A day before the Diwali festival, the people in enormous number is thronging around the markets in the city. Diwali being the festival of light, Doon residents are found purchasing candles, earthen diyas and decorative items on Wednesday. However, the number of people going for earthen diyas and candles-traditional items for Diwali-was not much. The number seems to be dipping every passing year.
With the flicker of the earthen diyas losing out to the sheen of electric lights, the margin of profit for those engaged in making them keeps plummeting alarmingly. “How things are proving difficult for us can be gauged from the fact that the margin of profit has dipped ten times down as compared to what it was ten years ago,” said one of the shopkeepers at Paltan Bazaar.
Once Diwali festival was considered a blessed period for the potters. But, in sharp contrast, now they are struggling hard to sell their produce. “We are at the receiving end of the collective craze for electrical decorations and the Chinese goods rushing in the markets like a deluge. We are standing no completions with the Chinese goods as the latter are cheaper than the traditional diyas or candles,” one of them said despairingly.
However, some were seen purchasing creative types of earthen diyas. But the number is not as much as to boost their flagging spirit.
Sohan, one of the potters at Paltan Bazaar, said that this is his family business, albeit a seasonal one. “Diwali festival previously came to us as a blessing and we used to get considerable profit out of selling earthen diyas. We along with family members used to celebrate the festival happily. Things are now worsening as the people are scampering to buy the China-made Diwali items. We wonder where we would land if the ominous trend continues.”
Abhishek, a candle seller, said the earthen diyas and the candles that were once the indispensable part of the Diwali paraphernalia are now mere traditions bereft of the oomph of the past. Glitter now matters more than keeping up with the traditions. Things are unlikely to change. Rather they might get worse, he rued.
Various kinds of candles which attract the customers are available in his shop in ample quantity. “There is a myriad kind of candles like flouting candle, Jel candle, aroma candle, heart- shaped candle, fruit candle, T- light candle aside from the earthen diyas. These all are available in the shop. The cost of making such candles varies from Rs20 to Rs350, he said. “The candle traders are finding it difficult to survive with the trend of the people scrambling for Chinese items taking frenzied proportions. We are worried a lot,” he said.
Though varieties of candles are available the number of buyers is disappointing. “We are facing stiff competitions. Things are worse off for those whose family business is candle making. Once it was easy and profitable for people to get involved in the trade. Now the trend is just the reverse. They are branching out to other avenues of livelihood as this one is leaving them high and dry,” he lamented.