Haal Khata Anusthan in Bengal.

Haal Khata Anusthan

 

Even in this fast age of communication when lot of work is done through e-mail, SMS or through face booking, Haal Khata in poila baisakh still gains prominence in this city. All the traders have arranged to observe the day religiously and gorgeously. In fact it is the day to open new ledgers – the typical khata covered with red cotton cloth (lal shalu) and a thread to tie up the copy properly. People are now adopting a lot of new gadgets like Computer, Laptop to deal with the customers yet the age old ‘haal khata’ still serves a vital role in trading with the customers. Shop owners eagerly wait for the day to clear up the outstanding dues or debts from their customers.

All the shops in Benachity, Chandidas, Asish Market and everywhere in this city are well decorated with mango leaves and banana trunks. Pujas are performed during the morning hours. The priest decorates the haal khata with stamp of coins dipped in red vermilion - a symbol of good sign. They send invitation cards to the prospective customers or make a phone call or sends SMS to join the festival.

The shops like Rajlakshmi Jewellers, Chandan Jewellers, Durgapur Variety Stores and others celebrate the day most gorgeously. People with ethnic dresses queue up themselves in the respective shops. They exchange warm wishes, clears up their dues and return with gifts, sweet packets and calendars.

Gouranga Banik a trader of Benachity who has a number of stalls says, “Before poila baisakh we remain very busy throughout the month of chairtra on the occasion of chaitra sell. In fact it has become a fashion now to shop in the chaitra sell market at a discount price. Crowds of people of the twin city pick and choose their choiceable items from us. But things differ from regular business and chaitra sell business. Customers are very fastidious and always try to bargain heavily. ”

Sweet shops owners are very busy. Naren Saha of a renowned sweet shop says, “Chhana become scares on this day due to heavy demand. We bring the chhana from other places to meet up the demand. Since we never compromise with quality and size of the sweets, people always try to book their packets from there. ”

Not only the sweet shop almost all the gift shops are busy now to sell their gift items. Exchange of gift among the loved ones is now in practice among the city people on this day. Arshad Ali, owner of Archie’s, City Center says, “This year we have collected varieties of show pieces, Photo Album, Pens and greetings Card. The sales of such items are high this year. The rush of young and kids are high now – in fact elder people come rare to our shop for gifts on the special occasions.”