Spring is in the air, and the Jatiya Bosonto Udjapan Committee will host a musical soiree at the Institute of Fine Arts today to herald the new season with traditional festive mood. Scheduled to begin at 7 am, the function will get to see musical renditions, dance performances and poetry sessions. As in the past, this year’s function too is expected to draw a huge crowd traditionally dressed in yellow saris and panjabis. And revelry comes with business. Vendors selling rice cakes and other traditional snacks as well as toy sellers have already set up shops around the venue, anticipating huge earnings. Flower sellers too are crowding the area to cater to the revellers’ demand this day.
And with the advent of spring, can love be far behind? Tomorrow, it’s Valentine’s Day and as usual the demand for flowers, particularly red roses, is set to peak. And nobody loves this more than the traders at Shahbagh flower market. They have already started stocking flowers to prepare for the huge jump in business on the two consecutive days. Flower farmers in Godkali in Jessore, Jhenaidah, Natore, Gazipur and Savar have also reaped a rich harvest of red roses, zarbera, chrysanthemum, tube roses, gladiolas and yellow marigolds in the past few weeks. They expect to sell flowers worth over Tk. 7 crore to wholesalers, who would then supply them to florists and traders at Agargaon and Shahbagh markets , where the flowers would arrive in the early hours and offered to the retailers.