Date:22/09/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/09/22/stories/2006092210550200.htm

New Delhi

A Diwali gift for shoppers

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: Making shopping an event to remember, over 1,200 retail outlets, more than 10 malls, 12 major markets, 700 Residents' Welfare Associations and over 200 schools and corporates across the city are participating in the first ever "Delhi Diwali Shopping Festival", also called DDSF-2006, which took off in the Capital on Thursday.

Present on the occasion were fashion photographer Rahul Dutta, choreographer Ajay Bisht and hair expert Samantha Kochhar. The month-long festival will be celebrated from September 21 to October 20 at various venues across the Capital.

DDSF-2006 organiser Deep Bajaj explains: "The primary idea is to get people here together in a harmonious, festive spirit. This year we are looking at building recall value for the event and it is also aimed at attracting non-resident Indians who visit Delhi just before Diwali.''

According to the organisers, DDSF-2006 is the first ever mega Diwali shopping festival of a global stature to be held in the city. The event brings to the Capital a month-long shopping celebration in which the city will reinvent itself into one giant shopping canopy of an impressive number of themed malls.