NEW DELHI: With the festival of Dussehra still around a month away, artisans who earn their livelihood by making effigies of demon king, Ravana, his brother, Kumbhkarana, son Meghnada and others are staring at a bleak future as there are no buyers this time for their artefacts in the largest effigy market in Titarpur in Delhi.
Disappointment is writ large on the faces of both aritsans and traders in the Titarpur market adjacent to Tagore Garden as buyers are few and far between, amid the uncertainties due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In normal times, one could see scores of artisans busy making effigies of the demon king and others many weeks ahead of Dussehra year after year. The craftsmen could be seen toiling in the sun to give shapes to the effigies of different sizes and colours on the roadsides, parks, and even terraces of houses in Titarpur. But such scenes have vanished this year amid the pandemic.
Traders rued that COVID played a spoilsport for their brisk business expectations this year since the sale was also lukewarm the previous year due to the ban on firecrackers at many places. As a result, the traders had suffered heavy losses.
After Prime Minister Narendra Modi performed the ‘bhoomi pujan’ of the new Ram temple, effigy traders were hopeful that people will celebrate Dussehra this year on a grand scale.
According to the traders, effigies of Ravana and others were burnt by the thousands in Delhi every year, but this time not even a single order to make such effigies had been placed so far. All artisans and craftsmen were sitting idle as a result, they griped. (IANS)
