Disco for Rs 20 and topi for Rs 10 are the toys that will attract the revellers in the Durga Puja this year. With the start of the Puja, hawkers selling new and attractive toys can be seen on the roads of the city, catching the eyes of people belonging to all age groups, specially the children.
More than 100 hawkers from different parts of the country are in the State capital this festive season with some new toys having some unique names e.g. Disco, Topi etc. These unique toys are eye catching in their appearance also with bright and colourful covering all around them. “Around 100 of us are in the city for the last 10 days.These kind of toys are in demand among the people during the puja, which brings us back every year to the city, as we earn good profit out of it,” said Mohammad Ikrar, a hawker who has come from Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh.
Apart from selling toys in the festive season these hawkers work as plumbers, electricians and daily wage workers in their home town to earn their livelihood for rest of the year.
“In the festive season these toys prove to be a profit earning business in a short period of time but, in the off seasons I work as a plumber in my home town to earn my livelihood,” added Mohammad Ikrar. These toys are very attractive and look very easy to make but, a lot of hard work goes after making it perfectly as, many minor things need to be taken care of.
“It takes us 10 to15 days to make these toys and is not as easy to make as people think, many minor things are required to taken care of,” said Imam Ansari, a hawker from Haridwar. Every year, during the puja these kind of new and attractive toys kill the market of the toys which are there in the market from decades for eg: Ghirni, a toy made from paper and moves with the help of air, easily found near Firayalal.
On one hand the hawkers coming from outside earn good profit in the festive season where as on the other the local hawkers suffer. “Kisi tarah roji roti chal jata hai (Somehow I manage my bread and butter),” said Sandeep Kumar, a local hawker, selling toys for the last ten years. looking at the popularity of these unique and attractive toys, one can expect to see it in the hands of most of the children of the city in this Durga Puja.