Their jalebis fail to draw customers

Charanjit Singh Teja

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, May 29

The lockdown has literally stolen the “sweetness” of jalebis, gulab jamun and other desi ghee ‘mithais’ sold at Sharma Sweet Shop near BBK DAV College.

Prior to the Covid-induced curfew, the shop would witness a huge rush, and its famous ‘jalebis’ and ‘gulab jamuns’ would be sold out in no time.

Shop owner Ramesh Kumar said they had reopened, but the sale was minimal. “ I along with five of my workers prepare only a few kg of both sweets every day. But there are only a few buyers,” he rued.

“Earlier, we used to prepare sweets in quintals and almost all shelves would be empty by the evening. Now, we are preparing only two items and there are no buyers for these as well. People are afraid of eating outside food. They fear of getting infected. The sale is unlikely to pick up pace for another couple of months,” said Ramesh.

Three families are dependent on this small shop for their livelihood. “Generally, we used to start work in the evening and people would buy jalebis and gulab jamuns between 7 pm and 11 pm. The administration has now allowed shops to reopen only on rotation basis and we have to wind up by 6 pm. Timing is not suitable for us. People take sweets only after dinner. We can’t make any other sweet as it can’t stay fresh for long. We are back to work, but not earning anything”, he said.

Seven persons from the Sharma family work at the shop. All of them sit idle now.

“When the curfew was lifted, people showed enthusiasm and bought sweets only on the first two days. When there was again a spurt in Covid cases, people started avoiding eating outside. We sold only two kg of jalebis on Thursday. The business will resume only after the government allowed us to operate till late in the evening”, said Ramesh Kumar.