Festivities & Celebrations in India Slowly Return to Normal After Two Years of Pandemic

The 9-day Navratri celebrations conclude with the Dussehra festival, which celebrates the victory of Lord Rama over the devil Ravana -- the victory of good over evil. In this regard, Ramleela, a dramatic folk re-enactment of the life of Lord Rama according to the ancient Hindu epic Ramayana, is organized at various places across the country.

While Dussehra primarily marks the end of Navratri, it also marks the beginning of Diwali fervor in India.

Diwali, or the “festival of lights”, is celebrated with much funfare to signify the return of Lord Rama along with Goddess Sita and his brother Lakshman to Ayodhya after killing Ravana. Notably, Lord Rama was sent into exile by his father King Dashrath at the behest of one of his queens.

However, the recent celebrations were marred by the pandemic-induced lockdown, when mass gatherings were not allowed. However, this autumn, with the situation under control, life in India seems to be getting back to normal, as Ramleela functions and fairs organized across the country are attracting large crowds of people.

Impact of Pandemic Slowing Down

In an interview with Sputnik, the president of Ayodhya ki Ramleela Subhash Malik (known as Bobby Malik) said that due to COVID protocols, they had to telecast shows online on various social media platforms, like YouTube and some television channels of the national broadcaster Doordarshan (DD).

“The period of pandemic was extremely difficult for every one of us. As an organizer of Ramleela, we faced too many challenges, especially financial challenges. The cost of organizing the first Ramleela function in Ayodhya was around INR 30 million ($368,384) while we got only 10-15 percent of our funding from sponsors,” Malik said.

He explained that the sponsors were not ready to shell out the money, because there was no crowd, but now, as people are coming, the sponsors have also shown an interest.

Meanwhile, the Joint Secretary of the Shri Ramleela Committee in Greater Noida, Saurabh Bansal told Sputnik that the pandemic drove up the cost of organizing the events.

“Labor costs along with the cost of other materials increased after COVID due to which the total cost of the event has increased by 10-15 percent. However, we managed somehow as all our volunteers reached out to a lot of sponsors. Earlier we used to take sponsorship from big players but now we have tapped small sponsors but increased the number,” Bansal stated.

Speaking about the challenges the artists performing at Ramleela functions face, Vikram Taneja, an artist who is currently playing the role of Ravana in Shri Dharmik Ramleela in the Chirag Delhi area of the national capital, told Sputnik that they were under a lot of stress due to cancellations during the lockdown.

“Most of the artists who perform at various Ramleela functions participate because of their passion and interest instead of monetary benefit. A break of almost a month (as acting requires practice too) from monotonous daily routine helps them in rejuvenating but during COVID they didn’t get any such chance,” Taneja said.

As far as financial issues are concerned, he said that it was more for those who were totally dependent on income from decoration, lighting and other things, because not only Ramleela but other large-scale functions like marriages and big birthday celebrations were also not happening.

"So, this will bring a relief for such people too," Taneja stated.

However, he believes that now, COVID-19 has subdued and people are coming back to the fairs, even suggesting that the numbers of Ramleela functions have increased this year.

Market Decked Up, Shopkeepers Ready for Festivals

With Indians in a festive move, people working at local markets have already decked up and decorated for the occasion. The shopkeepers are extremely hopeful about good sales during the festival season as the crowd has flooded the streets and people are on a buying spree.

Ram Nivas Sharma, a garment shop owner in Noida, a city in Uttar Pradesh, told Sputnik: “For the first time in two years, it seems that we are going to celebrate some festival. Two tragic years of the pandemic had marred all the celebrations and we were forced to keep our shops shut due to lockdown.”

Sharma further stated that he once felt that he should close his shop and look for some alternative work. However, excited by the footfall of the customers, he believes that the impact of COVID-19 is no more relevant and his business will soon get back to the pre-pandemic revenues.

On the other hand, Nitesh Tayal who runs an electric appliance and electricity material shops feels that after two years of pandemic, people have come out to shop for the festival, which is really good, but inflation is still a big concern.

“Reaching back to pre-COVID business level seems a bit difficult because the shopping trend has been affected by inflation. Even the margin of profit has gone down because the material which was cheaper earlier has become costlier and we can’t put the load on customers so we are selling goods at nominal price,” Tayal stated.