Bhubaneswar: Necessity is the mother of invention. The veracity of this saying has once again proved as the opera artistes in the State have taken up such a job that they were in no way connected to it earlier.
They claim their strong will power and hard work is bearing fruits. They are now manufacturing daily essentials like mustard oil, papad, incense sticks and many other things and marketing them. Their items are doing fairly well in markets though there are similar products from branded companies.
Opera, also called Jatra, is a popular medium of entertainment in Odisha. Thousands of artistes and technicians are associated with opera parties and are earning their livelihood.
Things changed for the worse for them after the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. Restrictions were imposed on organizing any sorts of entertainment programmes, including opera shows. The restrictions are still in place, rendering the opera artists and technicians jobless.
At a time when they are sure that the situation will not improve, at least in the foreseeable future, ‘Jatra Kalakar Sangha’ has come to their rescue.
The association has identified those artists and technicians who were hit hard by the pandemic. And then they were trained to prepare various articles starting from incense sticks to phenyl.
Manufactured under the brand name of ‘JK-2’, these products are reportedly rapidly gaining ground and winning hearts of customers.
The association says they were all hopeful that everything would be normal after the announcement of unlocks. Markets have been opened and there are no restrictions as they were in initial stages.
But the fate of opera artists and technicians is still hanging in balance. With no option left, they are now preparing ‘badi’, papad, pickle, incense stick and many other items. This will continue till the situation becomes normal for them. In the coming days, they will include clothes, turmeric powder, besan etc. to the existing items.
Owing to COVID-19 pandemic, about 10, 000 opera artists and technicians are living miserably. The main objective of the association taking up such a step is only to keep them afloat, at the very least, during these trying times.
PNN