With everyone moving towards the DIY lifestyle, there’s no reason why poojas and festive rituals too shouldn’t opt for a hassle-free route. The health pandemic has definitely made it harder for people to source particular ingredients for annual festivities be it Teej, Navratri, Diwali, or even wedding-oriented rituals. Homegrown labels like Jaipur-based brand Arpann are offering a do-it-yourself solution to this situation. The brand was started a few months ago by three friends and their ready-to-use puja kits are already a rage among desi millennials.
“We are planning wedding kits now with the shaadi season approaching. We just got done with our Diwali kits. These festivals are such an integral part of our lives, and they involve everyone be it youngsters or the older generation. Sometimes the pooja ingredients or hampers we find in the market is too elaborate, so our easy, ready-to-use kits are designed to make things simpler since they are a complete package featuring some major essentials we need during rituals and poojas,” says Vineeta Somani, who founded the label along with Seema Saboo and Dipti Rathi.
Arpann was conceived as a way of bringing the millennial generation closer to traditions and rituals, to help them stay connected to the nuances of their culture. For youngsters who are away from home or for people trying to acquire specific necessities for conducting poojas at home, Arpann can be a one-stop solution and their well-designed kits could not have come at a better time, especially since almost everyone is opting for a more intimate approach amid the pandemic. Each kit made by Arpann is curated depending on the occasion at hand and is really detailed. The Ganesh Chaturthi kits, for instance, featured everything from Mawa and Chocolate Modaks, Itra, Roli kumkum, diyas, Panchamrit kit, mehendi, decorations and the idol.
“The idea for Arpann came to us through our children, through our daughters who are living away from us, but are at times not too clear on how to go about the rituals. This made us think there must be other youngsters who are in the same situation who don’t know what they need for poojas. Amid a shutdown especially, it can be hard to source essentials,” Vineeta tells us. Millennials would also love how Arpann is going the ethically conscious way with their eco-friendly clay ganesh idols which were recently made available for Ganesh Chaturthi, which were made without any artificial dyes so as to avoid water contamination upon immersion.
“We were so surprised that people from all ages have found our kits to be so useful. One of our first customers was an elderly woman who was really happy with the packaging, curation and styling of our kits, plus the kits are customisable. In Diwali we are also specialising in certain gifts and silver trinkets, which can be added. There are people in the US who have loved our kits, there was another young customer who lives overseas and didn’t know where she could get essentials like sattu etc, but our kits helped her out,” we are told.
For orders, call: 9829558585