Eid card sellers mourn loss of sales

The increasing use of text messages to send holiday greetings instead of traditional cards has caused a decline.

LAHORE: Muhammad Irfan runs a printing press in one of the busiest streets in Lahore’s Urdu Bazaar. He prints different cards including Eid cards, but technology has changed many things for Irfan.

The increase in people using text messages to send holiday greetings instead of traditional cards has caused a decline in Irfan’s profits. But Irfan believes there are other factors. “We don’t have many celebrities whose pictures on Eid cards sell like hot cakes. These cards are not expensive to buy but we don’t have many choices. We only have a few faces whose photos we can use on Eid cards,” he explains.

Eid cards with photos of Pakistani celebrities once used to sell in the hundreds. “I remember a time when there was no match for cards bearing photographs of Sultan Rahi. People not only used to buy cards with his photos but also kept cards of him with different poses for their personal collection. Cards with photos of Babra Sharif and later on, Reema, were in great demand. Now we haven’t used any new face in years. Cards with photos of Reema, Meera and Shaan sell but in very few numbers,” he said.

When asked which celebrity’s face ‘sold’ the most, Irfan said, “Shah Rukh Khan is the most popular star when it comes to buying Eid cards. Katrina Kaif is also very popular and so are Aamir and Salman Khan.”

Javed Khan, a wholesale dealer of Eid cards, says that business has been slashed by up to 50 per cent. “Now people send text messages or e-cards instead of regular Eid cards.

There was a time when people would start visiting stalls selling Eid cards in the second week of Ramazan. But now there isn’t any excitement among buyers,” he explains.

“Cards with photographs of celebrities were very popular among kids and young students in the past. But now photographs of Indian stars are preferred.

We often have to print such cards on Eid. Sometimes we print cards of such celebrities who wouldn’t even have celebrated Eid as this is an Islamic occasion,” he added.

Hamza Ahmad, who sells Eid cards in his shop in Ramazan, said that so far business was down.

“You can roam around the city and you wouldn’t find many Eid card stalls. There was a time when you would find an Eid card stall at corner of every bazaar and street. The trend has changed,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 27^th, 2010.