Akshaya Trithya - start something new.

A brilliant new scam by jewellers to get the gullible public flocking to them to buy jewellery,
goes by the name of Akshaya Trithya. For the past few years, jewellers have managed to
build an aura around this annual event and given it an auspicious image, going to the extent
of implying that it is lucky to invest in gold (in recent years they extended it to silver, platinum etc) on this day.

Now even banks (ICICI etc) have joined the bandwagon to sell their pure gold coins and bars
and advertise heavily during Akshaya Trithya. I would not be surprised if they soon add
stocks, mutual funds, real estate, cars, bikes etc to the list.

Some 4-5 years ago, no one had even heard of this supposedly important day in the Hindu calendar. If it was such an important day, how come we never heard of it till a few years ago ? So, what is this day all about ? I did a check on Google about this and got the following info :

Akshaya Tritya : (Jain) This day celebrates the day when Lord Rishabha broke his first year-long fast by drinking sugar cane juice. To begin anything new is considered very auspicious on this day.

So, basically it is just about starting something new and not really about stocking up so much
gold resulting in a shortage in other parts of the world. :-)

We Indians (atleast the 50% that are women and some of the men too) are anyway gold
crazy and don’t really require any special day to go gold shopping. If you have a doubt,
checkout the crowds in any jewellery shop in Kerala or TN. Inspite of this, there might
be some periods of the year when sales lag and some bright guy (of World Gold Council)
came up with this whole Akshaya Trithya story. And to avoid you inconvenience / disappointment, they even take orders much in advance of Akshaya Trithya and let you
collect the gold on the big day. How about that for customer service ?

Buying / selling jewellery is anyway a big scam with the jewellers adding overheads
(wastage, craftmanship etc) when we buy and deducting the same or more when we
sell to them. To sum up, we get a bad deal either way.

In short, base your gold buying decisions on need and not on the basis of advertising spins.

If you really want to start something new, how about starting that exercise regime you
have had in mind for years. Or a visit to the local orphanage to spend some time with the
kids there and maybe even do a small donation. Or funding the education of a less
priveleged youngster in your neighbourhood. Or setting up a local Exnora to keep your neighborhood clean.

Lots of ways to make a clean beginning. Just the will is required.