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The jute bags selling at a London outlet during the Olympic Games
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Indian athletes might have struggled to win medals for the country, but a Calcutta-based company won hands down when it came to selling souvenirs during the London Olympics.
Roma International, a company already with international exposure in manufacturing and selling jute products, shipped and air-ferried around 2.5 lakh souvenir bags in the lead-up to the Olympics, which sold from various London retail outlets like hotcakes.
“The demand was huge and our workers had worked day and night to meet the orders. We have specially prepared about seven kinds of Olympic souvenir bags, ranging from laptop bags to gift bags manufactured from jute fabric or jute-and-cotton blended fabrics which are sold from various departmental and retail stores in London” stated Roma Chakrabarty , owner of the company. The orders were placed in January and manufacturing started in February.
The designs — ranging from Olympics signage to London landmarks — are being approved by the wholesale buyers from London before they were printed on the bags. “There has been quite a high demand of India-made souvenir bags, especially the one with British flag and the other with ‘I love London’ tag” stated Pharam Sassooni, a wholesale importer from London.
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The India Automobiles showroom. (Sayantan Ghosh)
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Car-shaped hole
One of the oldest automobile dealers in the city, India Automobiles that started in 1960, has downed shutters. One couldn’t have missed the huge showroom at that strategic junction of Government Place East, right opposite the Raj Bhavan. The sprawling glass-enclosed display area, which showcased different marquees over time, today wears a desolate look with a lone sedan parked in a remote corner.
Started by Purushottam Pasari with a Hindustan Motors dealership in 1960, the family later graduated to selling Chevrolet cars in partnership with General Motors. Talking about the shutdown, a member of the family said: “We didn’t want to just sell cars. We want to do something more challenging.” However, that “challenging business” still remains to be decided. Meanwhile, the prime space bang in the Central Business District (CBD), stands vacant till the family decides what to do with it.
As the business of selling automobiles becomes more about reaching out to customers right at their doorsteps, the older and larger showrooms in the CBD are fast becoming defunct. Another large dealership on Chowringhee that sold Premiere Padmini (Fiat) cars closed long ago. With the closure of Indian Automobiles, General Motors has opened its newest dealership on Lansdowne, that has today evolved into a prime business and residential area. However, Austin, the oldest dealership in the city, operating since the 1940s, continues to operate from its prime Chowringhee location in a heritage building, newly furbished with a heritage facade that easily draws the eye.
(Contributed by Jayanta Basu and Anasuya Basu)
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