Billing for your toy shop in Assam
Clay, pith and bamboo toys, each maker's page and the Bihu gift, on one phone.
Tools for a shelf of clay, pith and bamboo toys
Bills on your phone
A bill for a clay boat and a bamboo whistle, made while the big sister is still counting her coins.
Orders to suppliers
The next order to the potter for clay horses, with each lot noted by the day it arrived, so the lot named on the bill is the lot you ordered.
Credit book (khata)
A page in a family's name for the toy that was chosen when the purse was a coin short.
Daily reports
Clay, pith and bamboo toys on separate lines in each day's list, so the weeks after Bihu show which kind the families chose.
Silk looms, jute fields and tea plains: where the families who buy toys earn
Toys sell to families wherever Assam earns, from looms to jute to tea. A few districts, and what they are known for.
- Sualkuchi town in Kamrup district is a silk handloom cluster, often called the Manchester of Assam, where many migrant hired weavers work.
- The Assam government names Barpeta, with Nagaon, Goalpara and Darrang, as the main jute-producing districts of Assam.
- Cachar is known for its tea plantations; paddy, vegetables, pulses and tea are grown on the plains along the Barak river.
A clay horse that breaks in a day and a pith bird that waits all year
Clay, pith and bamboo: three kinds of toy, three kinds of maker
The shelf of an Assam toy shop holds clay figures from a potter, light pith birds and flowers from a craftsman, and bamboo and wood toys from a village family. Each arrives in a different way, on a different day, in a different box, and each maker has his own idea of what a fair rate is. In the notebook they are all one line called toys.
The clay horse that breaks, and the pith bird that waits
A clay toy can crack on the way or in a child's hand on the first day. A pith bird will sit on the shelf for months, and nobody asks for it until a visitor does. You bought both at the same time, but one of them leaves on the first day and the other leaves after the next festival, and your records show nothing of the difference.
A big sister with her Bihu money and a small brother who cannot choose
At Bihu the big sister arrives with the small coins she was given, and her brother at her side. She counts them out on the counter, and he changes his mind twice, between the clay boat and the bamboo whistle. By the time the toy is chosen a second customer is waiting and you have only half-written the bill.
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From the maker's lot to the sister's Bihu coins
The brother swaps the clay boat for the bamboo whistle, and the total follows
The sister counts her coins against the total while the brother changes his mind between the clay boat and the bamboo whistle. Take the boat off the bill, put the whistle on, and the total changes with him, so the bill holds only the toy that is in his hand.
Three makers, three pages, three different conversations
The potter's page reads by lot, so you can tell him which lot cracked and which sold whole. The pith craftsman brings no price list, so his page carries the rate you set and what sold of it. The bamboo family's page is the plain one: brought, sold, owed.
Clay and pith as two lines, so you know which waits
Give the clay horses and the pith birds items of their own. After a few weeks the list shows which went on the first day and which stayed on the shelf, and the next order to the craftsman is made against what sold, with the long wait of the pith bird in front of you on the page.
What Assam toy shops ask about clay breakages, pith birds and Bihu gifts
A clay horse cracked in the child's hand a day after the sale. How do I find which lot it came from?
Give each lot its own line with the day it came. The bill names the lot, so when a mother comes back, you read the line and know which potter's lot it was.
A pith craftsman brings birds with no price list. Can I set the rate when they arrive?
Yes. Note the lot when it comes, set the rate on your phone, and each sale of it takes one off the count, so the lot is on your list from the first day.
A child is choosing between a clay boat and a bamboo whistle, and the sister is a coin short. What do I do?
Make the bill for what the child chose and take what she has. The coin still owed goes on a page in the family's name, and she settles it on the next visit.
A pith flower is sold by the piece and a bunch of pith flowers by the dozen. Can both be on my list?
Yes. The single flower and the dozen are two items, each with its own rate and unit. A bill can carry one or both, and the list shows how many of each went out.
Clay first: the folk toys of Assam
Assam's folk toys fall into three kinds by material: clay toys, pith toys, and toys made of bamboo, wood and other materials. A shop that stocks them all deals with three kinds of maker, and its list can name each kind.
Among Assam's folk toys, clay toys occupy the foremost position. For a toy shop this means that the clay shelf is the one most customers look at first, and the one whose breakages and lots most need a name.