Aizawl abuzz with Christmas shoppers

Agencies AIZAWL, DECEMBER 23 [dropcap]T[/dropcap]he narrow streets of Aizawl are filled with vehicles and shoppers who are making their last-minute preparations for the biggest festival Christmas. The fast-growing city is congested with vehicles and pedestrians throughout the year, but the Yuletide draws in more people from the rural areas who have avoided the state capital for all the year. “We don’t come to Aizawl except for Christmas shopping time. This time is what our children have been eagerly waiting for since the beginning of the year. We saved money for Christmas shopping,” says a 50-year-old man from Vaphai near the Myanmar border, some 200 kilometres from here. He brings all his four kids to shop here.Keeping buying new clothes aside, seeing the city itself once in a year itself is an exciting experience for those kids of far-flung areas. For traders, especially of clothes, it is the best time of a year as their sales skyrocket during this time. “Our sales are minimal throughout the year, but from the first week of December we see significant increase. This is the period when we make real profits,” claims a footwear shop owner. With the people being highly fashion conscious, this tiny city situated in one of the remotest places of India offers a wide range of branded clothes, from Addidas to Gucci to Pepe Jeans to Gini and Jony, besides hand-me-downs and designers’ clothes from China and Thailand. Besides Aizawl New Market that sells everything from smelly fishes to Calvin Klein garments, there is a shopping mall called Millennium Centre, a few metres from the main market, and a few other mini shopping complexes and branded showrooms which are bustling with Christmas shoppers. “Given the size and population of the city, the number of showrooms and shops that sell branded clothes are amazingly high. It indicates a high purchasing power among the Mizos,” observes John, a businessman. Among the teenagers, leather jackets, sweaters, jeans and boots sell like hot cakes. Imported clothes from Bangkok are the favourites of young and not-so-young women. Pick-pockets also find a golden chance to try their luck in this time of year as it is difficult to get caught in the sea of shoppers. A policeman on duty at a temporary police beat post informs today that they have received a number of complaints of missing money. A young woman complained a few days back that she had lost her purse which contained Rs 30,000. The city police have set up three temporary beat posts within the market vicinity to check such crimes, including bootlegging and drug peddling. At night, Aizawl becomes sparkling with Christmas lights coming up in every strategic point and tall tower, adding to the already glittering household electric lights. Most of the street decorations in Aizawl are done by youth wing of a church of the locality, mainly the Presbyterian Church the state’s largest denomination. Assam Rifles, headquartered in the heart of city, also puts up Christmas decoration at its main gate. Such decorations are hotspot for Christmas snaps. Yuletide is also marked with family and friends picnics, advanced Christmas parties, concerts and charity gifts in Mizoram. Most of the churches in the Christian-dominated state of Mizoram observe the Christmas Day as a thanksgiving day. The big feast, considered the salient feature of a Christmas in Mizoram, is thrown on the Boxing Day, December 26. The New Year day is also marked with equally big community feast.