Pottery sales in the Ganjam district of eastern India are at a low despite festival season as events have been scaled down this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The video from November 10 shows the traditional process of making diyas, an oil lamp usually made from clay.

Dinesh, a 25-year-old diyas maker, said: “We are receiving the orders, but not in the numbers we used to receive."

A potter of 10 years living in the Ganjam district also shared his experience and revealed how coronavirus has affected his business.

"Very few people are coming out to buy diyas to decorate their houses. The sales have gone down severely compared to last year. Orders have been reduced by 50 percent. The festive season brings cheer to us, but the muted celebrations have taken a toll on us.

"We keep waiting for the festivals so that we could earn something, but this year has been different,” he shared.

With Covid-19 taking the sheen off the festive season, very few people are coming out to buy diyas to decorate their houses. The sales have gone down severely as compared to the last year.

Though the diya makers have been trying their best to make their diyas sell, nothing much has been achieved. The artisans rue this time, their orders got reduced by 50 per cent. a potter who lives in ganjam district near odisha Cantonment shared that he had been into this work for the past 10 years, but had never seen any such a situation.The festive season brings cheer to us, but the muted celebrations have taken a toll on us.

We keep waiting for the festivals so that we could earn something, but this year has been different,” he shared.The diya makers shared that people were ordering diyas and they were making the same on order, but not the way they used to do in the previous years.

“On normal days, we would start making diyas but this time, we started in July when there was a little relaxation in the lockdown. We also faced issues in getting the soil required to make diyas.There is an extended family of about 100 persons in ganjam district that remains extremely busy these days.

Everyone, ranging form the 90-year-olds to the 25-year-olds and even school-going children, remain busy making dough of clay, churning out designer diyas, drying them, painting them and taking them to the shopkeepers for sale.Dinesh, a 25-year-old said their diyas go to other states too. “Even this time, we are receiving the orders, but not in the numbers we used to receive. There is nothing like before,” he said.