Sadness

Is it just me who is feeling this or was this a very sad and bleek Diwali? Yes, there were sweets, there were new clothes, there were lights, but somehow the happiness and the festive feeling was not the same.

There is a sense of apprehesion among everybody regardless of the class they belonged to... People seemed to be doing the Diwali rituals just for the sake of it... the economy is not doing well and everyone is thinking twice about spending money. Even people with fixed incomes. People are thinking even about spending for minor things like flowers and diyas.

It really hit me when I was walking away after inquiring about the rangoli rates from a roadside vendor. I thought at Rs. 5/- per packet, the rates were high. But the mother of the rangoliwaali literally screamed saying that as it is sales were extremey bad and she was driving a potential customer away.

Not only moneywise, but generally there is a feeling that the feeling of euphoria that we were experiencing a few months ago shall be there for a long time now...no one seems to know when this shall last....

To add to this, news of layoffs, salary cuts is very very real. Companies have already started cutting salaries and mails have been sent to staff especially the new joinees that jobs too may be cut...no body seems to be speaking about anything else...

Who would have thought that just a couple of months the picture would change so much....

Personally for me, it was a very bad diwali. My best friends mother passed away suddenly and I was down with viral fever for the entire diwali week...Not that Im in a very festive mood during Diwali, and Im not very fond of the rituals, but all this added to the sense of disparity and sadness and melancholy...