Sonamukhi / Kolkata: A group of families in Sonamukhi – a Bengal City of around 3,000 km from Kabul – is watching the events that take place in Afghanistan with a normal interest rate.
For more than half a century, families in Bankura Regency have trade relations that develop with Afghanistan, supplying high-quality silk turban, or SAFA, to Kabuliwallah.
With trade between India and Afghanistan suddenly stopped after the takeover of Taliban the country, the weavers and sellers of turban looked at losses in business and some had begun to shift to store and weave the original BaluChari Sari.
“We have been running this business for three generations now.
My grandfather started trading and then my father opened a shop in Kolkata and began exporting the turbans to Afghanistan.
Until last year, I had an annual turnover of Rs 1 Crore only from selling this turbans but trade arrived Arriving stopped now, “said Shyamapada Dutta, 49, who runs a weaving tool in Sonamukhi and has a shop in Rabindra Sarani near the Nakhoda Mosque.
Sonamukhi’s bond with the Afghans returned to the 1960s when several Kabuliwallah when traveling across Bengal-Spice and dried fruits were drawn to the village known as the weaving of rich silk.
“They gave the first commandment for silk turbans and liked the product so they continued to return for more and that was how trading began,” said Asit Baran Shoo, another weaver.
He added that even in the 1990s around 500 families in the village were involved in trade in turban but the number has now reduced by around 50 due to digital mold and most of Newage Afghanistan removing turban.
Colorful turbans mostly come in two long 36 inches and 45 inches and valued between Rs 350 and Hospital 3,500 depending on the quality of the silk used.
The black, blue and gray is worn by Pashoon.
The nuances of pale yellow and metal are preferred in Central and North Afghanistan while Hazaras, who claim to be a descendant of Jenghis Khan, go for green.
Raju Paul, 39, weavers and third-generation exporters said the turbans were mostly sent to Ghazni, the sixth largest trade center and the sixth largest city in Afghanistan.
The Taliban took Ghazni’s control on August 12 and since then all the transactions stopped.
“We have a set of ordinary Afghan customers who come to our village to buy turbans and a group of Afghan agents who regularly visit our units to take bulk orders and send them to Afghanistan.
But now the agent canceled further orders by quoting uncertainty back home.
The situation was similar to it in 1996 when the Taliban first annexed Afghanistan but our trade continued.
This time, the agent said the situation looked gloomy, “Paul said.
Afghanistan-based city at the Shyampada Dutta store near the Nakhoda Mosque to buy Afghanistan based in Turbanscity such as MD Rasul and Akhdat Khan said they had previously bought turban from Rabindra shops and from Sonamukhi both for personal needs or to export.
“But the situation looks gloomy now.
We don’t know when things will get better,” said the Apostle, who was in Kolkata for the past 40 years and dealing with clothes.
(With input from Sudipto Das)
The local turban makers at WB lost sleep over Afghan chaos
