Dazzling lights: add more light to this festive occasion

Diwali, the festival of lights, is incomplete without the use of earthen oil lamps. But these earthen lamps are facing stiff competition from Chinese dazzling lights, which have flooded the markets. And as part of the greetings, Chinese lamps and lights have flooded the markets in bhubaneshwar.

Large numbers of people, irrespective of their religion are thronging the packed markets to buy lights to decorate their houses for the festival. They no longer want to light their houses with earthen lamps.

Chinese bulbs are now being mostly preferred over the traditional earthen lamps for its wide range and designs as varied as grapes and colorful flowers. They are very cheap and they last long.

"We are buying Chinese lights because the cost of oil has risen. We get these lights in various designs, colours and can keep it in houses, flowerpots and verandas. The best part is it lasts longer than the traditional diyas (Traditional lamp)," said Anurag Bhatta, a customer.

Most of the shop owners who earlier did other businesses now sell Chinese lamps during the lucrative festive season. They are adding more profits to their pockets due to this business.

"We are into this business of Chinese lights and every year during Diwali we have new designs. This year, we have introduced the traditional diyas, candle shaped lights, which is gaining popularity here. It is not very costly which makes our sales good," said Raja, a shop owner.

While a coloured-wax Chinese diya decorated with clay roses is available for 15 rupees, an Indian one ranges between 20-25 rupees which is rather a better deal than those earthen lamps. It is cheap and also saves time and effort. The best thing about these products is that it lasts longer.

"Lights are cheaper. Oil is expensive now. Every year, I come and buy new lights here. They bring cheer to everyone at home," said Ruby Nanda, another customer.Lighting lamps during Diwali is linked to the welcome of Lord Ram on his triumphant return to Ayodhya after completing his 14-year exile.

The festive spirit is still High

Sensex below ten thousand for the first time in two years as the economy continue to fall due to the tsunami in the worldwide markets. With such crisis in the markets, various sectors are facing heavy loss. With Diwali and Dhantaras round the corner, most of the companies are not offering discount to counter heavy losses.

Gold prices are skyrocketing in the markets now and buying gold in such a period would only bring heavy loss and bad luck. Dhantaras which symbolizes buying Gold,Silver or Utensil would bring luck through out the year, has made people think before buying gold at its all time high price. This has diminished smiles on the face of people as some are thinking of buying silver rather than gold and some Utensils instead of silver. Payal Gosh, an event organizer says "surely I would prefer to buy silver this time rather than gold. It would be my loss if I buy gold. If the gold prices fall then I will get my gold jewelry done or else my choice is silver this time".

The one thing that hasn't been affected this time is the festive spirit of the people. On Dhanteras Goddess Laxmi is worshiped to provide prosperity and well being. Hence Dhan Teras holds a lot more significance for the business community. Even though the gold prices are high, there are people who are not holding back their feet to buy Gold this festive season. Shikha, a customer says "I always buy gold jewelry on the occasion of Dhantaras and I have placed order for my gold jewelry this time as usual. I will get it on the day of Dhantaras".

We thought we would face heavy loss this time of the season, but people are still buying gold on the occasion of Dhantaras. The markets haven't affected our business" says manager of Alankar Jewellers. Jewellery shops continue to be packed with customers as everyone wants to please Goddess Laxhmi and get wealthier throughout the year.

A Tale Of New Holes

"I have had the first piercings in my ears since I was in class 7. My mother did them as a ritual. The second and third holes were my choice. When I got the second hole done, I was shopping. I just decided that I wanted a second piercing in both ears," says Poonam Dash, a student.

Piercing the ear a second time is the mantra of the day. The original idea of piercing the earlobe once has become outdated. A second piercing along the ear-rim or on the earlobe itself, has taken the youngsters by a storm. It is something unusual and these days, anything unusual becomes a fashion. It attracts attention and a trend is created. Most of the youngsters are attracted towards these trends.

Apart from youngsters, housewives are also not left behind in keeping up with this trend. They too are getting their ears pierced a second time. Payal Gosh, a housewife, says: "If it is just one piercing in the ear no one will notice. But if we have a second hole it catches ones eyes immediately as something unusual. People look good and again, it's the new style."

Piercing was considered to be a painful process earlier but now it has become safer and pain-free. Guns are used for piercing rather than needles, which could have been a house of infections. It also takes less time. Rupanwita Mohanty says, "My ear piercing with gun took about 5 seconds and apart from a slight tingle, it wasn't painful. I wore my small hoop earring after that".

To those who love earrings, piercing is not matter of fashion at all. "To me it was never a fashion trend to be followed like my friends said. I am fascinated about earrings, so I got my ear pierced a second time. It looks cute," says Rebecca Joy Sahu, a student.

An extra metal on your ear gives one a stunning look. Piercing brings about a change in the looks and presentation of one's personality. One can opt for good combinations of earrings with ear lobes pierced twice. There are jewellery shops in the city where you can get your ear pierced with the gun and can also buy your favourite design.

Jewellery shops are gathering huge profits thanks to this trend. "This trend has brought about more sale of earrings. People prefer to buy small ear tops or diamonds to enhance their looks" says Owner of Bina Jewellers.

It doesn't matter whether you look stylish or trendy but with fashion trends changing from time to time, one has to catch up and do in Rome as the Romans do! So go ahead and try going through that childhood experience of ear-piercing again!

Kicking off Stress: Dancing is the New Mantra

A woman's life is full of turmoil as they are always caught in the whirlpool of non-stop activity at house and outside. For a long time overweight women never felt the need to go to a gym, fetch themselves a trainer or even exercise to keep themselves fit. Doing household work was believed to be enough of an exercise for women.

But now women no longer excuse themselves from working out or going to parties and social functions. There was a time when dancing was a complete "no no" for every woman. They feared dancing. Dance was also considered to be some form of offence and believed to be a western influence. But now it is seen as a great stress buster. Most importantly, it has become a mantra of keep oneself fit and feel fashionable.

Television shows like the on-screen Saas-Bahu dancing and Saroj Khan's Nachle Ve have set an example for many household women. They have influenced many household women to learn free style dancing.

For free style dancing there are no particular rules. It's all about grooving to your favorite music. You have to just move your body to the hypnotic beats and rhythms. "Dance is now considered as a therapy. Through the appropriate dance threay they all can keep well but there are people who are not benefited as they have misused this therapy to keep themselves well" says Aruna Mohanty, noted Oddisi dancer

It has become a way to bring back zeal to life. It has become a medium of meeting new people and developing one's social circle. Instead of a tedious gym visit one can have loads of fun while dancing to the tunes of music. Dancing helps increase one's self esteem and also gives a positive outlook to life. Dancing also keeps women occupied when they have nothing to do. Women can present themselves well in parties if they know how dance. "Dance is an ongoing fashion. I feel excited and fresh after dancing. It helps me to stay fit and I don't feel tired anymore after work pressure" It also gives amazing glow to your skin which cannot be substituted by any cream or any moisturizer.

It is easier to be bogged down by stress-related diseases, starting from a common cold to a dangerous heart attack. The mantra is "shake your leg to stay fit". Most women give up on exercises, succumb to eating disorders, some hit the bottles and some rely on drugs and steroids. But dancing does not create pressures of any sort.

Dancing is also an exercise that is accepted by all age groups. Some people who hate doing yoga's or any form of workouts. For them dancing is the best option. "I don't like going out on walks so it's a better way of working out at home. I have lost weight". Many cultures promote dance as an anti- stressful form of keeping fit. When you are dancing to your favorite tune, we tend to grin and smile a lot which we usually don't do. It is also a merry-making process. Apart from all this, dancing with your children can also help one to build up good rapport and understanding.

Multiplexes to breathe life into the city

65 cinema halls have been shut in Orissa and six of these are in Cuttack itself. Most of the cinema halls are under renovation. There is no source of entertainment in these cities. But cinemas halls continue to screen movies despite their small number.

Multiplexes are common in metro cities, but the twin cities which are the upcoming metros and the next IT hub, lack the concept of roping in Multiplexes. There are no places for people to hang out or to relax in the city. Movies or Cinemas are always considered to the most common source of entertainment. Sugit Mohanty, an employee, says, "There is no problem in opening Multiplexes, but the question is how feasible will it be in terms of profit? When a big film is released it hardly manages to be houseful for two or three days. As piracy rules the market one would get CD/DVD the next day itself. Then who will pay 100-120 rupees to go for a movie to Multiplex?"

Multiplexes can bring about an increase in the sales of film tickets and hence increased revenure for the marketers and the producers, who don't usually make much in the twin cities. The concept of multiplex can bring about a great change in the marketing of films. Even people would like to watch the movies in Multiplexes. Prasanta Nanda, producer, says, "People would like to watch an Oriya movie at an Oriya place with Oriya flavor. Many directors have created many films but have failed in creating the atmosphere of watching a serious movie in a serious atmosphere but multiplex will bring that change in atmosphere and that is bound to bring in change in quality of films also."

People need some source of entertainment after a hectic and busy schedule. The twin cities lack places to hangout. The youngsters think that as the twin cities are becoming metros there should be multiplexes as well. They think that this would solve the problem of lack of entertainment to a great extent. Even the college-going students think that the idea of bringing Multiplex into the twin cities would be good. Soven Mohanty, a student says, "We don't have proper places to hang-out. Multiplex to an extent will solve the problem of entertainment."

The crowds in the city want to watch movies in a nice environment and also are very much concerned about the security and safety of their family and girlfriends. Rishav Nanda, a business man, says "Multiplex will surely segregate the elite and the non-elite classes." So he thinks the security would be higher.

The cities lacked FM stations but now three channels have come up in a span of one year and more stations are expected to be starting their FM relay centers here. The city is getting better and better with more infrastructures and Multiplex would add on to the growth of the city.

Wanted: Night Life!

There has been drastic growth in the socio economic side of the Bhubaneshwar and Cuttack. The mining and IT industry is booming. Due to growth in these two industries there has been surge in the cosmopolitan crowd in the twin cities which is very different from the olden times.

There were no Hindi speaking people earlier, but now one can find people who speak Hindi fluently. This clearly indicates that people from all parts of the country are now settling down in the Bhubaneshwar.But the people who are settled here belong to the business class not the working class. The reason behind this is the lack of night life in the capital.

Whenever you feel like dancing, you cannot go anywhere as the city lacks pubs and bars and the so-called night life. The city doesn't even have a discotheque to enhance its night life. The night end at 11, before it even starts. The streets are deserted and all hotels close down by 11. Most of the IT graduates are in their mid-twenties, and they spend their days slogging and trying to earn a good salary. They like to spend their money in having some fun. But they cannot think of any great entertainment as the city lacks good night life. Only during special occasions like the New Year, hotels and restaurants open up during the night and there are parties; and one can find some people on the roads.

People in the twin cities don't believe in the concept of partying at night, which is yet again the usual trend in metro cities like Delhi and Mumbai. People out there believe in the trend of going out to pubs and discos. The usual time for the night life to start in these cities is around 11 and it finishes late in the morning. People usually prefer to go on a night-out only on weekends or in their holidays when they are free from their work. But one cannot find even one shop open at night in the city.

Rishav Nanda, a business man, says "Having pubs, discos and multiplexes will bring an increase in the economy of the state".

With more and more youth coming into the city, night life should also get a boost. The youth need a healthy night life, but the city cannot cater to this need. There aren't even places for young people to hang out says Plaban Patra, software professional. He also says "Definitely, they should improve the night life but not as much as in Mumbai. Pubs and discos should be opened with certain restrictions, proper security and proper vigilance."