A cap seller shows off his collection near Jama Masjid in Sakchi on Thursday. (Bhola Prasad)

Jamshedpur, Sept. 9: Medina khajur, lachcha sewai, burqas and prayer caps are top picks for Id-ul-Fitr, as the steel city gears up for celebrations tomorrow or day after, depending on the sighting of the moon.

Sakchi market, followed by Bistupur, is witnessing the hustle and bustle of Id-ul-Fitr celebrations, as customers throng shops to stock up on festive needs.

While men are flocking to buy crocheted white — and to a lesser extent, colourful —prayer caps, which come for Rs 20 onwards, as well as kurta pyjamas, the shopping list for women is longer. Not only are they getting clothes for children, they are also buying traditional salwar kameezes and black burqas with a touch of festive shimmer. Accessories and henna powder are also witnessing brisk sales.

Women are looking forward to adorn their hands with henna on the festive day, with the younger lot making appointments in beauty parlours for professionally applied intricate designs.

The holy month of Ramzaan has made the city’s fruit sellers a happy lot. Dates — ranging from a modest Rs 80 for the home-grown ones to a whopping Rs 2,000 a kilo for the imported variants — are picked by the devout, who break their daylong fast by chewing on them during Iftar or fast-breaking after sundown.

“Domestic variants are good for ritual offerings but unfit for consumption. People who fast till sunset throughout the month consume dry fruits in the evening. Imported dates are of good quality, which can be consumed everyday,” said Abdul Rashid Salim, a dry fruits seller at Sakchi.

Echoing Salim, Agrico-resident Mohammad Akram said: “I generally prefer seedless dates which cost between Rs 300 and Rs 400 a kilo, as we have elderly members in the family. Seedless dates are easy to chew.”

The festival, which would be incomplete without the sweetness and hospitality of the sewai, also offers shoppers a huge variety of sewai in the market.

White mounds of sewai are seen not just in market areas, but also in makeshift shops around the brightly decked Jama Masjid in Sakchi. Sewai sellers get their stock from Calcutta.

“Selling sewai is only a month-long business, but I have been busy throughout. On an average, I sell around 10-12 quintals of sewai a day to individuals and small shops. It will fetch me a turnover of around Rs 20,000 to 25,000,” said Mohammad Karim, a sewai seller in Sakchi.

Sellers and customers testify to the enduring popularity of lachcha sewai priced at Rs 80 per kg. There are around three or four types of sewai that are in great demand. Each vary in taste, texture and price.

“Sewai is fried in oil or ghee, and is priced depending on the quality of the frying medium,” said a sewai seller, adding that the price varied between Rs 50 and Rs 200 per kilo.