New Delhi, Oct 29 (UNI) The sixth edition of North East Festival provided a new high to the business with many food-stall owners, weavers and first time entrepreneurs are elated by the response they bagged in the three-day cultural extravaganza.
Not only their crafts, foods and artefacts got an international recognition but also gave them their due credit in the domestic and international market. Many of them will now collaborate with well-known names as well.
Sushant Phukan, a promising entrepreneur and has earned Rs 1,80,000, has been putting up his textile stall from last three years but this time has been quite fortunate for him as his textiles have got international buyers.
He mostly deals with North Eastern fabrics be it cotton, Muga Silk or Eri silk, which he mixes them to get a fine texture.
“This time the business is much better as compared to the previous years. Last year, people have just seen the product but this time they are picking up instantly. As they already know about the items, so this time buyers are quite confident. I am quite thankful to the North East festival to give me this opportunity and give wings to my business to fly,” Mr Phukan said.
Even food stalls are getting quite popular among the audience and speciality of most of the stalls’ items are getting over within a very short time. Ethnic Kitchen, a speciality in the Asaam cuisine, has been selling non-veg items like fried pork, chicken and vegetarian such as paneer, chole and daal.
The owner of the food joint, Hemanka Gogoi, said he hasn’t expected that his stall will have a turnover of Rs 3,50,000 in three days.
'We are really happy that people have become a fan of our food. It’s not only the North East people, who are trying out our cuisine. Even many North Indians have also come and enjoyed the various food items. The biggest compliment which we have received so far is that one of the couples told us that they haven’t eaten such tasty pork gravy in their lifetime,' Mr Gogoi said.
It's not only Assamese cuisines or crafts which are a hit among the festival goers but also the food from Meghalaya, Sikkim and Tripura are also popular.
First time stall owner Davidson Shangpliang from Shillong is amazed to see the kind of reception his Khasi food has achieved in the festival.
“I have not expected that there would be so much demand for Khasi food. But the biggest drawback in the festival was lack of manpower for us. I just have five people to manage everything right from the preparation of food to managing the stall. We are doing good actually. We have so farearned Rs 75,000,” Davidson said.
While the live kitchens are doing well, debutant Juhaal, an online authentic Assamese kitchen product and ready-to-cook food items, is not left behind. They have also put a one-stop-shop in the festival to showcase their items.
'We are very happy. The way we have expected our launch to happen, it happened in that way. We have got good response and feedbacks too from the buyers. We will surely going to work on our drawbacks. So far, we have sold items worth Rs 2,25,000 in the last three days. We are blessed to get this opportunity from the North East festival,' said co-owners Olenka Dilip and Krishnazina Thakur. Sikkim food stall also got an offer to collaborate with a food joint in Delhi.
UNI PY SB 1355