Firecracker sales boom before Eid

With Eid festivity color takes grip over markets, the boom this time has been witnessed in firecracker sales.

Ahead of Eid and many customers make it a point to visit Maharaja Bazar in uptown Srinagar, which is considered as an epicenter of firecrackers in the Valley.

“On this Eid, I want to fulfill all the wishes of my children,” said Aisha Begum, a teacher, who has come to buy fire crackers for her kids and finds this market an apt place to find the best ones at nominal price.
The market does not only cater retail needs, it is place where wholesalers also book their stock.

Dealers said that sales used to start few days prior to Eid but this time orders are placed a fortnight early prior to Eid.

Talking to Kashmir Reader, Ghulam Mohammad Tanga of Cock Crackers said, “Even with some time left for Eid, dealers are visiting us to beef up their firecracker supplies,” he said.

Tanga added that sales this year have been up as dealers want more stock as sales are expected to remain positive even after Eid as marriages season is going to kick off.

But dealers say that over time taste in firecracker usage has changed, and firecrackers have progressed from producing banging sounds  to dispersing more of colors.  

Bashir Ahmed Dar also a wholesaler of firecrackers said that new variants of crackers are being introduced in the markets, even though demand for the older lot remains high as they cost less.
Kids still like the rocket, ground wheel locally known as Charkre , phuljhari, but many are demanding the new varieties, that are expensive. The costlier ones can cost Rs 1500 as these crackers have the ability to create numerous explosions at different heights with an display of colors.

Many like colors over deafening sound that is why many opt for them.

According to the historians the use of firecrackers in Kashmir is more than five decade old. Speaking to Kashmir Reader, Zareef Ahmad Zareef, a prominent historian said, “Kashmiri’s have adopted the art of bursting firecrackers after Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad started Jashn e Kashmir in 1954. It (Jashn e Kashmir) used to be the poetry recitation across the valley and at the end they used to burst crackers as a mark of joy.”

Zareef added that before 1950 there was an occasional use of firecrackers either on marriages or Hindu festivals. The firecrackers used where made locally by different manufacturers and sold at very nominal prices.