About 140 Tibetans selling sweaters, caps, mufflers and gloves have settled at Chowk Bazaar
Surat, January 20 – WITH mercury dipping to its lowest in the last fortnight, Tibetans selling woollen garments in the city are smiling. For, their business has picked up.
There are about 140 Tibetans who are selling sweaters, caps, mufflers and gloves at Chowk Bazaar. Tsetin Khonja, of the Tibetan market, says: ‘‘The New Year has been very fruitful for us. Every season, the sale normally picks up after January, but people have already been thronging the market. We may go out of stocks before mid-February.’’
The Tibetan sellers purchase woollens from factories in Shimla and different places in Punjab.
They buy the items on credit and pay the factories after doing the business.
Khonja said, ‘‘Our business is dependent on the winter season. The more the cold, more is the number of customers. Though people of Surat believe in bargaining, we do not allow bargaining and all the prices are fixed.’’
Khonja’s friend and fellow shop-keeper, Shemke, says: ‘‘This time we are happy that all our stocks will be sold off. We will have nothing to take back home.’’
Pointing to some empty stalls, he says: ‘‘Some of them have already left for home as their stocks were exhausted.’’ He said that the sales had picked up after mercury dipped to an all-time low of 10 degrees Celsius,
Though everybody is doing good business at the market, nobody is ready to say how much they earn. ‘‘We have been able to recover the costs and make some profit’’ is what Shemke has to say.
Rashmi Patel, a customer, was spotted shopping for her four children. ‘‘They have just one pullover each. These days they have to wear them throughout the day so they end up dirtying them. I am here to buy a few more as it seems winter will not end soon,’’ she says.
Another customer, Rekha Macwan, says: ‘‘I have come here to buy some woollens for my entire family. None of us have more than one and this time the winter have been really chilly. Normally it’s not so cold at this time of the year.’’
Tesang, of the Tibetan market, says: ‘‘Generally, we find few women buyers, so we get minimum stock for them. But this time, women are coming out in large numbers to buy cardigans, shawls and woollen blouses.’’
