The city of lakes was once again embedded with a wonderful craft mela at historic spot Gauhar Mahal. This time the palace got embellished with ‘Karigari craft bazaar', organised by the Arival Bharatiya Dastkar Samiti, New Delhi. The craft bazaar which concluded recently in the city attracted huge crowd and was lauded by art lovers.
This craft mela was all about handloom material and people of Bhopal explored the various vibrant colours of India. Gauhar Mahal was furnished with the cultures of Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
The organiser of the mela Iqbal Singh informed that Arival Bhartiya Samiti is an NGO that works for craft vendors. They often take them on tours in a group so that they can earn the profit directly by selling their material in any handloom fair in India or overseas. He further added that their NGO also sends these vendors overseas as and when they are offered with any such opportunity. He also said that this NGO did send a troupe of vendors to Malaysia in a fair to trade for their bits and pieces. This was the first time they have put a fair at Gauhar Mahal. He added that for a single stall they pay Rs 8,000 and they bring the items from their respective grounds of about `35,000 approximately. He added that the troupe will now move to Lucknow to set up a handloom fair.
The introductory stall of the mela was full of sparkling and fizzy shades, it was of Rajasthani and Gujarati footwear which are popularly known as mojari or jutiya all over India. Essentially they are worn by both men and women of Gujarat and Rajasthan. They are beautified with mirror work or putting sipis over it. The main colour combinations that are used in them are blue and pink or red and yellow with a touch of golden work, or silverish strokes.
The other Rajasthani stall focused wholly on kids. They displayed Lehenga Chunni for girls and kurti and dhoti for boys. They applied mirror work, aari work and sitara work. They use a special cloth which is made and printed in Rajasthan itself, known as 'Tirkut Kapda', which is dipped and then soaked out of colour mix water and then the imprints are done with moulds of different designs. The interesting fact to know about this is that 1,000 meter cloth is done altogether which takes four months to get completed.
The next stall represented Jaipur. It displayed and sold household materials like handloom bedsheets, cushion, and small stools to sit which are basically known as Moda. All this material was handcrafted with chain stitch, simple threading and mirrors for a finishing touch.
The next stall was of Kashmiri warm clothes. This stall belonged to ‘Flower Raffal Pashmina and cotton Handloom WICS Ltd’. It’s a Kashmiri association which imports and exports Kashmiri shawls, sarees, suits and ponchos. The work they apply is very mild and uses colours matching with that of cloth. The very basic colours they use are white, yellow, red and a shade of pink. Usually they use white as their base.
The other Kashmiri stall was named as 'Mejoor', they displayed and sold Kashmiri Stoll called as 'Kanigold Shawl'. The work applied on this stoll is very vigilant as one stoll takes at least four days to be completed and only two persons work over one stoll. It is made out of only one thread may be of different colours. The base is usually black or grey. The unknown fact of this work is that it is usually done at night.
Talking about colours, how can one forget to mention Banaras. Lots of designer sarees and suits with applied work of Kankab, Jamdani, Malwari Walkalam silk and patch work were displayed.
Chanderi and Maheshwari work on half silk cotton suits added more zest at the stall of MP.
Ornaments are best attraction for women. A horde of ladies could be seen at the ornament stalls. These stalls included imitation jewellery from the States of Gujarat, Rajasthan, embedded with kundan karigari with a touch of traditional look. The other stall was decorated with Hyderabadi ornaments including gulu band with anar dana giving them a traditional touch of Hyderabad.
"It was great to explore the tradition of India altogether under one roof as always at Gauhar Mahal,” says Heena Khan. Similarly, a schoolteacher by profession Humera who visited the fair almost every day got a lot of varieties of warm Kasmiri clothes for herself and her children for the cold winter. It was great, she added.
Putting all in a nutshell the Karigari craft bazaar organised by Arival Bharatiya Dastkar Samiti, New Delhi ended with a great fervour, and the residents of Bhopal enjoyed it to the fullest.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
