Kathmandu, September 27:

Crafty street vendors of the capital city are having a boom time, thanks to the festive season.

They know a myriad ways to draw the attention of prospective customers.

“Buy this beautiful hairpin for Rs 5 and woo your ladylove,” shouts a peddler on a street. Anyone who is not familiar with the ways of these people will be easily lured by such calls.

If the item seems to you a bit expensive, you’re sure to find others in the vicinity, who might offer you the same hairpin for a cheaper price.

“Get this shirt for Rs 160,” cries another. The price, of course, can be negotiated.

Stitching a shirt alone costs you anywhere between Rs 120 and Rs 180 in tailoring centres in the capital.

“You can find genuine clothes on the streets,” says a student, Rubin Khatiwada, rummaging through piles of shirts at the New Road Gate.

Rajesh Pathak, who hails from Jhapa, Chandragadi, says, “This is the time we make some money. We keep on playing hide-and-seek with the municipal staff for the rest of the year. For three years, I have been footing college fees by selling clothes on the street during leisure time.”

Almost all downtown streets in the capital are full of vendors and customers. Never are the streets so crowded and shops extended out into the streets as during festivals.

“Customers make up their mind about what kind of goods they really want to buy only after seeing the goods,” says Ramesh Shrestha, a shopkeeper at Ason.

Peddlers are making money and shoppers with a limited budget, too, are happy.

But the street shops and vendors are surely a nuisance for the busybodies hurrying to their destinations.