Too Early for Diwali Shopping – The Last Minute Heroes

Menfolk generally do not shop as much as women. As Diwali these days requires a lot of shopping – to source the clothes, food, decorations etc from malls and stores around town, women often take the lead in making most of the preparations. We covered in Part 1 and Part 2 of the ‘Too Early for Diwali Shopping’ series on how women plan all these trips in the 2 months preceding the celebration, and in this short article, we look at how menfolk too chip in to much of the excitement that ensues as the celebration draws closer.

The men’s contribution to Diwali shopping is never to be under-estimated. They are the expert navigators, best at finding the closest parking spot, great in turning those cramped lanes into parking space, great at helping with the purchases (and paying for them) and are the perfect advisers to turn to when selection and decision making becomes a little too tricky.

So, even though they are never really aware of what’s going into the car bonnet at the end of every shopping trip, we can credit them for all the successful trips we make, every year, without fail.

And men have their niche shopping segment too – the fireworks (we are of course talking about those small, harmless fire displays) and movie tickets (which can now be purchased online). In addition, most men have a great taste in style when it comes to accessorizing, and they can actually get some real shopping done, returning home with a pair of aviators, a new belt and maybe a statement cap. Sometimes, they go all the way to getting a brand new watch, for Diwali. The savvier ones of course can scale that style shopping to a latest pair of jeans, and this pair of jeans, will be worn everyday thereon.

The best thing is, all this shopping takes place in one single trip, probably within the last 48 hours before Diwali. Brilliant planning and immaculate execution? Maybe. Or just being cool. More like it.

And that more or less sums up menfolk’s participation in Diwali shopping. Interestingly, with more and more people shopping online, maybe we will all start shopping much differently and the men-women specialization we have now will change significantly. We will have to wait and see.

In the meantime, let’s just enjoy the festive mood. New cushion covers anyone?