Manisha Patel’s small kitchen has turned into a small-scale factory making mouth-licking mathiyas, chaulafali and kachoris. She is working overtime to meet the rising demand as the countdown for Diwali festival has begun.
And Patel is not alone. Diwali pre-festival fervour has pushed many industrious Amdabadi women to turn into home traders from home makers and they are busy making desi farsans and sweets and seasonal home decors eg diyas, torans.
While previously a handful of needy women in city laboured to do seasonal businesses at home, today, interestingly festive fervour works like creative stimuli for upper-middle class urban women, who keenly work making diyas, torans or desi farsans and sweets at home and sell them at exclusive rates. With this, the entire city is abuzz with seasonal cottage industry mushrooming at every nook and corner of the city.
“Home-based businesses of making festival items ranging from home decors like toran, take-away rangolis, diyas as well as making desi sweets and farsans has recently upped in large volumes,” said Hemali Kinariwala, running a home-decor enterprise. “Before Diwali which is the peak season, the demand for diyas, torans, dangles, lanterns and mobile rangolis as well as desi farsans and sweets grows to manifold and hence the sources of supply have also widened.”
These home-based entrepreneurs have sharp sense of seasonal businesses hence they prepare exclusive personalised items and sell at a premium rates. The average price of 3-ft long toran in markets is about Rs. 500 to 750 while the home-made counterpart is sold at rate of 1000 to 2500 per pc. Home-made desi farsans and sweets like Suvali (sweet, crispy puri), Mathiya, Ghughra, Khasta Kachori are sold at premium rates. The average price of fafda in market is about Rs. 175 to 200 per Kg, while these home-made counterparts are priced at Rs. 350 to 450 per Kg.
“Buyers are ready to pay more for these home-made festive decors due to innovative designs, quality, and personalised variations, while quality, freshness, chemical-free taste and personalised packaging options attract them to buy home-made desi farsans and sweets,” said Manisha Patel, a desi sweet and farsan maker.
The cottage industry thrives during this times and demand for desi farsans and festive home decors grows up to six times, say these home-based traders. The home-based farsans and desi sweets are sold at premium rates as these entrepreneur women readily to cater to personalised demands. Chaula Shah, making fafdas (crispy desi farsan savoured in Gujarati households during Diwali) said, “We personalise the items offering variations like non-spicy, medium and spicy, non-fried, less oily and no-oil items.” Beating the off-the-shelves counterparts, these women also offer variations in size, shapes and types of packaging. Riddhi Shah, desi sweet maker, said, “We take special orders for travel take-away packs as many out-ward bound Amdavadis prefer to gift these home-made desi items to NRGs and foreigners.”
