Hyderabad: Om Prakash Singh and his family from Mallepally have been in the manja-making business for generations now. And the experience of decades showed in the way he skillfully twined the white C-28 cotton thread into pink and rolled it tight to a charkha.
Singh, however, said that he was disappointed with the decreasing popularity of the festival. “These days, kids have no time to live and play. They have school from eight in the morning till late in the evening.
When do they have the time to fly kites, except for the festival days?” he asked Full-time into manja-making, Singh said that they prepare stock and material for the occasion throughout the year and started making manja two months before Sankranti.
“Our Sheetal manja is very famous. It has rice, glass, aloe vera, colour and one secret ingredient to make it the strongest,” he added. He sells goods worth Rs 1 lakh in the season and makes profit of Rs 40,000.
Another famous manja-maker from Dabeerpura is Mansoor Khan. Known as Khansaab, his family has been in the business since the time of Nizams. Famous for Bareili and Tangoos manjas, the family members say that their manjas are strong as they are made of khadi paper.
