Greeting cards are people's main choice to convey best wishes to their loved ones far away, and these tokens of love and care have been selling like hot cakes in Al Ain for 10 days.
A large variety of colourful greeting cards flooded market shelves as vendors yesterday reported a jump in sales due to Eid Al Adha.
Eid is considered one of the biggest occasions for card buying in the UAE, following Christmas, Valentine's Day and certain special occasions such as birthdays and wedding anniversaries.
Vanud Kumar, a salesman at a card shop, said: "Sending greetings through cards on special occasions is basically a western tradition, however it has gained worldwide and cross-culture popularity for the last several decades."
The birth of electronic greeting cards has added a new dimension to conveying feelings on special occasions in a more personalised way - but a majority of people are still using paper cards, he said.
The retailer reported that most cards available in the UAE are imported from the United Kingdom, the U.S., Canada, Pakistan, India, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, and Italy. Cards printed by some local firms in Dubai and Sharjah are also available.
Mustafa Jaleel, another card seller in Al Ain, said that expatriates are the main customers, as they are the ones who miss their families and friends on big occasions like Eid Al Adha and Eid Al Fitr.
He said that Bangladeshi, Egyptians, Indian, Pakistani, and Sudanese normally buy less expensive but attractively designed cards. Many of them prefer the cards that carry the pictures of holy places like mosques, or inscribed with the verses of the Holy Quran.
Nasreen Tariq, an Indian Muslim housewife who was buying cards, said that sending a card is the best way to convey greetings and wishes to loved ones. "It's a nice worldwide tradition for special occasion like Eid, birthdays, New Year's Eve, Diwali and wedding anniversaries," she added.
Women customers are always more careful in the selection of greeting cards. They always pick a card very carefully with a lot of emphasis on the design, colour scheme, and the printed matter. They usually spend more time than men in the selection.
Nasreen said that she had sent around a dozen cards to relatives back home. "I believe that they are expecting greeting cards from me as they have already sent theirs," she added.
Ameena Tariq, a teenage daughter of Nasreen, said that she had also sent many electronic cards to her friends who have computers and Internet access.
"I am now buying cards for those who don't have a computer. I know it's late to send a card now, but at least my greetings would reach them even a few days or a week after the Eid," she said, adding that her friends would know that she had not forgotten them.
Gulf News 2003
