Residents check woollens at Lhasa Fair in Patna on Sunday. Pictures by Jai Prakash

Lhasa market is back in the city with the onset of winter.

The Lhasa Fair, put up by Tibetan Refugee Association annually, has an array of winter collection, including cardigans, jackets, pullovers, scarves to Indo-western woollen leggings, kurtis, stoles and shawls and dupatta.

Continuing the fair since more than four decades, the traditional market started in early-1970s. “The venue has changed many a time in these years. We started our fair from Krishna Chowk in 1970. Gradually, it became bigger with the support of the association and under leadership of Dalami Lama. Then we shifted near Mahavir Mandir, Beur jail and Gandhi Maidan. Since there was no allotment done for the fair, we requested the administration to allot a temporary place for the fair. We got this place with the help of Satyanand Trust located on Buddh Marg. For he past six years, we have been putting up stalls here only,” said Chime Tsering, an elected member of Tibetan Refugee Lhasa Market Committee.

The fair is completed only with individual efforts. “We visit the allotted place and put up the stalls. Once the number of stalls is confirmed, we allot them through a lottery system. This year, the number of stalls is 109,” said Tharpa Gyaltsen, another elected member of the committee.

“We are around 150-200 people in the association. The members are located in Uttarakhand, Dharamsala, Shimla, Darjeeling, Mussoorie, Shillong and Chittapur (Karnataka). The shopping is done from Ludhiana,” added Chime.

The hazy weather is now their prime concern. The business of the fair totally depends on weather. “Since it is cloudy, we have to look for waterproof material also. The footfall gradually increases after Chhath,” added Chime.