Rain threat fails to spoil Eid shopping mood

KOLKATA: Even a heavy downpour during the day could not dampen the shopping spirit on the last weekend before Eid. People thronged traditional shopping venues like New Market and malls like Metro Plaza, Avani Riverside and Quest to wrap up their last-minute preparations for the festival to be celebrated next weekend.
The downpour on Saturday afternoon threatened to spoil a full day.But as evening descended, the rain stayed away even though the sky was overcast and humidity stifling. Shop owners in New Market who were anxious throughout the day turned cheerful as footfall surged after iftari in the evening.
“This is a crucial period for business as sales run into several thousand rupees daily. If one day is lost due to rain it is a huge set back for us. We were fearing that the sales will be low today, but thankfully weather stayed dry for most part of the evening and buying picked up,” said Mohammad Abbas Ali, who has a footwear shop on Bertram Street.
“Traditional wear is a big highlight of the Eid festival. Everybody wants to be draped in the most elegant kurtas when they go to offer prayers in the morning. Every year I come to Rabindra Sarani to buy myself a kurta because they sell the most elegant and comfortable ones,” said Sabir Ali, a young businessman in Beck Bagan.
Such is the rush that the average waiting time outside a kurta shop on Rabindra Sarani ranges from 30 minutes to an hour. “For the next week we are going to keep our shops open till dawn so that everybody gets an opportunity to purchase their festive outfits,” said Nadim Siddique who has sold more than 50 kurtas every day for the last six days.
Food is also an essential part of the celebrations and shopping for ingredients for traditional food tops the list. Several temporary stalls selling vermicelli (sewain) that have sprung up in Zakaria Street have had to replenish their stock several times in the past two weeks. “It is considered auspicious to start the day on Eid with something sweet. Sewain is a popular ingredient to make sweet dishes like sheerkhorma and milk sewain,” said Bilal Ahmed while catering to his customers on Kanai Seal Street.
The festival is synonymous with 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 a week in advance,” said Mohammad Hamza Baig, who owns a shop in New Market.