The maddest and the craziest time of the year, Diwali has arrived, but something is different, not as usual. The madness is not the same as it was last year, and the celebrations are less. The answer is written all over the 21 inch sets beaming stripes of fast moving lines with numbers along side green and red indicators and a serious female painted with more than required material speaking in a rather fast way, repeating the words "Market" and "Down" frequently.The markets are rolling down the slope of an illusionary slope created by the mad rush and greed of investors last year. The market is setting records of new depths as the fire ball is gulping down many people, as it rolls downhill. The investors have lost money, they are madly selling of their shares and henceforth pulling the fireball with an even more greater speed.
All this loss has directly hit the festival with the highest expenditure of India, Deepavali or Diwali. Many are buying less expensive gifts, some are selective in giving them and some have decided to not buy new clothes and other big stuff, like a car. Diwali every year increases the sales of refrigerators, Cars, Air-conditioners and other rather expensive stuff because of its auspicious time and good deals and discounts on offer. This time it is rather panicky and most big deals have been temporarily suspended. All sectors, from finance to the hospitality sector have been affected.
The fire crackers though are still bursting like the devil of autumn and the same old story can be read in the newspaper. This year too around 30 people lost their lives including 10 children. it seems some Indians are quite adamant to mend their lives. Anyways this devil of autumn will soon fade away into the chill of winter. It will be interesting to see the effect of market on Christmas and NewYear.