Adding colour, brightness to Festival of Lights
GEORGE TOWN: The must-have item this Deepavali seems to be brightly-coloured fabric lanterns.
These dominate Little India, the heritage enclave’s one-stop spot for all things for the Festival of Lights.
Traders are stocking them up in a multitude of hues and designs.
Kangaman Trading Sdn Bhd store manager D. Munsamy, 69, in Market Street, said he expected the lanterns to be popular this year.
“The fabric lanterns are easy to set up,” said Munsamy.
“All you need is a light bulb inside and it will shine beautifully through the fabric. These are imported from India,” he said.
He said that his store would usually sell prayer items all year round “but nearer to the festive season, we sell decorative items as well”.
Nearby, saree shop owner M.P. Alagarsamy, 77, said ready-made clothes were expected to sell better this year especially when the big day gets nearer.
“There will be no time to get tailored sarees then,” he said.
Customer B. Lechumi, 19, was at the store, buying a saree to wear at her sister’s wedding and to enjoy the
Deepavali sale.
“The sarees in Penang are more reasonably-priced compared to what we see back home in Kuala Lumpur,” said Lechumi, who was with her mother R. Tamil Selvi, 45.
The all-important mouth-watering sweetmeats were aplenty too.
Seller M. Thanaraj, 35, said customers always sought freshly-made ones “usually when Deepavali nears”.
“People buy in small amounts now to test the flavours and they will come back and buy in large quantities just before Deepavali,” he said.