The ongoing marriage season coupled with the fervour of the election campaign is making for double incomes for firecracker merchants, floral decorators and musical bands and owners of convention halls and horse-drawn buggies."The business for flower vendors has doubled, as the marriage season is the high point every year for us, but with elections, sales have double and even tripled," Pankaj Dhariwal from the well-known Phool Mandi (Flower Market) of Daryaganj, told IANS.According to Dhariwal, whose operational area stretches from old Delhi's Sadar Bazar to Dariba Kalan, every vendor is either busy cleaning out his inventory or ordering new goods sensing more business.
Political parties, which organise rallies and attract potential voters with free food and music, have also roped in top flight event managers to organise rallies and sittings - and the trend is growing as even some major players have entered the fray."Business is business in whichever form it comes and these days political parties want the perfect show for their big leaders," said a corporate event manager based in Mumbai.However, without sweets and a full stomach, neither will democracy nor the marriage invites dance, said Madan Sharan, a famous "halwai" (traditional cook) in central Delhi's Bengali Market area.
"If it's a rally, the favourites are yellow moong dal ke ladoo or simple ladoos, while a simple thali comprises halva (a dense sweet confection) and aloo puries. Between 5,000 and 20,000 pieces or plates are ordered. These are generally very low budget orders and quality has to be maintained.As for marriages, they can nowadays have anything from continental to high-end Indian cuisine," Sharan noted.With so much effort being made to either get elected to parliament or hooked to the better-half of one's life, fire crackers are adding light and sound at every nook and corner in the city.Seeing the night sky light up as a marriage procession or an election rally proceeds is music to the ears of old Delhi's firecracker sellers from Sadar Bazar, who have seen a doubling of orders."Marriages and elections are adding to our sales this season. But it is hard to distinguish where the crackers are actually being used," Roop Kishore Srivastava of the 175-year-old Royal Fireworks firm told IANS.
Not too far behind are the "bandwallahs", never mind if their uniforms seem more fit for a fancy dress contest or their music is unnecessarily loud and repititive - and often out of tune."Elections or no elections, these days all the famous Bollywood songs are inter-twined with marriages and political rallies and people can be seen really enjoying the processions. Recently (BJP president) Rajnath Singhji's nomination procession had our band playing songs," said Ramchander Baggiwale (Buggy provider) from Lucknow.And there are the good old priests who are also playing a major role in providing celestial advice to both electoral contestants and ones who are tying their love-bonds."The year 2014 is of transition for many souls and the nation, as Sant Kabir Das said, 'Dhai akshar prem ka padhe so pundit hoy' (He who speaks a few kind words is a pandit). Those who are able to do that will win over their electorate or loved one and will definitely be successful," said a priest from Varanasi.
Seeing all this, even foreign tourists can't resist joining in.Pradeep Singh, a New Delhi-based guide who operates tours for various nationalities from the national capital to Agra, says that nowadays tourists are more interested in seeing election rallies or marriage processions as they just "love the colour, music and fervour of the celebrations"."Songs, dances, huge crowds and people in traditional clothes are confusing tourists about the event. They either think it's a marriage or a political procession. Whatever may be their rationale, they are really enjoying the atmosphere," said another guide who was accompanying a group of Korean tourists to Agra.