Women swarm city markets on eve of Karwa Chauth

ALLAHABAD: Prime markets of the city including Civil Lines, Chowk and Katra on Wednesday were crowded with women clients shopping for Karwa Chauth, which will be celebrated on Thursday.
In the special bazars set up at Cantt and Civil Lines selling the Karwa Chauth paraphernalia, mehendi artists were successful in minting money from women customers. Many mehendi artists charged as much as Rs 300 to Rs 500 per hand, which shot up to Rs 7500 per hand for designer mehendi on the eve of the festival.
A group of Muslim women were also spotted at Civil Lines applying mehendi on the hands of Hindu women.
Local markets were flooded with women and girls splurging on the festive extravaganza. Anjali Mehrotra, a teacher, said, “Apart from buying gold bangles and karwa vrat items for the festival, the most intrinsic part of the festival preparations is getting mehendi done on hands and feet.”
The strength of shoppers swelled in the evening hours on Wednesday. Despite higher rates of Karwa chauth articles on the eve of the festival, many clients refused to compromise with the design and pattern of the mehendi and decoratives.