The festive cadence seems to have gripped the denizens in the city. State capital markets are flooded with variety of holi goodies, be it a different forms of water guns, colours, water balloons, herbal gulaal or masks. The fiesta has always attracted people from diverse sections and of all age groups.
The rustic holi music adds to the savour of this colourful and delightful festival and can be heard at different places especially in the local markets across the city. Shopkeepers have adorned there shops with different range of products. From malls to street vendors, the sellers are luring the customers with varied designs and varieties and doing a brisk business in the state capital.
The Upper Bazaar market, which is one of the most preferred destination for all knick-knack stuffs have an array of holi products available and piled up at different shops. Customers too prefer buying products from this age old wholesalers’ hub.
“I get variety of products here; from water guns to herbal gulaal all are available at one place. My kids were demanding water balloons including latest variety of water guns and hopefully I got everything at this place at a reasonable cost,” said, a local resident, Maya Verma, who was busy buying holi products at upper Bazaar with her family members, to make the celebration a grand affair.
Every year, few new items greet the local market to catch the attention of denizens especially kids. This year too, variety of masks of various cartoon character, super heroes and other Halloween characters are enticing children.
“Apart water guns, we are having demand for special mask and water balloons. Kids are visiting our wholesale shops especially for face masks. Nearly 50 to 70 masks are sold everyday. We have been selling mask, since last week. Masks ranging from `50 to 500 are available with us,” said, Ramchandra Prasad, a shopkeeper who owns fancy collections at Upper Bazaar.
Similarly, another salesperson of Upper Bazaar, Randhir, informed, “We bring special collections of water guns and masks from Kolkata in accordance to the latest trends and considering the popularity of few renowned faces. Kids generally prefer cartoon character masks whereas the plastic water guns are sold more in comparison to any other material.”
Beating the heat and eagerly waiting for the festival, several people were busy shopping in this scorching summer in the local markets. “I have bought all items which I will be requiring. Colourful masks are simply attractive,” said, ten years old boy, Vishal, shopping with her mum at Upper Bazaar market.