KATHMANDU: It was a sweet Dashain for people in the valley, so much so that many mithai shops had to stay open for most of the holidays.

The sweets purchase trend has caught on in a big

way; people seem to find it easier to buy sweets from shops to serve guests and eat during festivals unlike the age-old tradition of preparing these at home.

“People have really taken to the trend of buying sweets over the past few years and this Dashain, more people came to buy sweets than in the previous years,” said Subhash Kar Raj Raj Karnikar, owner of Shree Ram Bhandar.

Rasbari, rasmalai and

gulab jamuns are on the favourites’ list of revellers. Even sel-roti, a favourite Nepali delicacy which is usually made at home, is now being bought in the market.

“Sweets shops usually see more people during Dipawali in comparison to Dashain. They also make the effort to decorate the premises. We also decorated our shop for four to five days during Tihar,” added Raj Karnikar.

Another well-known sweets shop Angan also saw a deluge of customers this Dashain. “We only closed the shop on Tika day. On all other days, we had to stay open as people were coming in throughout Dashain,” said Anil Gupta, manager at Angan.

The only problem faced

by sweets shops during

festivals is the unavailability of milk. “The shortage of

milk is a problem but we seem to be managing, and as we shut the fast food section for the holidays, the supply of milk sufficed for sweets,” added Gupta.

Now, the sweets shops are preparing to give the people a sweet-sweet Tihar, just like during sweet Dashain.