Eid shoppers make most last weekend

KOLKATA: The last weekend before Eid saw shoppers thronging the traditional shopping haunts as well as swanky malls to wrap up last-minute preparations for the festival. The shops are expected to remain open till dawn for the remaining days of Ramzan to cater to the rush.

Food is an essential part of the celebrations and shopping for the feast tops the list. Temporary vermicelli (sewain) stalls in Zakaria Street have had to replenish their stock several times in the past two weeks to meet the demand. “It is considered auspicious to start the Eid day with something sweet. Sewain is a popular ingredient to make sweet dishes like sheerkhorma and milk sewain,” said Mohammad Akram, who has been witnessing brisk sales at Zakaria Street.

The festival is synonymous to biryani and it has sent the sale of spices in New Market through the roof. “Several meat-based dishes are prepared on Eid but there is no beating the biryani. People start preparing for the feast at least a week in advance,” said Ritesh Metharamani, who owns a shop in New Market.

Eid celebrations continue for a week and a new outfit for every occasion makes the young and the not so young make multiple trips to the shopping haunts. On Saturday evening, there was a surge of customers in New Market.

Women

were circling around the churiwallahs (bangle-seller), men sifting through stocks of shirts and jeans and kids trying out kurtas — there was no missing the excitement. Rain has, however, marred business in the past few days. Many thronged Quest on

Syed Amir Ali Avenue

and Metro Plaza on Ho Chi Minh Sarani to doge the rain.