In the marriage season that just concluded with the Nabakalebar, it was a boom time for tent houses, flower shop owners, liquor shop owners and proprietors of mandaps, car owners and travel agencies as they earned hefty amounts every day.
As it is believed that after the Nabakalebar, the wedding ceremony cannot be held for coming one and a half years, there was a big rush for marriage. As a result, the demand for all articles for marriage had gone up.
One cannot think of marriage without hiring vehicles. So, it was a boom time for the car owners and the travel agencies. If one could not book vehicles for a marriage before a fortnight, then it was difficult to get the vehicles. For instant booking, one had to shell out twice the actual hiring rate.
According to Prasant Nayak, car drivers of the township area demanded a sum of Rs 1,800 for taking bridegroom to the bride’s house by covering just 6 km.
Due to summer heat, every customer wanted that the vehicles should have air conditioner facility. So for hiring vehicles with AC, the cost was always higher. Gouranga Behera, a youth whose sister’s marriage was solemnized on Tuesday, resented that he had to pay through nose as the cost of everything was sky-high.
If vehicle owners made hay, the musical band parties were not to be left behind. They too made the most of the opportunity and demanded higher rate for their services.
According to a member of Maa Gojabayani Musical Band, as there are nearly 30-40 bands in the district, all the bands were getting minimum 2-3 calls per day. So for each call, the rate was between Rs 55, 000 and Rs 65,000 per day.
“Due to limited musical bands available in the district, they are demanding more than Rs 15,000 per call. A popular band charged over Rs 25,000 higher per call for only three hours of a baarat procession,” said Prasant Rout, a local.
Among the musical bands, those who earned handsomely, were Saraswati band, Kakharuni brass band of Pattamundai, Maa Gojabayani brass band, Silipur , Marshaghai musical group, Angulai musical orchestra, Maa Bayani brass band and Sur Jhankar brass band etc. To do a brisk business in the ongoing marriage season, some of the musical brass bands split into two -three units to meet the demands. It is believed that without bursting of fire crackers, the merry making of barat procession is never complete. So, fire cracker makers of the district were busy manufacturing fireworks, crackers and different lights.