Despite price rise, people throng mkts for Sankranti shopping

Customers were busy buying flowers, fruits, sugarcane and other items

- V Velayudham @ Kolar

DESPITE the prices for the essential items going up, people thronged the markets across the city to purchase items to celebrate Makara Sankranti festival on Monday.

The major markets, including Devaraja Market, Vani Vilas Market, Nanjumalige, Mandi Market and shops at Dhanvantri Road, JK Grounds and Shivarampet were flooded with ellu-bella, sugarcane, puja articles, flowers, fruits and other items. Customers, especially women, were seen making purchases of flowers, fruits, sugarcane, sesame-jaggery-coconut, new clothes and other items for the celebration.

The main items of the festival include seasonal food ingredients like sesame, jaggery, coconut and the sugarcane which were sold at every nook and corner of the city. Farmers from Mysuru and surrounding areas were busy bringing sugarcane grown in their farms and selling it on the main roads and circles of the city. While at Devaraja Market, a single sugarcane stalk is sold for Rs 30, depending on its length and thickness, while a packet of sesame and jaggery is sold for Rs 50 to Rs 60 and one kilogram packet of sesame and jaggery was sold for Rs 160 to Rs 180.