By our Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI, March 22: Guwahatiians will celebrate this Holi with Modi, Bahubaali and Arkali.
The persons talked about here are neither Prime Minister of India nor SS Rajamouli’s superhero or Mughal prince Salim’s soul mate. Merchandise like masks, wigs med after Modi, Bahubali and Arkali have flooded Guwahati markets on the eve of Holi.
While the city prepares to celebrate the festival of colours with enthusiasm, a team of around 70-100 vendors from Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh (UP) has arrived in the city to sell their Holi products. Sitting in rows in the pavements in the Fancy Bazar area the vendors are wooing passers-by with multi-hued pouches and sacks of gulaal as customers haggled to get the best deal.
Talking to The Sentinel, Wasim Khan, a vendor from UP, said, “We have been doing good business in Guwahati for the last 15 years on the occasion of Holi. However, this time the market is subdued.”
Raju Pathan, another vendor from Kanpur, said: “I’ve been visiting Guwahati with Holi products for the pat three years. It’s the quality of our products that has kept its demand intact among the customers here. We sell Holi powder at Rs 100 a kg and gulaal at Rs 200 a kg.”
Tresses are sold at Rs 120 a piece.
The market has come up with various new items like designer wigs, colorful turbans signifying rich Indian culture, exclusive water jets (pichkaris) mely “Bahubali” and “Arkali” hats to attract Bollywood fans, including the teegers. However, masks med after Modi are sold like hot cakes, and are going out of stock in most outlets. The masks are priced between Rs 60 and Rs 120. Chinese piskaris are also seen in the market in huge quantity.
Keeping in mind the skin consciousness of people nowadays, new herbal colours have been introduced. In fact, people are mostly going for herbal products rather than synthetic ones. “Particularly, senior citizens prefer herbal colours. They are more skin conscious,” said another vendor.
Snow sprays are also in great demand.
Besides colours, sweets and various pleasantries are also being put up for sale giving a festive feel to the city.