On the eve of Makara Sankranti, markets in the city are crowded with people making purchases for the festival. However, both vendors and customers agree that the price of the essential commodities needed to celebrate such as jaggery, sugarcane and sweet potato have risen ahead of the festival.

Pushpalatha M.K. (64), a retired engineer, who was shopping at the Malleshwaram market, said, “The price of all commodities has gone up. So, we plan to celebrate the festive on a small scale this year. I have purchased all festival-related items in small quantities. But we will certainly celebrate the festival as we cannot leave behind our age-old tradition.”

A vendor in the Malleswaram market too echoed the same sentiment. Mohammed Hanif, who has been selling boxes for 25 years, said that there was a slight drop in the sales this year because of spiralling prices of essential commodities. Sitting amidst colourful boxes in different colours and shapes, he said that the boxes are priced between Rs. 5 and Rs. 75 each.

Nagamma M. said that there was a wide variety of ‘yellu bella’ and sugar candies. “Most of the coloured and factory made sugar candies are not in great demand this year. Most people this year are opting for homemade products,” she added.

Reproduced from The Hindu