Glowing in the dark: Students of Carmel School in Dhanbad sell their handmade diyas on campus on Monday. Picture by Gautam Dey

Riding a cyclonic storm, this November rain is all pain and no gain for Ranchi’s half a dozen potter families who are trying to cash in on the Diwali splurge with earthen diyas and other festive wares.

“Pottery is no more a profitable business. Sales have slumped over the years. We still decided to make diyas this Diwali, but the untimely rain has spoiled our plans. We have not been able to cast or fire diyas,” said Tunnu Prajapati, a veteran at Kumhar Toli in Purani Ranchi.

The elderly man pointed out that fairy bulbs, which come cheap at Rs 25-30 per five-metre string, had already dealt a blow to traditional diyas.

Decorating houses with earthen lamps is both cumbersome and costly. After buying diyas for Rs 60-70 per hundred pieces at the local market, one has to clean them and arrange for wicks and oil, the cheapest variety of which comes at Rs 60 per litre. “It is like a double whammy for us — first, electric bulbs in vogue and now, this rain,” Tunnu added.

Agreed Hemant Prajapati, another potter. “That is why the demand has not gone up,” he said, but added that he was lucky to escape the rain blow.

“I make around 20,000 diyas every festive season. Fortunately, I cast and fired my wares during Durga Puja. Though the showers have not affected me personally, many of my fellow potters are badly hit,” Hemant said.

He maintained that many urban potters were buying diyas from others in villages.

“As it is, we don’t get clay in the city. It is brought from places like Mandar and Ormanjhi. Then, a proper clay mould has to be prepared and, finally, diyas are cast and fired,” he explained, adding that with Diwali on the threshold there was no time left for the elaborate process..

Tunnu’s daughter Meena, who helps her old father sell wares, said they earned less than a daily-wage labourer and this time it would be worse. “We put in so much effort to make diyas, but don’t even get a rupee a piece,” she rued.

All of 50, Hemant was more profound. “We are resigned to our fate. We have been doing this since childhood,” he said, adding that GenX no longer took interest. “Nor do we encourage them to do so.”

Hemant is perhaps right from his perspective. Kumhar Toli, at present, hardly has half a dozen families dedicated to pottery. “I can’t even make a diya,” admitted resident Prakash Prajapati, a college dropout in his early 20s, who has learnt tailoring instead.

Will you buy diyas or fairy bulbs this Diwali?

Tell ttkhand@abpmail.com