Billing for your cosmetics and beauty shop in Meghalaya
Lip balm for a dry winter, ornaments for a festival dance, and a bridal booking with its advance.
A turmeric pack by the gram, the festival shade, and a dance group's necklaces cut to one length
The turmeric pack by the gram, and the jar that agrees with the book
Make the face pack an item at a rate per gram and weigh each packet on the scale. The bill shows the grams and the rate, and at closing you read how many grams left the jar. The jar's level and the book then agree, and the missing grams of last week stop being a mystery.
A lip colour found by the dress it is for
Name each lip shade with the dress colours it goes with, such as Coral, red and orange check. A girl who says it is for her red check dress is shown the right item on the screen, and the helper does not have to guess which tube she means. The count of each shade comes down with every sale, so the popular ones are seen early.
A dance group's necklaces, all the same length
When the dance group comes in together, each girl wants the same length of beads. Enter the length once for the first necklace and repeat it for the rest. The bill shows how many metres of strand went in all, and the stock of that strand comes down by the same metres, so the next group knows what is left.
Tools for a counter of face packs, lip colours and a parlour chair
Bills on your phone
A face pack sold by the gram from the jar, with the weight and the rate on the bill, sent to the visitor on WhatsApp. A second visitor behind her is not kept waiting for the scale.
Low stock warnings
A warning for the two lip shades that go first before a festival, while a supplier can still send more. The shade is named by the dress it goes with, so the warning is clear.
Orders to suppliers
The order for the lip shades and the bead strands, with each carton ticked against what you asked for as it arrives. What did not arrive is marked against the order the same day.
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Tura's jewellers and Shillong's bazaars: where Meghalaya's women look for their finish
Women in each district shop for their finish in different places, and these two show it.
- West Garo Hills' district site lists local makers of tribal-design jewellery and accessories, including Seven Cherri, which employs local tribal women, and Amis Jewellery in Tura.
- In Shillong, Police Bazaar sells Meghalaya merchandise, regional apparel and handicrafts, and a cosmetics shop nearby sees every kind of shopper.
A face pack weighed from a jar, the shade every girl wants before the festival, and beads cut to length
A turmeric face pack is weighed out from a jar, by the spoon
Some shops make face packs from local turmeric and sell them by weight from a jar, in small paper packets. A customer asks for a few grams, another for a larger packet to carry home, and a visitor wants three to give away. The rate is per gram, the scale is a hand scale, and by evening the jar is lower than the sales you remember.
Every girl wants the same shade before the festival
In the weeks before a big dance or a festival, girls come in groups and each asks for the same colour, and the shop has two. The mothers who came with them stand beside the girls, so when the shade is gone the girls go to the next shop and the mothers go with them. A lost sale is two lost sales.
Bead strands are cut to the length a dancer asks for
For a festival dance a girl wants a necklace of coloured beads, and she wants it to a particular length. You cut it from a long strand, and she takes the cut piece, while the rest is left on the card. The price is by the length, the leftover has no price, and by evening there are three short pieces in a box that nobody can sell. A dance group of eight asks for eight of the same length, and by the sixth the strand is short. The leftover from every cut becomes shorter, and a cut that was meant for the next girl is not enough.
Questions Meghalaya cosmetics and beauty shops ask
I grind a fresh batch of Lakadong turmeric for the face pack each week. How do I add it to the jar's count?
Add the grams of the new batch to the pack's stock when it is ground. The count then holds the old grams and the new together, and each packet you weigh out takes its grams off it.
The supplier now sends my lip shade only in a bigger tube. Is that the same item?
Make the bigger tube its own item beside the old one, and put the dress's name on both. The old count runs down while the new one is added, and the girl asking for her dress's colour finds either.
A dance group orders eight strands of one length. How do I check the order against what is left on the card?
Make the strand an item counted in lengths. After the cuts, the count of the card is what is left, and if it is short of eight you know before you cut the last one.
Lakadong turmeric masks and the Shad Suk Mynsiem dance
Meghalaya Tourism says the state's Lakadong turmeric is used in skincare masks, as well as in curries, teas and golden milk.
Shad Suk Mynsiem, held every April at Lympung Weiking in Jaiaw, Shillong, displays the Khasis' traditional attire and ornaments of gold, silver and coral beads.