A noiseless celebration in Capital

BHUBANESWAR: A noise-less Diwali is a rare occasion and Thursday was one such day in the State Capital, and many other parts of coastal Odisha, where the depression poured cold water on celebrations.
For teenagers, it was a new experience. Not many have seen the festival of lights, which is accompanied by loud noise of fire crackers, fall so silent.

“It was very peaceful, one can say, though a forced one. But it was my first silent Diwali of sorts,” says Swastik Routray, a Class XI student in the city. He just lit candles and diyas.
For 45-year-old Pravakar Das, it was the second such occasion after the Super Cyclone of 1999 when coastal Odisha was ravaged by natural calamity on October 29.
The Diwali on November 8 was a “dark day” as most of the fire cracker making units were shut. “Those engaged in the business were left almost homeless by the super cyclone while massive destruction of green canopy had dented any chance of getting raw materials for the manufacturers. Nature always has the last laugh,” Das, a businessman of Cuttack says.

With unintermittent rains lashing the City, people stayed away from buying crackers and instead chose to go with celebration of lights only.People turned to electric decorative lighting since continuous rains had affected quality of earthen lamps. However, frequent power cuts across the Capital City also hit the festivities.

However, the biggest losers were fire cracker retail vendors as prediction of heavy rains kept buyers away. Though sale on first two days had picked up, the rains came on Diwali eve and sale was low. On the D-day, the numbers just dropped.

Dilip Sahoo, who had stocked fire crackers worth about `1.5 lakh, said he was left with half the goods at the end of Thursday. “I have been in the business for the last five years and the profits are generally 100 per cent. Today, I could not sell half of what I had bought,” he said.