Price rise fails to dampen spirit of ‘festival of feasts’

Guwahati: While coconuts, the heart of Magh Bihu’s festive treats, have become a luxury in Assam with soaring prices and other festival goods have turned costlier, the costly affair could not dampen the spirit of the ‘festival of feasts’.Markets and roadside stalls brim with readymade ‘mejis’, the iconic conical stacks of bamboo and hay, standing proudly upside down like rustic crowns.The price of locally grown coconuts has surged by 25% in the past year alone and has become over 100% steeper than five years back, prompting imports from South India. These affordable imports now dominate the market, undercutting home-grown nuts by more than 50%. A coconut, which was sold for Rs 100 in Jan last year and at Rs 50 a year ago, is being sold at Rs 125 this year.Anil Rabha of Boko in Kamrup district brought 100 locally grown coconuts and 100 coconuts procured from South India to sell at Bamunimaidam market. “We are selling a pair of locally grown coconuts at Rs 250 and three coconuts brought from South India at Rs 100. Locally grown are costlier than the procured ones. But sales are satisfactory,” he added.The city glows with festive spirit as readymade Bihu delicacies, including pithas and laddus and other food items, flooded the markets roadside stalls brim with readymade ‘mejis’.In villages, the tradition lives on — mejis rises in courtyards and open fields — waiting for dawn. On the first morning of Magh Bihu or Bhogali Bihu, flames dance upon them as prayers ascend to the heaven, a tribute to the gods and a warm embrace of the season’s joy. A three feet tall ‘meji’ is being sold at Rs 300-400 while a five feet tall ‘meji’ is being sold at Rs 500-600.Nisha Baruah, a teacher at a private school in the city and a resident of Satgaon, said when local produce becomes a luxury and procuration from other states becomes the norm, it signals not efficiency but surrender.“The flood of cheaper southern goods quietly sidelines native growers, turning self-reliance into a festive illusion. Even ‘mejis’, once shaped by many hands and shared pride, are now bought and burned with little connection.... A festival that forgets its soil risks becoming only a spectacle of smoke and memory,” she added.Dhan Medhi, a private sector employee and a resident of Chandmari, said prices of the products have surged burning a hole in the pockets of the common man against the stagnant income. “Even after that, we have to carry on the legacy and the tradition as per the ability of every household based on their financial conditions. Celebration, preservation of the tradition in its true sense and carrying forward those to the younger generations have now become a costly affair. But we must not give up...,” he added.