The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Chinese crackers set to light up night sky

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Nov 05, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Chinese crackers set to light up night sky

Now cracker shops open just three to four days before Deepavali

One cannot do without crackers on the Deepavali night and there is a wide range of crackers, flowerpots, sparkles, and rockets to choose from, which are available at a cost that one feels makes a hole in his pocket.

Several years ago shops selling the Deepavali crackers are opened several days before the festival and people would buy small quantities well before the festival to satisfy children at home, while the major shopping of crackers is done at least one week from the

Thus the families used to have sufficient time to dry the crackers, sparkles, etc. under hot sun so that they burn or burst well on the Deepavali night.

Now the shops open in full measure just three or four days before the festival and most of the people buy the crackers with a day left for the festival.

People of coastal areas in general and north coastal Andhra in particular used to prepare many varieties of flower pots, ‘matabulu’ and tarajuvvalu (rockets) along with ‘pitchikalu’ and ‘Zinkalu’ at home.

This activity would commence at least two weeks before the festival. The preparations need a lot of care and effort and several trials are held before the required quality is obtained for rolling out the items in a large number.

But very few families have the time and also interest to take up this task. Also the families become small, the elders are not having the support of youngsters, particularly children to help them out. The main reason for Deepavali being restricted to just one hour is the cost of crackers. There is a steady increase and this year’s prices showed a five to 10 per cent increase on all varieties compared to prices of previous year.

To reduce the cost of Deepavali festival, some families form into a group to buy the crackers in bulk while employees of organisations and industries try to sell the material through their cooperative stores. But not many are able to organise the sale due to many reasons and the employees are forced to shell out more money.

In spite of the high cost of crackers new varieties, most of them Chinese, are entering the market every year, to the satisfaction of those who can and are willing to spend huge amounts for Deepavali.

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