This, despite the fact that what the annual exercise has become – at a time when policies aren’t announced on one special day and are spread out (some say, tactically) over the year as the need befits – is a vestigial show, much like Beating Retreat or Dussehra, minus the festivities. The fun and frolic is kept out for a reason: the budget’s USP is its seriosity.
One can try out the same experiment by picking a particular day each month where family members gather around the matriarch who holds the household purse-strings, while a plan of expenditure over the next 30/31 days and expenses made the last 30/31 days are made by her.
While there may be initial resistance to this monthly ritual, with the right bells and whistles and local RWA social media support, it can take on a life of its own. Veggies will be accounted for, appliances will be bought in EMIs, tuition fees tucked away… the works. But with a new seriosity that’ll prevail beyond any utilitarian purpose apart from the show of it.
