Mumbai, Nov 13 Despite the gloom caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, Mumbai's jewellery fraternity was pleased as plum on Friday, as serpentine queues of masked customers formed since Friday morning, waiting patiently outside the shops and showrooms to make their traditional and auspicious gold purchase on Dhanteras.
The narrow lanes and bylanes of the country's main jewellery hubs at Zaveri Bazar and Opera House, besides big and small showrooms in Dadar, Bandra, Santacruz, Vile Parle, Juhu, Andheri, Kandivali, Borivali, Mulund, Ghatkopar, Matunga, Powai and other parts of the city were teeming with crowds, maintaining the mandatory physical distancing.
Even the shop owners were present to receive and welcome them, attired in full festive finery, with safety arrangements for hand sanitisers, regular spraying inside-outside the shopping areas, sanitising all the contact points like counters, chairs etc.
Coming out in full public glare after several months, even gold seemed to have acquired an extra sheen with ornaments, coins and guineas offering a visual delight to the covetous customers.
"Belying our expectations, there has been a tremendous response this year, notwithstanding the gold rates which are nearly 35 per cent higher than Dhanteras 2019," a relieved Nitin Khandelwal, former president of the All India Gem and Jewellery Domestic Council
( With inputs from IANS )
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