Come Dasara, the festive mood of the city takes an innovative route. Flowers, dolls, sweets, all come alive in various ways.
Flowers find a new meaning as one sets into Dasara season. And Gandhi Bazaar is the flavour of the month.
Vendors stringing flowers into garlands with their dexterous hands that include jasmines (mallige), tuberoses, marigolds, asters and roses.
Ask Siddagamma about the response for Dasara and she replies with a warm smile, "This is our season. The demand is high during this time. However, the challenge is to keep the flowers fresh as we bring them in abundance. The sales have already kickstarted but in the coming days it will pick up even more."
Around 500 to 600 kgs of flowers are sold during the three day of Dasara states Lokesh, a flower seller. "We sell mixed type of flowers and it depends on the customers choice.
Dolls and diya's also have a major pep. Shops who put up doll stalls usually invest around Rs 65,000 to Rs 70,000 on them. "The most popular one is Dashavatham, Saraswathi, Lakshmi, Kanchi Kamakshi and other varieties set for different story for each. Even a cricket theme is also in demand as ladies love to tell stories about Sachin Tendulkar and Dhoni to their children. Dolls are usually made in Mylaradorai in Tamil Nadu. The order for such dolls are placed 6 months before, which is then transported to Bangalore before a month of the Dasara festival," says Rathnakar who has been into decorative business with his father from 1976. Vegetables go for a high demand during this season. Shivakumar M, the vegetable vendor in Sarakki market is of the opinion that the price and the demand for the vegetable will remain the same during Dasara season. But the vendors in the market are of the opinion that it is the flowers and the fruit vendors who gain profit in this season. Imran S, a fruit vendor in Banashankari market said that over Rs 5 per kilo will go high during the Dasara festival. "We normally earn over Rs 3,000-Rs 4,000 per day but during this festive season we earn over Rs 20,000. The demand for the fruits goes high during the last two days of Dasara."
Many vendors opined that the pumpkins are sold particularly during this season. They stated, "We buy over 4,000-5,000 pumpkins. These are sold out during Vijayadashami, the tenth day of the festival. Currently we are selling it for over Rs 6 per kilo. Also coconut are sold out more in this season."
However, we you are interested in some cloth shopping, then you need to head towards Koramangala. Innumerable discount and sales hoarding were seen here. We caught up with a few youngsters here ask what they look for to buy in Dusheera, "We are looking buy some salwars for Dusheera pooja but at a reasonable price. And considering the discount sales on we will definitely get something good to grab."
