When guests come visiting this Bihu, how will you receive them? Will you offer sira (flattened rice) and doi (curd) in heavy shinning baan batis or opt for something else?

The bell metal has always been an integral part of the Assamese culture — from dishes and bowls in an Assamese family to the cymbals played during Bihu, from the bells in a temple to the xorais presented to the best Bihu troupes in various competitions and contests every year.

The artisans at Sarthebari in Barpeta used to work round-the-clock when Bohag Bihu or a marriage season set in.

Sarthebari has retained its pride of being the only place which produces bell metal products in the state.

At present, with the skill they have inherited from their forefathers, 1,800 artisans in the place eke out their living at 300 workshops.

“But now the situation has changed. The artisans are facing a situation similar to that in Sualkuchi. Cheap products from Bankura in West Bengal and from New Delhi, resembling Sarthebari products, are flooding the market,” said Nakul Talukdar, president of Assam Metal Guild Association.

Talukdar appealed to the organisers of Bihu competitions to buy only xorais made in Sarthebari. The artisans of the area still fondly recall how All Assam BSNL Employee Association bought 1,000 xorais from them for an annual celebration last year.

“If the Bihu committees buy xorais made in Sarthebari, it would greatly help the artisans. People buy outside products because they are cheaper. But those products cannot be compared with the ones made in Sarthebari,” Talukdar said.

Sarthebari these days sends its products to countries like Indonesia, Japan, Thailand and Bhutan. “We export cymbals of various kinds. They send us the design and we make,” Talukdar said.

The artisans are worried that middlemen earn exorbitant profits, thus pushing the industry into a critical situation.

Talukdar said the artisans were hoping that the state government would set up a separate department for the development of this industry.

Will the Bihu committees or the government listen to the appeal of the artisans?

Talukdar, like hundreds others, does not know.

But the bell metal products will grace every Bihu, no matter whether they are from Sarthebari or from Bankura.