Artisans feel the pinch as scant number of customers turn up to purchase their articlesFortunes of handicraftsmen hang in balance, no time for celebrations

Ajay Joshi

Advertisement

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, November 10

At this point of the year, Sanjana would start rubbing her hands together, immersed in the thought of customers, buying and eventually emptying her stall of decorative items. Nowadays, the pleasant thought hasn’t crossed her mind, not even once.

“Our preparations for Diwali sales kickstart very early and almost two months before the celebrations we start collecting artificial pearls, frills, colourful clothes and other raw materials.

It takes two-three hours to make one set of hanging frills embedded with hand bells, anklet bells, shinning mirror pieces and small lanterns and the handiworks vary with creativity. “I am standing here (Rainak bazaar) since 9.30 am and managed to sell only three in four hours,” says Sanjana, who’s been selling a variety of such pieces for the last five years, and has never witnessed a lull as big before.

Every year dozens of Rajasthan-based artisans come here during the festival season to sell their handicrafts at a better price. The high hopes of expanding their sales have dropped dead to the ground amid the pandemic. The footfall of customers has reduced greatly compared to previous years. They have had a minimal sale during Dasehra and Navratri. Moreover, the online platforms are threatening to runaway with the profits of the pavement hawkers.

“We usually copy the traditional designs and add only the new trappings that change with time. To beautify different kinds of frills, we also fix the Ganesh-Laxmi idol in between,” the 17-year-old tells. While she stands outside the shops with the decoratives, her brother persuades people to buy their stock. The whole family, comprising their parents and two more siblings, do the same job amid the festive season.

Like them, a large number of the migrated artisans stand on different market areas of chowks to earn at least Rs500 a day. Owing to the crowd, Rainak bazaar inside Jyoti chowk is one of the hotspots for the crafters. Native of various villages in Jaipur, these artists consider Jalandhar as their second home — most of them living in the slums of Mithu Basti.

Gopali Devi, 40, could mostly be seen lounging about her stall at Tikki Wala chowk these days. She has enough time to revisit the beginning of her journey. “I was trained by my parents and have passed on the baton to my children as well. We have been indulged in the art for generations and when there is no festivity around we sell the traditional Rajasthani jewellery… the college girls love it!” she shares.