CUTTACK: Come Durga Puja and the half-kilometer stretch on Kathajodi Ring Road turns into a busy market yard every year. This Puja too traditional artisans and craftsmen from different parts of the State have set up make-shift shops on the footpath of Ring Road from Khannagar Malachandia Chhak to Devigada and are already doing brisk business.
A vendor Pramod Pradhan (65) from Bindhanima in Tigiria block of Cuttack district is busy weaving bamboo products like basket, winnowing fan, serving tray, vases and many more. “There is a huge demand for local products, particularly bamboo plate and basket, fan and winnowing tray which are used in puja rituals. I have been coming to the city since I was a child. My father used to sell our family-made products during puja time, now I have taken up the responsibility,” said Pramod.
Earthenware products like the tawa, cook and serve ware, among other things have regained importance in the modern world and this has come as an advantage for potters like 50-year-old Raghunath Behera from Nischintakoili. Bhagaban Sahoo (45), who is also a regular at the fair, has been selling stone carved household items like plate, dish, grindstone, mortar, pestle etc. “The earthen pitcher, pot, pipkin, lamp, saucer and smoke pot are in high demand during Puja. I have already sold 50 per cent of my stock,” said Raghunath.
Ashok Debnath from Digha in West Bengal is selling different products made of shell and conch. "I have been coming to Cuttack to make business during Dussehra for the last five years and earning remarkable profit," said Debnath adding his business would maximise on the last two days and immersion ceremony of the Goddess.
As they have been doing it for years, most of them have also opted to shift their makeshift stalls to Choudwar Rupa Yatra starting from Kumar Purnima, then to Panchuka celebration at Dhabaleswar shrine and then to Baliyatra in Cuttack.