Come New Year and people
start thinking of making resolutions to be broken later. Till a few years back,
New Year also used to bring another kind of expectations in the public.
Expectations of, collecting New Year Calendars, Diaries and small gifts like
key chain, pen, leather purse, fancy bags etc. from shops and Banks.
A fortnight before the New
Year, Bank account holders used to visit the bank branches just to enquire whether
New Year calendars have come or not. Senior citizens used to be very particular
to get them first. It was a matter of right to get such compliments.
Distribution of such compliments used to be a herculean task for bankers as the
supply used to be limited and demand for them hundred folds. Staff members
themselves used to lay hands on the chunk of the supply leaving very little for
others. It used to be a balancing act for the Branch Manager to please as many
customers as possible keeping in view their connections & deposit in their
branch. Still, there always used to be more grumbling lot then the happier
ones. Senior citizens who are left out used to fight threatening the branch
people to withdraw their deposits with the bank! It was difficult to convince them
as to how a branch with 1000 accounts can manage with supply of just 100
calendars & 25 diaries! Staff in turn used to look up to their corporate
clients for beautiful 12 sheet calendars, sweet box and other compliments.
Such expectations were not
confined to banks alone. People from all walk of life while going for shopping
invariably used to ask for calendars or compliments at the billing counter.
Those days, shopkeepers used to keep many such gifts handy beneath their
counters for distribution to discreet customers. Getting a calendar or gift
used to like was like winning a lottery!
With the tight economic
conditions and rising cost, most of the banks and shops have done away with
this practice of distributing calendars or compliments. In fact, one has to pay
even for a carry bag while shopping. Also, the practice of hanging calendars in
drawing room is gradually fading away. Thanks to features like calendar/to do
list/notes etc. in mobile phones, the calendars too are becoming extinct. Now
these are used only to see some auspicious day for religious function or
marking attendance of housemaid, supply of milk & newspapers. The charm and
enthusiasm of collecting more and more number of calendars and diaries on New Year
is no more visible.
