S.A.Shofiee. Sylhet :
With the advent of winter, sales of traditional pithas made of bran have boomed as roadside shops in the Sylhet have dressed the part to cater to the crowds at twilight the local delicacies in both taste and texture.
As the making of winter pithas at home is declining in the Sylhet city life, footpath shops have become the first choice for many for easy availability of the items.
Shuvro, who usually sells fruits in other seasons of year, now runs a makeshift shop in Kudrotullha area. An assistant helps him make and sell pithas in winter.
The vendor said, “I sell a cake at Tk 5 to Tk 15 as per their sizes and qualities.”
Like Shuvro, thousand others have turned to seasonal yummy pitha sellers this winter. They usually sell two most popular items-‘bhapa’ and ‘chitoi’.
Bhapa is a steamed flour sweetened with jaggery and desiccated coconut while chitoi a runny mixture made with flour and salt and then cooked on iron cooking pots to be eaten with mustard paste or chilli chutney.
Chitoi pithas are a winter staple for most people, including students, jobholders, rickshaw-pullers and the like.
Nurul, a customer, said, “I become nostalgic whenever I try pitha on footpaths. It takes me a flight back to my childhood when my grandma used to make pithas at dusk. We used to gather round the fire and chatted for hours.”
Pitha business brings smile on the face of sellers as they set up makeshift shops to earn extras at this time of year.
