The economic crisis is being felt among the street vendors of Avurudu, the national holiday celebrated at this time and which marks the beginning of the year for both the Sinhalese and the Tamils.
Colombo () – “We cannot afford to celebrate the New Year of the Sinhalas and Tamils with joy. This year is more difficult than the previous ones. We do not have enough daily income, it is difficult to buy new clothes and food. It is not a New Year for the poor”. These are the comments collected in the markets of Sri Lanka during these hours when the country was celebrating the Avurudu festival, which for both the Buddhist and Hindu communities marks the beginning of the New Year. A national holiday lived with sadness by the poor, who pay increasingly harshly for the impact of the economic crisis.
“Although it is difficult to save money, before we saved part of what we earned during the year thinking about celebrating the New Year in April. But after Covid, income gradually decreased and there was no prosperity. This year is a loss for everyone” , Saranapala Kasturi, a 58-year-old Sinhalese Buddhist fruit seller on the Colombo Fort pedestrian walk, told .
Saranapala, a father of three school-age girls, travels to the heart of the capital by bus from Homagama every morning at 5am. He takes two boxes of oranges from the fruit wholesaler and sells them on the sidewalk. Before, he sold four boxes of fruit a day and left Colombo at 4 pm with 3,000-4,000 rupees. “Today, to sell a box and a half of fruit, I have to scream until I feel blood in my throat, and at the end of the day I have to go home with 1,000 rupees,” he says. “There are hundreds of people like me on this sidewalk. All we are left with is sadness.”
According to traders, most people do not have money to spend this New Year. “Kavum, athirasa, kokis, aasmi: when people hear the prices of sweets they turn around. If before they bought 10 to 25 per item, today they only have one for one person,” Mabel Felicia, 60, explains to years, who sells sweets at the Jaela public market.
Nadarasa Rasamani is a 45-year-old tricycle driver with two young children. He lives in a rented house in Wattala area with his elderly mother, his father, his wife and his two children. He says business is not what it used to be. Every day at 6am, he stops his three-wheeler near Hemas private hospital in Wattala and sells breakfast to people on their way to work until 8.30am. “We can't afford to buy sweets and new clothes for our children or gifts for our parents,” says Nadarasa. None of us want to take out a loan to do it. That's why my wife and I have sadly forgotten Avurudu.”
