Amid freezing temperatures, dried vegetables in huge demand

Srinagar, Dec 12: Amid freezing temperatures, Srinagar’s traditional dried vegetable markets have once again sprung to life.

Dried vegetable markets are abuzz in Downtown, especially Fateh Kadal, Maharaj Gunj, Nawab Bazar and Bohri Kadal, with long rows of stalls draped with colourful dried vegetables.

Along the narrow lanes, strings of dried bottle gourd, bunches of brinjals, tomatoes, beans, turnips, and red chillies hang from wooden frames. Vendors said that many of these vegetables are sun-dried in rural parts of the Valley during autumn, later making their way into these historic markets where generations of families have traded them.

“This stall has been my place of work since 1990. This work has fed my family and given us everything. These dry vegetables are pure; what you see is