Diwali 2020: Why Diwali shopping became a sacred ritual this year

At a time when everything about the future seems uncertain, there are few things as comforting as

nostalgia

— an emotion as sweet as cotton candy, filling you with a warmth and yearning that’s comforting and cathartic all at once. And thanks to the lockdown that kept us away from malls, sales, and a whole lot of needless online

shopping

for the better part of 2020, the whole experience of heading out for Diwali shopping this year has become like a nostalgic walk down memory lane, say

millennials

, who are left reminiscing the simple joys of childhood back in the 80s-90s.

“While growing up, the new

clothes

we got for Diwali were so special, ’cos it was the last festival of the year and ergo, the last chance that year to get new stuff. That Diwali outfit would then be

repurposed

again and again as

wedding

wear, special outing wear, ‘

party

’ wear... We’d have to wait until Sankranti next year without getting any new clothes in between, so that would make us cherish these clothes even more. The pandemic has brought back that feeling since we were forced to stay away from shopping for a good six months at the least,” says Aniket Bangre, an event manager from Hyderabad.

When you look at it like that, the 80s and 90s seem like a different era altogether. It was a time when everything was accounted for — where you spent your money, how many minutes you spoke on the telephone, how many times you used the dial-up to connect to the internet and of course, how many sets of clothes you got per year. So, apart from all the

mithai

and good food, festivals also meant the mandatory new clothes. There would be that one shop in your neighbourhood that your ammamma or nanamma would take you along to, to buy you one dress per festival.

Birthdays, of course, were the only exception. It’s because of this that every piece of clothing you owned had a meaning; had a story behind it, reckons Dr Nandita Kaviti, a medico-cum-model from Vizag. “Spending time at home this lockdown has made me fall in love with heirloom pieces in mom’s wardrobe. Buying clothes without much thought has been the norm for me, but browsing through my mom’s collection of gorgeous pattu sarees has made me appreciate conscious shopping. She would lovingly caress each piece as she narrated the story behind how she got it and the special memories associated with it. How many of can say every item in our wardrobe has a story behind it?,” she wonders.

All this time for reflection has made Diwali shopping a wee bit more sacred for many. The memory of older folk insisting we wear only new clothes on festival day, blessing those clothes with a tiny pasupu bottu to bring good luck before we slipped into them... it’s little rituals like these that made Diwali, or any other festival, special. And actor Ramya Pasupuleti of Hushaaru fame sees that coming back into her life. “For the past few years, I’ve been making do with langa vonis and saris I already have, just so I don’t have to buy another set of traditional clothes that I won’t wear again. Still, amma would insist I buy a new dress so she can put pasupu bottu on it. This year, I’ve not shopped at all, so I thought let me do it her way. I ordered them online, but we made it special by letting amma choose my clothes like she did when I was a child.”

Preethi Singh, a student of NIFT, too admits Diwali shopping was an emotional experience this year. “When I was a child, my mom would insist on me wearing only breathable fabrics while bursting crackers instead of synthetic ones. So to hear her insist the same this year when I went shopping almost made me well up,” she says.