker bazaar at Parade grounds, was a disappointed man. Packing his stuff, he claimed that this year, the business has come down by 20 per cent compared to last year. But he’s sound enough to bear it. “We do conduct shows at marriages and events across the city,” said Venugopal, who runs a permanent shop in the Old City.The others, though, were not as lucky. According to a stall owner at Necklace road, Narsa Reddy, this Diwali was unlike the earlier ones. He put the blame for the poor sales squarely on the shoulders of the State government. “The government hasn’t paid salaries to the employees who had gone on strike. Since Diwali fell at the end of the month this year and the employees had not received salaries, the sales were really poor,” said Reddy. Karunakar, a small-time vendor near Sindhi Colony, observed that setting up a small stall for whatever expected profit was a bad idea. “There is a general feeling among the public in Telangana, not to celebrate till a separate statehood is achieved,” claimed Karunakar, who also felt that the weather has been comparatively cold.Another shopkeeper at Khairatabad, Ravi, too felt the heat, as he said the prices of the crackers were too high this year. “Firecrackers were all brought from Sivakashi in Tamil Nadu and there were various factors like strike in factories etc, which led to the exorbitant prices,” Ravi explained.However, some boys like Varun, who was not done bursting crackers even the next day of Diwali, said, “Prices do not stop us, It’s Diwali!.” Venkatesh, a father of two, put the issue in perspective. “We had to think twice this time before buying firecrackers. This year, I have bought only half of what I had bought last year,” he regretted.But some pockets in the city did good business. Jagdish, a retail store owner at Khairatabad, said, “Though my profits are less, I am happy I did not incur any losses.” He had also run a store selling Ganesh idols during Ganesh festival, identifying the business prospect in seasonal businesses.
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