Demand for earthen pots on the rise in city

Charanjit Singh Teja

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, June 7

With summer at its peak these days, the demand for earthen pots have risen in the city.

Earthen pots not only keep the water cool, but also keep impurities away. The situation is such that most of the potters are unable to keep pace with the demand in the city.

With reports of arsenic compounds and others impurities surfacing every now and then, residents have started preferring earthen pots over modern types of equipment to store water as it is said to be capable of keeping impurities away.

Most of the residents demand pot having a tap installed in it. The potters’ community has a significant population in the city but a large number of them have left their traditional occupation decades ago.

A few families at Ghumyaran Da Mohalla on Chabal Road still take up this ancient profession. Earlier, they stopped making all kinds of earthen utensils and depended on ‘divas’ for Diwali festival.

Keeping in view a good demand of earthen pots, some of them have have started making it.

Rattan Lal, a roadside earthen pot seller and potter, says, “We have been making earthen pots equipped with taps for years. We have seen in the past few years that the demand of pots has risen. People say doctors advise them to use earthen pots. There might be some health advantage.”

Jaswinder Kaur, a government teacher, who was seen buying a pot from a roadside vendor, said, “WhatsApp messages are in circulation which advocate the use of earthen pots. I don’t know about any scientific justification, but I feel that it will be better than the plastic containers.”

The roadside pottery sellers charge Rs 150 to 500 for an earthen pot, available in different sizes.

It is said that since the clay pot is porous, evaporation takes place after water is stored in it. This process causes cooling as water particles gain energy in the form of heat, then change to gas and get mixed with air. A clay pot has small holes visible at the microscopic level through which water seeps out and gains energy to become gas and gets evaporated causing cooling.