Kolkata, Dec 21 (Inditop.com) It’s winter in Kolkata and sure enough it has brought in its wake the Bhutias – Tibetan traders who descend from the hilly regions of north and northeast India to sell colourful woollens. City folks await their arrival eagerly.
Along a stretch of central Kolkata, a large number of them set up shop. Their makeshift stalls can be see lining the pavilion of Wellington Square through November, December and January.
“I am from Himachal Pradesh. We come here every year. My family has been coming to this place for the last 35-40 years,” Tenzin, a 28-year-old woman draped in a traditional blue attire, told Inditop.
Though locally known as Bhutias – a reference to people from Bhutan – they are actually Tibetan refugees settled in states like Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Sikkim.
Tenzin said: “We are all from Tibet originally. We migrated to India long back and are now Indian citizens. We visit Kolkata every year for business. I have come with my mother this time. We have put up in a rented house in Bowbazar,” she said.
On a wintry afternoon it is common to find Kolkata residents haggling with the Bhutia shopkeepers over woollen garment purchases. The traders construct around 100 stalls along the footpath selling sweaters, mufflers, gloves, socks, caps and what have you.
Selling a wide variety of woollens at very reasonable prices, they are a hit with middle class customers and youngsters.
“We have been putting up stalls since 1974. I have been coming here for the last 22 years. We probably had some 70-75 stalls then and now it has increased to around 100,” T. Jyltsen told Inditop.
Asked whether the West Bengal government provides them any help, he said: “The city corporation allows us to set up the stalls here for three months.”
The 40-something Jyltsen says the Tibetan traders would earlier go from door to door selling their wares before hitting upon the idea of putting up stalls.
On an average day, they sell garments worth around Rs.800-900 but on holidays the figure goes up to Rs.2,000-4,000.
Dawa, another shopkeeper in his 30s, told Inditop: “I come here every year. I am a Tibetan but we have been settled in Sikkim for a long time.”
This year Dawa has come with his 14-year old nephew. His says his parents were among the first batch of Bhutias to set up stalls in the metropolis.
Some who come alone hire local people as helpers.
Sobha Dutta, a customer, told IANS: “We come almost every year to shop for trendy woollen garments at reasonable prices.” She has been buying from the Bhutias for the past 15 years.
Though these people converse in their native language among themselves, they are fluent in Hindi and can also read the language.
In another shop, a young and vibrant Shabnam told Inditop she and her sister Zeneb had come to Kolkata with their trader father this time to “tour the city”.
Even as Shabnam’s father silently ate his lunch with chopsticks, she said: “We have come from Kashmir, though we are originally from Tibet. We buy woollen goods in bulk from Ludhiana and sell it here.
“We also do traditional Kashmiri embroidery work,” she said.
