THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The celestial stars can take a night off this Deepavali. Every gaze at the night sky on the Deepavali eve is stopped midway by the splendid display of fireworks. A league of fancy rockets - ‘Star Light’, which produces a series of 250 explosions at one go; ‘Feather Pops’, which casts a rain of feathers soon after it bursts up in the sky; ‘Aurora Rockets’, that create a rain of parachutes in the sky and several other fireworks - turn the sky into a grand spectacle that steals the spotlight from the galactic stars at least for one night.
This year, rockets and other fancy fireworks like flower pots, sparklers and multi-colour candles are ruling the market, unlike the past, when deafening necklace crackers and jumbo bombs were the most sought-after items during the festival of lights. Fancy items that can be used indoors are also available in the market this season, aimed at the apartment dwellers who comprise a fair share of the city population.
Fancy items like ‘Ganga Jamuna’ (a kind of flower pot that erupts up to a height of only two feet), ‘Swastik Wheels’ (wheels that can rotate in both directions) and ‘Railway Signal’ (that produces streaks of light that resemble a railway signal) are all examples of such fireworks that can be used indoors and evidently they are in great demand too.
Most of customers are of the opinion that these fancy items are safe for their kids and that they do not invite the wrath of their neighbours, who cannot stand the loud noise of crackers. As if sensing the changing taste of the customers early, the retail dealers were also ready with an ample supply of fancy fireworks.
Meanwhile, a retail dealer of fireworks in the city, Santhosh, attributed the dull demand for crackers during this Deepavali to the boom in the sales of explosives, including necklace crackers and bombs, during the local body elections.
‘’The wholesale dealers sold huge quantities of high-decibel crackers to various political party workers during the local body elections. Cracker sales reached a high during the final day of the election campaign and also on the day when the results were announced,’’ he said. Santhosh also said that most of the retail dealers were not fortunate enough to capitalise on the election season since the authorities had not yet started issuing licences to them then. ‘’Finally, when we got the licences, enough stock was not available with the wholesalers. Besides, the production also was affected owing to the unseasonal rains that followed the elections,’’ he said.
trivandrum@expressbuzz.com