Bhadrak: Earthen lamps used to have its charm during Diwali in rural areas earlier, but they have lost their charm now. The markets in Bhadrak are now flooded with fancy lamps from Kolkata.
A variety of fancy lamps of different size, colour and design are sold in large numbers in local markets of this district. These fancy lamps have posed a challenge for local potters, who have been eking out a living from earthen lamps.
Since people prefer fancy lamps to locally made earthen lamps, potters’ workshops have not been left with much work, some potters lamented.
Two months before Diwali, potters’ families in Olagapur, Apartibinda, Belda, Agarpada, Dolasahi and Garadpur usually churn out earthen lamps and pots of different size and design. By selling them, they used to earn enough for their living through traditional occupation. Now, they are miserably struggling to save the traditional occupation in the face of fancy lamps.
“Earlier we had much work. But gradually, our business has slowed down, as there are no takers for our lamps and pots. Lamps supplied from other areas are sold well. We are caught in such a situation that we can neither give up nor sustain this occupation rightly,” lamented Sudhakar Behera, a potter of the village.
“Whatever we earn now is too meagre to meet out ends,” other potters said. Some traders buy lamps, but they are not paying the right price, they noted.
By using technology, potters outside the state are making attractive lamps and pots which have high demand in the market. But rural artisans have no access to such technology. To compete with the market, rural potters need to be acquainted with the new technology so as to save their age-old occupation, some potters observed.
PNN