Paper flowers save Angul florists during COVID-19 times

Banarpal: At a time when florists are not getting fresh flowers to decorate marriage gates, pandals and cars in the wake of coronavirus outbreak, the flower decorators of this place in Angul district have found a novel way to tackle the situation. They are using paper flowers to carry out the decorations.

According to Pitambar Pradhan, a florist, the paper flowers may not smell like fresh flowers. However, when it comes to beauty, they are in no way inferior to the real ones.

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Seconding him, Ganga Kumar, another florist, said, “Before lockdown, our hands were full of orders. We could hardly relax. We would have orders for events like 21^st day ceremonies, sacred thread ceremonies, marriage functions, meetings etc. But after March when the coronavirus restrictions were enforced, we are experiencing an unprecedented phase in our lives,”

Kumar added; “Even though the restrictions have been relaxed, restrictions are still there in case of organising ceremonies, festivals and meetings. However, people are observing their family functions like marriages and birthday parties with limited guests. We used to bring the flowers from Kolkata, but now due to the COVID-19 situation, that is a problem also.”

The florists at one point of time were in trouble as locally grown flowers did not meet the requirements of the customers. Then the idea of using paper flowers and festoons struck them. Now all the 10 florists here are using these brightly coloured paper flowers instead of fresh flowers, they claimed.

Earlier the florists would charge Rs 4,000 to 5,000 for decorating a groom’s car and for pandals and gates charges varied between Rs 5, 000 to Rs 10,000.

“Now we may not be earning as much by using paper flowers. But even then something is better than nothing. Many people have been rendered jobless. So we feel that we are lucky by earning something with which we are managing our family expenses. Though they (paper flowers) are devoid of any fragrances, they have saved us,” added some florists including Pitambar Pradhan and Ganga Kumar.

PNN