e-commerce
Giant water gun truck rolls through Gurgaon for Holi
Instamart’s oversized blaster stunt sparks viral buzz ahead of festival; premium guns see rising demand.
MUMBAI: Gurgaon just got Holi’d early because when a truck carries a water gun the size of a small car, the only thing getting soaked is everyone’s attention. A massive, larger-than-life water blaster mounted on an Instamart truck turned heads and triggered phone cameras across parts of Gurgaon this week. The eye-catching installation, part of the quick-commerce platform’s festive build-up to Holi, mirrors the premium water guns available on its app and quickly went viral on Instagram and X, racking up millions of views in under 24 hours.
Commuters slowed to gawk, children pointed excitedly from pavements, and social media lit up with reactions. One user posted, “Gurgaon seriously isn’t for beginners. I spotted an Instamart truck carrying a massive water gun. It was like a pichkari that decided to go 10x for Holi.” Another wrote: “Every festival now comes with its own ‘Did you see this?’ moment. Today’s one for me was a giant water gun on a truck.”
The stunt taps into a noticeable shift in Holi shopping habits. What used to be a last-minute grab for basic plastic squirters has evolved into planned purchases of high-performance blasters and premium festive items. Instamart reports strong demand this season for brands like Spyra water blasters, NERF Super Soakers, Police Gatlin Single-Barrel Water Guns, and Toyshine Electric Water Guns, alongside edible gulaal, natural colours, UV colours, phool gulal, organic options, body paints, aftercare products, sweets, flowers, and curated colour hampers.
Last Holi, the platform saw a 5x spike in flower sales year-on-year and rising interest in premium assortments. This year’s festive range positions Instamart as a one-stop destination for experiential Holi prep, with the giant blaster stunt serving as a rolling reminder that the festival of colours is going bigger, bolder and starting earlier.
In a city where traffic already feels chaotic, one oversized water gun turned the daily commute into the opening act of Holi. Consider the streets officially splashed.
MUMBAI: From flights to tracks, Cleartrip is now trying to keep every journey on the same ticket. Cleartrip, part of Flipkart, has launched train ticket bookings through a partnership with Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation, marking its entry into India’s vast rail travel ecosystem.
The integration allows users to search, book and manage train journeys directly within the app, as the company pushes towards becoming a unified, multi-modal travel platform. The move plugs Cleartrip into one of the world’s largest transportation networks, where over 800 million reserved passengers travel annually, alongside a daily footfall of around 23 million across Indian Railways.
The offering includes bookings across routes nationwide, covering General and Tatkal quotas as per Ministry of Railways guidelines. Users can also access real-time seat availability, fare insights, PNR status tracking, berth preferences and digital payment options within a single interface.
The expansion reflects a broader shift in travel platforms from specialising in a single mode to stitching together end-to-end journeys. For Cleartrip, the bet is not just on scale, but on simplifying a system often seen as complex and fragmented.
Company executives said the focus is on embedding predictive intelligence and personalisation into the booking journey, aiming to make everything from discovery to post-booking support faster and more intuitive.
The train booking feature is currently live on the app, with plans to extend it to the web platform soon, signalling a push towards a seamless cross-platform experience.
In a country where railways move billions each year, the next battleground for travel apps may well be decided not in the skies, but on the tracks.
