Last year, my inexperience led me to scour the markets for golu dolls right at the peak of navarathri season, at the very last possible minute. This led to many desirable items already having been sold out, and the prices being high for remaining stock as well. (I clearly remember missing out on a beautiful Guruvayurappan idol, among other things. ) Also, I couldn’t source from multiple locations and had to get my dolls locally.
This year, partly from excitement and partly from cold, hard reasoning (read warm, tingly enthusiasm), I decided to plan and shop early. As it turned out, I am shopping really, really early.
The downside of this is that many varieties especially new sets of the season have not come to online or offline shops at all. But that didn’t matter much to me, as I had only a very beginner collection last year, and staples in most houses were yet to be procured by me.
Therefore I set out to take advantage of the off season lull, and sate my desire for more dolls by getting some of the traditional sets and individual dolls. This included the Krishna sets described in the previous post for my son, as well as my own choices like the Karthigai Pengal set that I missed last time, a stellar Ashtalingam set, very beautiful Sapthamathika set, a rather unique small Nagapooja set, an adorable balahanuman, an elaborate Sreenivasa Padmavathi kalyanam set, etc.
I really am the last person qualified to advise anyone on good shopping habits, as my instinctive style is simply to buy lots and buy often (I dread the moment when my family reads this and the memories it is bound to awaken :p ). That said, I have found a few things out during my purchases.
The first is, there is so much variety out there. We don’t really have to “make do” with dolls that we aren’t sure about, as there is a large selection of sellers willing to ship anywhere.
The second is, we get remarkably good service when we buy online. There are contact numbers for talking in person before purchase, and most are willing to send pictures by Whatsapp or messenger so we can choose our dolls even beyond what is available on the website. The shipping is timely and some stores offer exceptional packaging, and others offer decent packaging and refund / replacement is guaranteed if our dolls are damaged in transit.
Thirdly, I found that a lot of customisation is possible in some cases, especially with handmade dolls. We can talk to the artist and choose our own colours of clothing, jewellery, etc., for our dolls.
Fourthly, the act of even picking out an idol for golu is a spiritual experience. I feel connected to God, and somehow feel that each idol that makes its way to me was meant for me and me alone, and God has blessed me by choosing to grace my humble golu with his image and presence. It is not like buying anything else. We feel a deep bond with the doll, and instant Bhakti when we see it. There is indeed magic in the life and divinity breathed into raw materials by the artists who shape them into idols!
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