As winter’s chill slowly set in with delightfully cool breezy nights, the families from the Tibetan colonies in Orissa arrived in the city to provide warm comfort with their woollen wears. The sudden drop in temperature during the past few weeks has jacked up the sale of woollen clothes and the Tibetans are a happy lot.

Around 15 families set up their stalls at the Police Barracks during this time of the year to sell woollen wear like sweaters, shawls, stoles, pullovers, and sporty jackets in an enticing range of colours. “The response has gone up by 30 to 40 per cent in the past two weeks,” says Dicky, who has been coming to the city for the past 10 years.

As winter turns colder, their business becomes warmer with more people flocking the market. On an average, each stall owner gets a business of Rs.1,000 a day with which they have to meet their expenses including the wages given to local youth for engaging them as salesmen. While last year the sale saw a deep plunge by December, the encouraging start and cool weather has lifted the hopes of the Tibetans.

Dicky says that like last year, this year too there is fixed price tags for the items. “All items are sold only at fixed rates. We are very happy with the new system as we get genuine buyers. As a result, we don’t have to waste time on bargaining,” she says as she attends to the customers in a businesslike approach.

Today, nearly 75 per cent of the Tibetan refugee families in India are engaged in this business and the number may well increase in the coming years. Travel to any small or big cities during the winter months and chances are you will spot these people with Mongolian features squatting behind heaps of sweaters lined up on pavements. By January end, the traders head back home where they take up farming which is their primary occupation. They eke out a living by raising paddy, ragi and maize in the land given to them as part of rehabilitation package by the Government.