Ho Ho Ho, its that time of the year, for taking fallen trees from the cyclone(Nivar puyal) and using them as Christmas trees in the malls, going to Marina on bike and wishing Happy New year and spraying coronavirus while screaming and finally getting OC plum cake from friend expecting foreign rum when they actually use local sarakku.
For people who actually celebrate Christmas its also the season to look forward to all the gifts from Santa. My memories of Santa are restricted though, to baby me groping the man dressed as Santa in Spencers Plaza.
Since I have never received a great deal of gifts in my life, I usually get jealous around Christmas time, so for losers like me the annual EPS Pongal parisu is a saving grace.
I really love the effort and aesthetic (thunni pai with Amma sticker) gone into the whole Pongal goodie bag and its worthy of an unboxing video.
For those who haven’t seen it, the bag has a DIY Pongal kit, a sugar cane yumm, ek veshti, ek saree and freshly minted Gandhi thathas, suffice to say there’s lot to chew on.
TN government really pampers us don’t they, outdoing even corporate company hampers. But each time the Pongal parisu announcement happens there is a lot of flak and parties stir the political pot, and we get overflowing drama. (okay i will stop the puns)
The problem people have with the Pongal bonanza is the money doled out along with it. Usually the amount is 1000 roobees but this time since our economy is looking verryyy brigghtt, EPS has announced to give out 2500 roobees!
The annual money gift is partially an economic massage to the citizens and now especially so, to please voters ahead of 2021 election. I think this time though, people might actually have a need for money. Economists say we are past any financial crisis caused by corona but provide proof for that by asking us to look at stock markets(equivalent to saying look at crowds now on Ranganathan Street, TNagar)
I already wrote a bit about how we should have done a recovery here and still believe we might need more direct stimulus packages and think the 2500 roobes can at least do a small bit to boost economy. Call me crazy but I think like the Pongal parisu we should experiment more frequent monetary injections (one for each festival, secular india yo) similar to an universal basic income to propel India to a more consumer led economy.
With economic divide widening such a scheme would be of great help to farmers and other unorganized sector workers if they have a steady stream of income and we do have the financial inroads(Jan Dhan accounts) to implement it. (read a good explainer about UBI here)
A UBI for TN or India might be a remote future so ipodhiku lets focus on the kaasu mazhai in hand. Remember to collect your gifts at your nearest ration shop and make plans on what you want to do with the money.
As for me my plans are simple, am splurging the kaasu on paal abishekam for Vijay-na and overpriced morning-show tickets for Master when it releases for Pongal.
