As the country celebrates its first post war Sinhala-Tamil New Year people are making plans for the auspicious event, repainting houses, making sweetmeats and going shopping.
The suburbs of Colombo, particularly Nugegoda and Maharagama, are buzzing with avurudu activity. Vendors shouting themselves hoarse advertise their ware and bustling shoppers look for the best bargain. The unbearable heat and the prospects of the looming general election don’t seem to deter them.
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| Pamunuwa Road packed with shoppers. |
K. Ashoka, clothes vendor on the pavement near the Nugegoda supermarket, is very optimistic of this year’s season. “Business is been booming” he says. He is confident customers will continue to flock to his stall during and after the election period which precedes the avurudu.
“President Mahinda Rajapaksa permitted us to do business here without payment. Earlier we had to pay around Rs. 5,000 to set up a stall. We are passing that benefit on to our customers” he said.
Ashoka’s neighbour S.O.M. Nihal also a clothes vendor, believes the end of the war and the resultant freedom of movement has made a visible impact on business.
“People are not afraid to walk around as any more. There is a lot of freedom now. Business is really very good”.
A few metres away from Nihal’s stall his brother Gamini runs an improvised wardrobe of sorts made of wooden planks. His specialty is exclusive sale of men’s shirts. The total value of shirts in his stall amounts to around Rs. 800,000 with each article costing between Rs. 300 – Rs. 400.
However, Gamini does not share his brother’s optimism. “Business is not so good. After the election it will only get worse and there won’t be as many customers visiting us. On a good day we used to make more than 100,000 rupees, but these days it’s been far less –around Rs. 30,000-- on an average,” he said.
The town of Maharagama or Pamunuwa Road, to be precise, has been famous for its scores of thriving clothes shops and stalls irrespective of avurdu or the war. This year the place seems to have got bigger and the number of shops seem to have multiplied several-fold with shoppers streaming in and out like ants.
H.A.P. Edirisinghe the owner of Gangani Textiles said there are businessmen who came to Pamunuwa from Jaffna and buy clothes by the truckload.
“They come from Jaffna and Mannar buy clothes worth hundreds of thousands of rupees. The end of the war had made a huge difference. Business is flourishing” he said.Asked whether the weekend followed almost immediately by the avurudu holidays would adversely affect business as most people would be out of town during the period, Mr. Ediringhe said he did not think so.
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| Ashoka |
Gamini |
Edirisinghe |
“Most people will go shopping on the 8th after casting their vote. There might be a slight reduction in numbers after the 9th but that will not have a major effect on sales,” he aid.
Not everyone is as happy with the situation, though.
Prasad Dilshan, who works at a hair dressing salon, has been doing a seasonal clothes business just outside his salon near the Maharagama junction for some time. He is not at all happy with sales.
“Business is really bad. People have so many economic problems. They don’t have sufficient money to shop for clothes” he said.
Compared to the busy streets of Nugegoda and Maharagama, the town of Dehiwala seems practically deserted. Not many shoppers were seen at the scattered stalls.
Thilan Samaraweera who works at a small shop along the Galle Road pavement echoes the view of Dilshan from Maharagama.
He tells us people are broke and cannot buy clothes. “People don’t have money, although they walk into big department stores” he said.A few yards away from Samaraweera’s shop is S.A. Amarawansa, a dealer in shirts, pants, belts etc. He too is not very happy with the situation.
“We used to sell a vest for Rs. 75 just a year ago. Now it costs Rs. 110. People don’t want to buy it at that price,” he said.
All in all, however, most smalltime businessmen seem to be doing well this avurudu season. Whether the trend will continue remains to be seen. |
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