Craft delight at twin fairs

Craft delight at twin fairs

Calcutta Telegraph, India

Ranchi, Dec. 20: A blend of local craft items with that from various places across the country is on offer for art lovers in twin fairs in the city.

Followed by a 10-day handicraft exhibition, which was inaugurated at Bihar Club yesterday, the national khadi and handicraft fair began at Morabadi grounds today.

Visitors were seen asking for silk doormat, popularly known as panja dari, at the exhibition organised by Vindhya Khadi Gramodyog Samiti, Mirzapur (Uttar Pradesh). Sponsored by the Union ministry of textiles under the Ambedkar Hastshilpa Vikas Yojana, the mela was weavers’ paradise as far as sale of rugs is concerned. The cost of each set of panja dari is Rs 600 while rugs come anywhere around Rs 250 apiece adorned with varied designs.

Imran Khan, the secretary of the samiti, said there were 17 self-help groups in Mirzapur who are apt in making these rugs. “Besides, we are also imparting free training to make rug with hand-weaving machine,” added Khan.

Raju, a weaver, said it takes almost a week to design one rug. “The bigger ones almost take a month to complete,” added Raju, while demonstrating the process of weaving.

Governor Syed Sibtey Razi inaugurated the national khadi and handicraft festival — which will continue till January 7 — at Morabadi grounds today. There are around 300 stalls at the fair, which has become a veritable storehouse of handicraft items of different places like Jammu and Kashmir, Mysore, Dehradun, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Jodhpur among others.

However, the most attractive part of the fair is a pavilion named after Maulana Abul Kalam Azad where rare photographs of Mahatma Gandhi has been displayed right from his birth to funeral procession. “It’s a lifetime opportunity to see such photographs of Gandhiji,” said Mita Singh, a student of Marwari College.

Sunil Mishra, one of the stall owners from Hazaribagh, was seen painting a centre table designed out of Plaster of Paris and white cement in a tree form.

“We have more than 200 varieties of such items which are made with iron rods and then given finishing touch with white cement and Plaster of Paris,” added Mishra.

There are also leather stuff from Dehradun which includes items bags, jackets, shoes among others.

Jainandu, the chairman of the Jharkhand State Khadi and Gramodyog Board, said the major attraction of the fair is the variety of handicraft items. “Visitors would feel the fair like mini-India with the craftsmen displaying skills in their respective items along with live demonstration,” he added.