A little less glitz on Karva Chauth in Ludhiana this year

With Karva Chauth just a day away, very few women are flocking mehendi stalls in the city due to Covid fear.

Earlier, women used to stand in queues alongside roads to get mehendi applied, however, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, very few women are visiting henna stalls.

Henna artists in the city said that customers either prefer to visit after taking an appointment or get the services at home. The artists said that their business has gone down by 70%.

To maintain social distancing, henna artists have put up stalls at a distance of at least 2 metres and were seen sanitising frequently.

A visit to various markets such as Ghumar Mandi, Kipps Market, Sarabha Nagar, Shahpur road, Field Ganj and Chaura Bazaar revealed that very few customers are showing up at henna stalls and artists were getting calls from customers asking them to visit home.

This year, very few special henna artists from Mumbai, Mathura and other cities have turned up here.

Sagar Nayak, a mehendi artist from Ghumar Mandi said, “We are receiving more bookings for home service and very few customers are interested in visiting the stall. Last year, I got 50 artists here to handle the rush during Karva Chauth but this time we have only 20 artists as very customers are visiting the stalls. We have made proper seating arrangements and conducting a thermal screening of my employees. Due to the pandemic, our business is severely affected.”

Another henna artist from Lucknow, Sunil Kumar in the Kipps Market area and Sarabha Nagar said, “I am into this business for the last 20 years and this is the first time very few women are visiting the stall. I have 15 other artists to manage the rush at the stall but half of them are sitting idle as in the daytime, only five customers showed up and in the evening 20 came to apply mehendi. Last year, two days before Karva Chauth women had to stand in queue for their turn apply mehendi.”

Meanwhile, the artists were seen charging about Rs 100 to Rs 5,100 per hand and for bridal mehndi designs, the charges are Rs 1,100 to Rs 7,000.

Trendy patterns

In the last years, designs such as Arabic, floral patterns, and peacocks were very popular among customers but now stylish theme patterns such as clip art, portrait and life photos are in trend.

Images of a newlywed bride looking at the moon, Radha and Krishna designs that symbolise marriage and love are also an in-thing.

Ridha Chawla, a resident of Civil Lines, said, “I booked a henna artist and asked him to visit my home as I do not want to visit the stall due to heavy rush.”

Many artists could be seen showing various designs on their iPads, tabs and cell phones, hence replacing display boards and books.