Click to play videoPune: With just one day left for Diwali, wealthy businessmen and traders in Pune are making sure that they can share their success with those who cannot afford expensive festivities.
Delicious laddoos and crunchy chivdaa in heaps, grow every minute. All thanks to the Pune based 400-member strong team of the Poona Merchants' Chamber.
Every year, they make, 1.5 lakh kilograms of these Diwali goodies and it is a tradition that they have been following for 21 years now that even won them a mention in 2006's Limca Book of World Records. So much effort and yet, these laddoos and chivdaa are sold on a no-profit no-loss basis, at less than half the market rate.
“We want that even poor people can afford to buy sweets in Diwali and therefore we make them available at a very reasonable rate,” says Poona Merchants’ Chamber Vice President Deepak Bora.
It is like a mini-factory which works round the clock for ten days in a row. All workers go through a medical check up to maintain high standards of hygiene. But for the head chef, Babu Maharaj, the challenge lies in ensuring that every laddoo tastes the same. This is quite an achievement considering the number of ingredients required.
But he can feel the pinch due to the current financial crisis.
“Because of the rising inflation everything has become really expensive and therefore it has become a bit difficult but we will manage somehow,” says Babu.
“Of course it is tiring but it is a matter of habit. We have been doing this for years now,” says a worker Sarubai Gaikwad.
It is a mega project but all for a good cause that leaves a sweet after taste.
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