Handicrafts in Mahabs

In my last post, I explained how the market of handicrafts and artefacts is divided between the local businessmen and the Kashmiri businessmen  at Mahabalipuram. I also wrote about my experience with the local shopkeeper named Mr Saranga Pani. In this post I will write about my interaction with the Kashmiri shopkeeper and my interpretations from that interaction.

Last time when I visited Mahabalipuram, I went to the shop named Themes and Dreams. This shop is run by a Kashmiri businessman and he is running it under the firm named Baba Enterprises. This guy was young, well dressed and good looking. He was fluent in speaking English. On asking him, he told me that all Kashmiri businessmen  in Mahabalipuram are educated and they can converse in English very well. Probably this might be the reason why foreign tourists are attracted more towards them as compared to the local businessmen. This I confirmed from the feedback of a foreign tourist named Clara who bought a blanket from that shop. The shopkeeper also told me that all the Kashmiri businessmen have cordial relations with the local businessmen. This is because they already had mutual understanding among them that they can’t interfere in each other’s domains. Apart from that he told me that since his coming to Mahabalipuram, there had not been a single incidence of stealing. This shows that people living here are honest and trustworthy.

 

The products that I found in this shop were Carpets ( from Kashmir and from Iran ), Kashmiri paper weights, Pashmina shawls ( of many varieties ), Bed sheets, Blankets, Pillow covers, Bags ( from Rajasthan ), Jewellery ( from Jaipur ), Wooden Artefacts and Silver artefacts ( Both pure and German Silver ).  Around 20-25 traders from Rajasthan come on yearly basis to Mahabalipuram to sell their products like suits, bed sheets, jewellery, bags etc and the Kashmiri businessmen buy these products  from  them and sell these products in their own shops.  There are also big players like C.I.E Ltd ( Cottage Industries Exposition Ltd ) and Mamalla Art Gallery which have now the highest market share at Mahabalipuram. But still the smaller Kashmiri shops are earning a good amount of profit.

In my further interaction, I found out that foreigners prefer to come to Mahabalipuram in the months of July to September and in November to March. There are many foreign students who usually come in the month of June for volunteering work. Russians are the people who come in the last . These tourists have made good contacts with the Kashmiri shopkeepers. So before coming to Mahabalipuram, they contact these shopkeepers on phones and tell them the products they want. And these shopkeepers comply with their demands. So customer relationship has been developed from the past few years.  Also these days the tourists come with prior information regarding the prices of the products. So they do a lot of bargaining before buying any product.

To conclude, the handicrafts and artefacts market in Mahabalipuram is well divided between the local shopkeepers and the Kashmiri shopkeepers. Each side concentrates on one’s own strengths and weaknesses. There is no interference in each other’s business. The customers for both are different. Though the local businessmen are finding it tough to do business for the last few years.  But on the contrary business is flourishing for the Kashmiri businessmen. 

Sohrab Singh

Roll No - FT13478