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Everything has changed when it comes to business of selling puja ingredients: Shopkeeper

Near Mumbadevi temple in Mumbai's Bhuleshwar area, one can see lots of shops all decorated selling products that are normally used in a Puja during Diwali.

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Shops selling ritual material near Mumbadevi temple in Mumbai’s Bhulleshwar area ahead of Diwali
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Talk about Diwali and the first thing that comes to the minds of everyone is loads of sweets, fire crackers and lights. However, there's an important aspect that it is the Laxmi Pujan that is performed on the first day of Diwali. The prayers which is performed in every house still exists, but traders and shopkeepers who have been dealing in products related to the Puja have a sad story to narrate, they claim business of selling stuff related to puja is on a decline.

Near Mumbadevi temple in Mumbai's Bhuleshwar area, one can see lots of shops all decorated selling products that are normally used in a Puja during Diwali. One such more than 70-year old shop is run by Gopal Ramawat. His is like any other shop in the locality, but specializes in selling puja items. At the shop one will find huge boxes that can fool you to believe that they are ordinary sweet boxes. Ramawat holds one of them for us and explains these are not sweet boxes, but a puja box.

There are three types of such puja boxes available at the shops in the area. These boxes have ingredients that one will require to perform a puja during Diwali. The lowest is prized at Rs 100 and as the quantity and the number of ingredients increase the price of the box keeps on going upwards.

It is like at a restaurant serving you an a la carte, and also has a buffet menu. "To be honest, everything has changed when it comes to business of selling puja ingredients," says Ramawat, while filling small packets of one of the puja ingredient at his shop..

"Since computer came in, many stopped buying a lot of kumkum, chopdi (a book, that mostly traders use) earlier on almost all the pages would have the pious swastik or aum mark, for that people required a lot of kumkum. However, now a small quantity is bought, they put a tika on the computer or the laptop and some still take the chopdi and put kumkum over it, but mostly it is the computer," he said.

Shopkeepers are selling boxes because now, because people do not want to spend more, and also lavish pujas appear to be a matter of past. "Earlier we would sell stuff worth Rs 500-600, now they don't want it in so much of quantity, instead they would buy everything in smaller quantity and hence the boxes have come in," says Ramawat.

A few 100 meters away from Ramawat's shop is a shop near the footpath owned by Guruprasad Tiwari. Tiwari till 1982 use to own a paan shop, but later switched jobs after people advised him to shift to selling puja ingredients, puja thaalis, conch, rudrakshas, and many more items that people buy during Diwali and other pujas.

Holding a small idol of devi laxmi, Tiwari said, "Look at it, this is a brass idol, it costs more, earlier people would buy it but now, people want to go for cheaper idols of gods too. Business in the last few years has drastically changed. In 1990 I use to earn Rs 3,000-5000 per month, today it has gone up to Rs 15,000 per month, but still it is less in today's context. The main reason is people aren't buying ingredients for puja. The thaali at my shop normally meant for puja these days hardly finds takers, instead there are those compartmentalized thaalis, the fancy of people. Traditions are not followed as rigorously as they were followed till few years ago."

Even Ramawat, claims that the younger generation these days isn't too involved when it comes to following rituals and traditions, but he blames his generation for it. "We the older generation at home most of the time kept our younger generation away from the pujas and traditions and restricted only most of us to it. Who performs the puja at home the seniors, and most of the younger lot do not even participate." There are mostly 40 items that one require during the diwali puja but most shopkeepers say that not all are bought these days, even if bought then in very small quantities.

Apart from this, there are foreign invasions too, that has sort of taken over even this sections, while Ramawat says that the floating diyas, which were made by locals here, are now replaced with was diyas, incense sticks business is badly impacted and he claims many of his earlier suppliers have shut shops now. Tiwari says that the brass yantra used for puja earlier now instead are made of paper and laminated, "Spending capacity of people especially when it comes to buying puja ingredients has reduced. Look at this example, the idol that weren't sold below Rs 500 because of the quality people do not want to spend above Rs 100 for that," says Tiwari.

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