Akshaya Trithi

Yesterday, May 11th 2005, was the day of "Akshaya Trithiyai"(AT). Buying gold on this particular day would lead to heaps of gold right through the year - so goes a school of thought. In fact, the media managers were quite busy for the last 2 weeks creating a hype targeting the women folks. I felt that the hype was more pronounced this year. I was not aware that such an event existed, say, 5 years back.

If you ask me if I went for this "Gold rush", my response would be in the affirmative. I saw an eagerness in my mom when she asked me, 2 days earlier, what to get on the eve of AT. I got the cue and promptly took her to, you know it, TNagar - the hotspot in Chennai. The crowd was amazing, to say the least. Even the small jewellery shops were not spared. The stores were open as early as 5:30 in the morning and went on till 11pm in the night.

I just talked to one of the employees in one of the stores about his experience that day. It was already late evening. His voice dropped when he mentioned that he was working since morning and could go home only by midnight. He could not move anywhere and was surviving on biscuits/tea alone for the whole day. Poor folks. But then, who cares about them when there is a wave of people thronging the shops. The Gold business succeeded, for they made a sale of, hold your breathe, 100 crores (1 billion) in Chennai city alone on that particular day.

I am really wondering as to why the purchase has to be of gold only. Why not some other consumer durables or any other thing? In fact, the other retailers were also trying to woo people to buy their products on this day. There was this ad, trying vainly, "Why buy gold on Akshaya Trithiyai. Buy a mobile phone, instead'. I am sure he may not be laughing his way to the bank as the jewellers did.