Festive season turns bitter for sweet makers in Amritsar

Neeraj Bagga

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, November 9

Once known as leading processors of traditional sweets and offerings for gurdwaras and temples, shopkeepers of Mishri bazaar have turned traders.

Hari Om, one of them, said, Rajasthan had overtook the city’s manufacturers. They were preparing these items on boilers and availability of cheap labour and land bringing down their investment cost. “Most of the traders of Mishri bazaar do not move out of the walled city to set up modern units. Now, the entire scenario has changed and we cannot compete with them,” he added.

The change, in all its likelihood, has swelled as a result of the pandemic-induced uncertainty and advanced orders for buying traditional sweetmeats like sugar and jaggery made “phulliyan (puffed rice), batase, khand khidone (edible sugar toys)” have halved this season ahead of Diwali in comparison to the last year. Thus, making them reconsider their business.

Bobby Singh, a processor of traditional sweetmeats, said retailers were buying in small quantities lest they should not risk their investment during these uncertain times. He stated that the post-lockdown traders were treading cautiously. “So, I prepared only half of the quantity of these traditional items that we used to prepare a year ago,” he revealed.

Over 40 years ago entire markets of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir were controlled by the local market. Not anymore. Hari Om chimes in: “The demand for “khand khidone” (edible sugar toys), an inevitable part of the Puja during the night of Diwali, has taken a big hit. Most of the people do not buy more than a piece.”

Similarly, other traditional items used to serve as snacks during winter had lost the market to FMCG products which are available in Rs5 and Rs10 packets. “So, only a couple of shops are engaged in preparing the ancient sweets,” he added. The age- old market situated in the proximity of the Golden Temple, now prepare mishri and meethe channe for gurdwaras apart from phulia, makhane, pickles, jam and murabbas.

Sumeet Kapoor, a resident of Basant Avenue, said the auspicious occasion used to offer them an opportunity to revisit the past and experience a feel of it. “Now, it is all disappearing,” he rued.