Nothing underscores the despondency of Diwali 2020 quite as much as the unsettling quiet over Delhi’s pottery markets in a festive season normally marked by the bustle of people buying diyas and idols to usher in the festival of lights.
In the weeks leading up to Diwali, pottery hubs across the city would come alive with the sounds of cars driving up and scores of people bargaining at stalls overflowing with handmade earthenware – including not just diyas of all sizes but also decorative flower pots, platters and vases.
The bright lights are strung up like every other year to beckon people but the customers are just so few. Though some people are stepping out despite the continuing fear of contracting covid 19 the numbers are just a fraction of what they were.
“Earlier, the crowds would begin two to four weeks before Diwali and we barely had time to breathe. We would be so busy we couldn’t take a tea break. But this year the situation is really bad,” said Anita, sitting amid the heap of earthen lamps and pots and quite literally swatting flies.
Her makeshift shop on a pavement in south Delhi’s Hauz Rani market is overflowing. But there are no buyers. And the 60-year-old, who also stocks pottery from places such as Khurja in Uttar Pradesh, is despairing.
“We always ran out of our Diwali stock weeks before the festival, but this year I have barely sold anything,” she said.
In fact, she has barely had any customers at her shop since the lockdown was lifted. And nothing has changed even with Diwali just eight days away.Delhi on Thursday recorded 6,715 COVID-19 cases, taking its infection tally to over 4.16 lakh. The relentless spread of the infection, eight months on, has taken its toll on millions of livelihoods across the country and in its capital too.
