by bolton based house of raja s for the festival of diwali, but this year, due to a shortage of supplies due to the pandemic there, staff here are working flat out to keep up with demand, and some foods have been rationed. we have something that comes from india every year, what we call halwa, and it s a traditional indian sweet that you d find in every household. so, where we normally get 6,000, 7,000 packs a year, we were lucky to get 900, so we have been very tight and we ve had to tell our customers just one packet perfamily, or two packets per family. it s been stressful for the owner of this store, as most of the goods which are used in diwali celebrations, like candleholders and stencils are also from india. deliveries have been affected, too, by a shortage of lorry drivers in the uk. sital raja arjan says before the pandemic they were getting four deliveries a week and now they re lucky to get one. a lot of these goods you can t get locally,
diwali celebrations, like candleholders and stencils are also from india. deliveries have been affected, too, by a shortage of lorry drivers in the uk. sital raja arjan says before the pandemic they were getting four deliveries a week and now they re lucky to get one. a lot of these goods you can t get locally, or you can t get the prices locally. when you ve done the same process for 30 years and suddenly that process is taken away, and no one has a plan b we never had a plan b because we never knew we d get covid. and not being able to visit india has meant that shoppers who usually travel there to buy food and clothes for the festival have had to make other plans, and they say it s made a big difference. i guess there s certain specific flowers that you would need for certain specific ingredients, for example, or evenjust the cost of things going up, as well, which has had a very big impact on how we would celebrate and the delicacies that we d usually make. for many hindus, and