Sparklers and small children: a parents’ guide
Age, length, clothing and the water bucket. Practical rules for a child’s first Deepavali sparklers.
How we check a batch before it is listed
Opening, counting, burning and timing: what happens to every new batch in our Sivakasi godown.
Every item on our list arrives in batches, and every box carries a batch number from the maker. Before a batch is listed for sale, we open a box from it and test it. This is the slowest part of our season, and the part we would never skip.
The batches arrive at our godown near Sivakasi from July onwards. Murugan, who has run the godown since 2019, picks one carton at random from each batch and opens a box from the middle of it. He checks the label first: maker, batch, formulation and the noise level we print. Then he counts the items. A box that says ten should hold ten.
The test burns happen on an open, swept patch of ground behind the godown, in the early morning when there is no wind. Sparklers are timed with a stopwatch. If a box of 30 cm sparklers is labelled 55 seconds and most burn for 40, we ask the maker about it. Fountains are measured against a pole marked in metres, and shot items are checked for count and duration.
We write every result into a register. A batch that fails gets returned or set aside, not discounted and sold. Roughly one batch in fifteen goes back each year, most often for burn times shorter than the box says. When customers ask how we know what is in each box, this register is the answer.
