Lucknow

Coronavirus has affected millions of people directly. Over one lakh people are believed to be suffering from the disease while 3,500 people already have succumbed to it. However, beyond the counts are millions of people whose lives and livelihood are indirectly hit due to the disease.

“For eighteen years, I have been putting up a picchkari (water gun) shop in Holi but had never seen the market so deserted,” said Aakash Sonkar, 35, who had set up a small shop of colourful picchkaris and colour-gulal. His shop was at Aminabad, the most bustling market of Uttar Pradesh’s capital, Lucknow. Although colourful shops were set up this time too for Holi, but the number of people coming to them was remarkably low. There used to be a lot of demand for Chinese picchkaris in Indian markets. So, India being the largest market for China’s toys, corona scare had upset the Holi market in India.

“Every customer who came wanted to ensure that the picchkaris weren’t Chinese,” Aakash told Gaon Connection, who has been putting up Holi shops for the past 18 years in the Aminabad market.

According to a report by the International Market Analysis Research and Consulting Group (IMARC) that researches markets around the world, in 2018, the toy market in India was worth Rs 1.10 trillion ($1.5 billion), which is expected to cross $3.3 billion in 2024. About 90 per cent of the total toys sold in India come from China, followed by countries like Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Germany and Hong Kong.

Although Bablu vends tea in Aminabad, he manages to earn for the entire year through the festive stalls that he puts up during Holi, Diwali and Rakshabandhan. Bablu informed: “The TV channels have instilled fear in the minds of the people that coronavirus will come through Chinese goods. Although all my picchkaris were sourced from China, I had procured them as early as November. The goods which were supposed to reach me by January couldn’t be due to Coronavirus. The goods were delivered from China to Delhi and we then procured it from there. Whatever goods were available they were too costly.”

In November, Bablu had poured his earnings from Deepawali into buying the goods for Holi. Now he was concerned about how his house would run if the goods were not sold. “I am able to meet only my daily expenses through the tea shop while the festivals provide me with a good earning. The money that I had earned in Diwali I had used up in ordering the Holi goods. I had to pay for my kids’ education and I don’t how I will tide through this year,” confided Bablu.

Millions of people around the world have been directly hit due to the emergency wrought on by coronavirus. Out of the one lakh people suffering from the disease, more than 75,000 have been cured and about 3,500 people have perished (till March 7), but beyond these counts are millions of people whose lives and livelihood are covertly affected by the disease.

Vikas Gupta, managing director of VG Marketing, a toys whole seller at Delhi’s Sadar Bazar, informed over the phone: “It has not made much difference to the whole-sellers because we took all the goods in November itself, but the retailers are being questioned by the customers. It has come to the minds of the people that the Coronavirus can come in toys and picchkaris while it isn’t true. The virus cannot come through the goods. It is transmitted only by humans and animals. Still, people were not ready to believe.”

“The sale of Indian goods has increased due to non-arrival of Chinese goods but the variety of picchkaris that were manufactured here was less, so Chinese goods were preferred by the people. But this time even those were not selling,” said Vikas.

According to the IMARC, Maharashtra is the largest toy market in India, followed by Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Gujarat, Delhi and other major cities.

In Mumbai, Maharashtra, ABK Corporation supplies picchkaris and other toys to major cities of Maharashtra. Its director Bikas Hati informed us over the phone: “We have witnessed a drop in the sale of Chinese picchkaris and colours. People fear that they also would contain viruses. Small shopkeepers were constantly telling us that customers feel that coronavirus will also infect them by touching these Chinese goods.”

People were also distancing themselves from colours besides picchkaris. In Uttar Pradesh, Antu in Pratapgarh district geared up making Abeer-Gulal several months prior to the festival of Holi. Traders across many districts buy Abeer-Gulal from here. Pappu Yadav, who is from Amethi, sells gulal by the roadside at Sriram Intersection in Aminabad that too is sourced from Antu.

“For the past several years, I have been selling gulal in Holi that I buy from Antu and halt in Lucknow to sell gulal here a week before Holi. But despite our telling them the truth, people still believe that gulal is also Chinese,” Yadav said.

According to the IMARC report, China’s toy market was of $14.9 billion in 2019.  It is expected to reach $27.2 billion by 2020-2025. China is one of the world’s leading toy markets.

There are many wholesale shops in Raqabganj and Ahiyaganj in Lucknow which source goods from outside and sell it to small shopkeepers. At Raqabganj intersection, the toy whole-seller Zahid Ahmad, under the name Asian Traders, started preparing for Holi several months prior. His shop was packed with colour-picchkaris, but this time, not so many customers came to his shop.

“This time, the market was very dull. Normally, we sell toys around the year, Holi used to bring us a good income from picchkaris, but this time it looked like there would be a loss,” explained Jahid.

On Sundays, the market in old Lucknow comes alive but the market of the picchkaris remained cold even on Sunday. Raqib sat by his fully decked up roadside stall on Nadan Mahal Road, waiting for the customers. “It is noon already but so far only one picchkari has been sold, it is only during the festivals that we earn, this time even that is not happening,” noted Raqib.

Sandeep Chettri, chief operative officer of India Trade, an online portal working for digital marketing for small traders in India, said: “We connect big traders across the country with small traders, since the goods from China stopped coming from China following coronavirus, there have been a lot of queries seeking last year’s stock which compelled us to increase the price of the product.”