Nerul:
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Giri Trading Agency in Nerul is one of the main shops that sells golu dolls, catering to the South Indians in Navi Mumbai. Like every year, new types of golu doll sets have arrived this year too and with Navratri round the corner, people have started buying dolls to make their golu (arrangement of the dolls during Navratri) as artistic as possible.
Parvathy Pillai, manager of the Nerul outlet of Giri Trading Agency said although sale of dolls starts after Ganesh Chaturthi, it picks up pace a fortnight before the festival. “A lot of people start coming a few days before the festival to purchase the dolls and it is very difficult to keep track of the sales,” she said. “Increase in costs that is an occurrence in almost every sector, has not stopped people from buying golu dolls,” said Sharada Prakash, director of Giri Trading Agency Pvt. Ltd. “Prices of dolls have gone up by 15%. All our dolls come from Chennai where there has been a lot of electricity cut-offs. Since the dolls are made of clay, they take time to dry and if it is placed in the open there is a risk of rains spoiling them. Additionally, labour and transportation costs have also escalated,” said Prakash. Dolls are available starting from Rs200 to as much as Rs5,000. However, this has not impacted the sales. “Golu dolls sale is never lacklustre, as it is an important custom; one that is loved by adults and kids alike. This year, the sales in Navi Mumbai have seen a 10-12% rise compared to last year,” she said. Rightly so, as there are many new doll sets that have come. Apart from the usual Dasavataram, Ashtalakshmi, new sets include a Linga Puja set, Kuselan Sevai set, Kovil Kachcheri (music concert in a temple), Krishna as Govardhana Giridhari, a set of women working by the well, Gajendramoksham set, Killi Josiyam set, Ramanujar idol, Bharatanatyam set and many more. “People buy different sets as per their needs as many like to depict different mythological sequences or a simple village scene or any other social subject. Some of our customers also give us advance orders for a particular type of dolls and we in turn tell our supplier to deliver it,” Prakash said. Kamala Vasudevan, a Seawoods resident, has purchased dolls up to Rs2,000 this year, as she will be depicting Ramayana in her golu. “I have bought a Ramajanma (Rama’s birth scene) set that has five to six idols with Dashrata, Kausalya, Sumitra, Kaikeyi, sage Vasishta, among others. I have a few sets at home of different stages of Rama’s life that will be apt for my theme,” she said. |
CREDIT: Mahalakshmi Subramanian @smahalakshmi20
SOURCE: dnaindia.com
