After a few days’ lull following the completion of the Diwali festivities, the shops and markets across the city have started drawing crowds with the Chhath Puja underway.
People thronging the shops and the markets to buy items required for the puja paraphernalia are bringing broad smiles on the faces of the vendors and the shop owners who hope to earn good profit. The four-day puja has started on Sunday.
Chhath Puja items like ‘soop and tokri ‘- meaning baskets- earthen pots, varieties of fruits and all the new vegetables are now flooding the markets.
Fruit sellers and vegetable sellers were seen particularly happy as people from across the city are thronging their shops now with the puja having already begun.
Ramdas Goyal, a vegetable seller, said he had kept almost all the vegetables for sale which are required for the puja. “Fresh sweet potatoes, turnips, radish and bananas are having the maximum number of buyers. They are insisting on fresh vegetables and fortunately, I have enough of them,” he added.
Shanti Kumar, wife of a potter, was seen happy selling the earthen pots in a good number. “I am selling them a great deal as this is an essential item of the puja,” she added.
Baskets of varied sizes are also drawing buyers. “ I have sold around 100 baskets since the morning. However, the customers bargaining much is reducing the expected margin of profit,” said Rajesh Rana, a shop owner .
Buckets are also a huge hit with the prices ranging from Rs 40 to Rs 100.
Kismati Devi who was found buying the stuffs for the Chhath Puja said she had purchased almost half of the items required. But she complained of the rising prices of fruits this year. “The prices are too high for our capacities. But we have to manage things somehow as the puja sans fruits is unimaginable,” she said, adding that the items being bought for the puja would cost them `5,000 to `6,000, a figure that might far exceed their budget.
However, the people coming to the markets with their vehicles are resulting in traffic congestion. “We cannot help bringing vehicles with us as the weight of the items bought here is too much for us to carry otherwise,” said one of the shoppers.
“The large number of vehicles clogging the narrow alleys of the markets is leaving no space for others to walk,” said one Madan Ram.