Bring home a 'Funny Bunny' this Diwali

HYDERABAD: This Diwali, 'Funny Bunny' would be competing with 'Cool Chicks' even as 'Chilli Fist' would try hard to steal the thunder of 'Sweet 16'. Well, rockets, bombs and sparklers by these names are being busily stacked at cracker stores coming up in the twin cities for Diwali who say the funnier the name, the better the sales.
So, rockets named 'Dogfight' promise to pack in more punch than the staid 'Golden Cinderella'.And keeping 'Cool Chics' company is a 'Hot Chic' even as a certain 'Baby Doll' sparkler is vying for space in a cracker shop in Mahankali Street, the hub of cracker shops in Secunderabad. Other crackling names include 'Maska Chaska' and a self complimentary 'Badhiya hai' if not the more inane 'Rang Barsaat' or 'Akash Mallika'. Bombs are sporting alliterated names such as 'Cotton Canny' or box office-influenced 'Hit-pe-hit'.
If the names do not reveal the exact contents inside, shopkeepers say that is never the idea in any case. "The idea is to give catchy, funky and stylish names. Over the years, these names have moved beyond the traditional ones like 'Akash Ganga' or 'Star City' and are getting interesting every year," says a shopkeeper.
"Popular names help raise the sale of the items. The firecrackers branded with popular names catch the fancy of the customers," says Mukesh Tippani of a wholesale cracker trading company in Secunderabad. "Besides, spotting a Pokemon or Rock the Wrestler on the cover of the box is reason enough for children to buy that cracker. Some do not even bother what's inside, as they probably think that a box with their hero on the cover must contain a rocking cracker," smiles Vikhyat Jonnada of another cracker store in Secunderabad. Not only names, pictures on the box covers have also graduated from sari-clad beauties or small kids holding the crackers in their hand to Aishwarya Rai and Mallika Sherawat doing the honours.
While actors have always failed to make it to the covers of crackers, Harry Potter has managed to find space on many boxes with his wand replaced by a phuljhadi. But while 10-year-old Kashyap Singh seems happy with his purchase of Spiderman rockets, some parents are objecting to some names.
"What is the point of naming them as 'Hot Chics' or 'Miya Biwi'," asks P Venkatesh, father of a 12-year old. Well, as they say, 'What's in a name'.