Black Friday!

Black Friday sale is the out of the ordinary incident that happened recently and what I & my friends were so zealous about, for days and days before it arrived. It’s with everyone’s habit in the US to look for deals when a need for some thing rises. And if Thanks Giving is nearby, then it’s put on hold until the day after Thanks Giving. This is because, it’s a tradition in US, the day after Thanks Giving all the retailers put their items on reduced sale price. Rather than saying it’s a tradition, it has been made a tradition, as Akshaya Thiridhiyai in India has become now. And this special (?!) day is called Black Friday. So, let me tell what Black Friday is, why this particular Friday falling after Thanks Giving called a Black Friday? In the US, holiday season starts after Thanks Giving (last Thursday of November) and ends with New Year. As shopping becomes intense for Deepavali in India, so do the holiday season here marks the time for shopping and all the retailers put their items on sale (?!), as though they were not for sale before (hehe). It doesn’t mean that way, but all or most of the items are priced lower than their original value and hence it becomes a good deal for the buyers. Hence, during the holiday season, people shop more and the retailers gain benefit. Until the season before the holidays the sale is not so good and the retailers might have a debt, which is specified as Red. And during the holiday season, the sale booms resulting in an increase in retailer’s earnings, thus making the shop Black, meaning retailers gain profit. This is how Day after Thanks Giving is now. Nevertheless, in older days this was handled a little differently, manufacturers who release a new product or a new version of a product want to give the customers a sample of their product before it actually gets released. So these products are priced lower than their original value; this has taken several turns & twists and has become a mandatory sale event for every retailer on this big day. There is also another saying to this Black Friday, which is actually a tribute to a person named Black, who died on a Friday after thanks giving. Visit this site for more information about him and how it turned around to be something different. http://thecitydesk.net/2006/11/21/why-its-called-black-friday/

Anyways, coming to the shopping and deal searching business that is happening now, almost every shop releases a circular of what they are gonna put on sale that particular day. Everyone who wants to purchase something at a good deal, go through this advertisement and select the shops they want to purchase. Though the items had already been published in the advertisement, shopping is not as easy as one may envisage. The shops will either have very few numbers on a particular sale item, or in some cases just one piece. Also the shops open at around 3 or 4 in the morning and to get into the shop to purchase the items one may need, people start gathering before the shop from around 12o’clock. Imagine the weather during November and how it would be at midnight; however no one seems to be bothered about the weather compared to what they want to purchase. When the shop is open, they rush in like anything and search the item they need, grab them. I’m not aware of what happened last 2 years, but this year there has been shooting and crashing in 2 places, just because people wanted to get into the shop. I feel very awkward about these happenings. This may be very common in places like US, where everyone holds a gun and shoot for no reason. Aren’t these people civilized? Just to get the items at lower prices, they have actually taken away the life of a person. This price of a human life is way up high for the items they buy. Will they be happy whenever they see or use the item they purchased? The invention of science and advancements in technology is actually making people abhorrent and they start being self oriented. Compared to the life our ancestors had, we are leading a dreadful life with all life saving equipments. I speculate, though we inculcate good habits to kids, how do they become indifferent when they are adults. Is it the society making them behave differently or the parents are not bringing up their children with good habits? The answer is simply both, since we the people make the society. I’m also of the opinion, it’s us the generation in the past couple of decades, who have lost some good values from our ancestors and hence so much hatred, violence, etc. Yes, without any vacillation I would like to take the blame, but I also feel like this generation has started realizing what they have lost and gained due to being self oriented. This has resulted in training their kids with good behavior and I hope these kids would help make a better future. To also ensure this happens, the parents of kids should spend QUALITY time with their kids, so they understand the value of LOVE, SHARE AND CARE. Kids brought up with love and care would never retaliate when something they need doesn’t happen. Let’s be obstinate in cultivating good values to our kids and make a superior world tomorrow.

PS: After all these explanations, I must say what I did on this great day. We(me & my friends) all gathered together to discuss about when and where to go; but ended up chit-chatting until 1o’clock in the morning, returned home without any plan, did some browsing of the deals till 2:30AM. Then, me the good soul woke Peter up at exactly 6o’clock and sent him to a shop to buy some items we needed. Finally, as a small help for the retailers from us, we ended up spending few hundred dollars :-D.