Commercialising Friendship Bonds

"The best part of life is when your family becomes your friends, and your friends become your family." -- Danica Whitfield. Folklore says Indrani, wife of Indra, King of Hindu Gods, tied it on her husband's wrist to help him defeat demons. Folklore also says, even queen of Mewar Maharani Karmavati sent it to Mughal emperor Humayun so he could help and protect her from Governor Bahadur Shah who laid seige on her kingdom. Yet another says King Porous' wife tied it to the mighty Alexander so that a fierce battle could end in a treaty.

It's the mighty silk thread. The sacred talisman. The band of love and good wishes.

With time, the band moved on from battlefields to become a symbol of love between siblings, wherein sisters tie it to their brothers' wrists, wishing their welfare, on every first full moon day of the Sravan month of the Hindu calendar.

It has also become a symbol of friendship, with friends reaffirming their feelings for each other by tying the friendship band on the Friendship Day every first Sunday of August.

Now, the band has become a symbol of wealth generator for a host of businesses that have commercialised the two occasions, and are cashing in the sentiments. It's boom time for card and gift companies, florists, sweet shops and the like, especially this year, with the two occasions of Rakha Bandhan and Friendship Day occurring almost simultaneously in the first week of August.

What's more, with shrinking global boundaries, Friendship Day seems to be influencing and overriding the way Raksha Bandhan is observed and celebrated.For insstance, gone are the days school girls tied the traditional rakhi (silk band) to boys in their classes, or even the next door neighbours. Friendship bands have replaced the traditional knot of affection.

Friendship Day seems to be generating greater volumes of business than its traditional counterpart. But, the commercialisation and Westernisation of the tradition has only brought people closer, say retailers.

"Earlier, rakhis were made traditionally at home by sisters. Now, who has the time? It was a purely cottage industry. Now, companies are entering into it, so as to make it easily accessible and available to people," says A Sudhakar, proprietor of Greeting Corner in Secunderabad.

Greeting card companies and such businesses are only helping people get closer. People are becoming more sentimental and religious than earlier. The ads are only awakening and helping them express their feelings. It all ends only in spreading goodwill, so where's the harm, he asks.

The slow metamorphosis in Raksha Bandhan is only part of the greater metamorphosis in our lifestyles, that seem to be absorbing Western ways, he feels. Agrees Fida Ali, franchisee manager of Archies.

"The concept of giving is growing. The demand for cards and gifts has grown so tremendously that we have sold out the entire stock for Friendship Day and Raksha Bandhan, as soon as we brought it into the twin cities.

"Surprisingly, in Andhra Pradesh, as against the rest of the country, we have seen more sales of sister-related cards and gifts, than birthdays, which is otherwise the most popular category. We sell almost double sister-brother-relations cards than birthday category here, he says.

Archies has shipped in in 280 and 150 card designs for Friendship Day and Raksha Bandhan. Each design has a 100 packets with 6 cards each, priced in the range of Rs 15 to 70. In the bands/string category, it has brought in 128 rakhi designs of Rs 7 to 40, and 54 Friendship band designs ranging from Rs 10 to 45.Gifts too have seen tremendous growth, with a 20 to 25 per cent growth rate this season itself.

While average Archies galleries each do Rs 5,000 per day for gifts alone, this season it peaks to around Rs 8,000 per gallery, he adds.The company, which last week added three more galleries, has a marketshare of 60 per cent of the total cards market estimated at more than a crore rupees for the two occassions alone. In the bands/string category, it is hardly two to three per cent, says Ali. The rakhi market is valued at Rs 3 crores in the twin cities alone.

And with rakhis also becoming a fashion statement, without losing the sentimental value, the market in twin cities is only booming, says Ramlal Sanghi, proprieter of Ram-Shyam near Charminar, said to be the largest retailer of rakhis, mainly made of silk thread imported from Singapore and manufactured by small cottage industries mainly in Calcutta and Delhi. He claims to sells around 40,000 to 50,000 in a week alone, ranging from 50 paise to Rs 150.

Major hits among the rakhis are "Hello Brother," "Kaho Na Pyar Hai," "Bhai Banega Crorepati," designed after the popular TV shows, sitcoms and films. But, more and more retailers and manufacturers are coming out with novel rakhi ideas. Besides gold and silver rakhis manufactured by local jewellers and companies such as Tanishq, an online shopping site Hyderabadbazaar is offering to send pearl rakhis to NRI brothers residing abroad.

There are innumerable other Websites offering to send rakhi thalis, which are an integrated pack of rakhis, assorted sweetmeats, vermillion, flowers, etc., and also return gifts for sisters and friends, at nominal and not so nominal prices. But, people aren't complaining. "Ten years ago, there was nothing called friendship cards.

Now, people insist on expensive cards. The number of gifts they are purchasing, and average spend on gifts is also increasing by 15 to 20 per cent," says Sudhakar, who is doing a brisk sale of around a 2,200 cards and an equal number of rakhis and friendship bands, and around 200 to 300 gift items such as friendship quotations (wall hangings and desk pieces), perfumes and Parker and Pierre Cardin pens.

It's all part of the upgrade in lifestyle, feels Ramesh Ramchandani, proprieter of Mohini Agecies, a Hallmark distributor. "It's like women have upgraded from salwar kurtas to jeans to keep with the changing times.

But, talking of Western influence, where is the market currently? According to a recent Hallmark International study, an average Australian buys 14 cards a year, a European 26, and an Indian 0.5. We are still nowhere as compared with the West. We are still selling more burgers, Pepsis and pizzas, and jeans, than cards!" he adds.But, florist Shrikant Yadav of Orchids is more than delighted.

This season has meant boom time, with 50 to 60 per cent increase in sales. We do around Rs 40,000 to 50,000 in the season, as against an annual turnover of Rs 60 to 70 lakhs, with sisters routing rakhis and sweet boxes, along with flowers to brothers within the country and abroad, and friends exchanging flowers within the country and abroad. "About 10 to 15 per cent of sales are from abroad, and the flower segment is only growing 200 per cent per annum here," says Yadav. Gift stores too are gaga over the increasing spend.

P Venkat Prasad, store manager of Walden says gifts such as chocolates, Chinese dolls, laughing Buddhas, friendship items and inspirational books are doing well, 50 to 70 per cent more this season. "People are becoming more creative when it comes to spending. They are demanding more novelty in gifts and willing to splurge," he adds.