Colourful weaves come alive at Surajkund Mela

Varied cultures and traditions get reflected in the arts and crafts of various countries from across the globe participating in the Surajkund International Crafts Mela at Faridabad. The Mela unveils arts and crafts not only of India but also of other nations, offering a truly enriching experience to the visitors. 

Surajkund International Crafts Mela showcases some of the most exquisite handlooms with intricate designs and bewitching colours. Handmade fabrics soaked in flamboyant and effervescent colours made by skilful craftspersons promise to adorn the feminism of every women. Those visiting the Mela cannot resist but buy a few pieces of these saris.

One such distinctive handloom of Andhra Pradesh is the kalamkari dress material, dupattas and saris. At Stall no. 571, craftsperson S. Bhaskar is a third generation practitioner of kalamkari—an art of hand painting that has been displayed on cotton and silk saris and dupattas. “Kalamkari is done with a pen brush using natural dyes. Typically, the motifs drawn on saris & wall hangings capture the essence of temple architecture and scenes from great epics.” Bhaskar has brought a unique collection of saris, dress material and wall hangings with faces of Lord Buddha, holy figurines and floral motifs painted on them. The dress material is priced at Rs 600 per metre and silk saris start from Rs 5000 onwards.

“This is an art that takes at least three to four months to prepare one piece it could either be a sari or dupatta or wall hanging. Only one artist works on one piece at a time and spends only couple of hours a day on making it,” adds Bhaskar. Kalamkari, a unique art that come across at the Surajkund International Crafts Mela that is truly a custodian of heritage crafts of India.

Gadwal saris from Telangana at Stall no. 787 are very famous for their fascinating cotton fabric with heavy silk border and pallu saris. A complicated process is involved in making of these silk/cotton saris, their distinctiveness lies in their hand woven authenticity. Tells craftsperson Putta Venugopall from Telangana at this stall, “The traditional technique of weaving the Gadwal saris involves a special art of interlocking threads, known as Kupadam, therefore, the Gadwal saris are locally known as Kudapam sari. The fabric of the silk borders is composed of tussar or mulberry silk. The cotton saris are often embellished with silk checks. This fabulous mix of silk and cotton makes for the recent trend.”

This stall is a hot favourite among the visitors, as one could see it customers pouring at this stall throughout the day.

Intricately carved temple replicas from Nepal

One comes across the works of artisan Nir Bahadur Joshi from Nepal that are intricately carved replicas of Hindu temples located in Nepal and presently exhibited in the international area of the Surajkund International Crafts Mela.

Joshi informs that he handcrafts miniatures made from bamboo, plywood and mud of temples in Nepal like Bajrayogini temple in Sankhu, Taleju Temple in Kathmandu, Krishna temple in Patan, Manakamana temple in Gorkha, Pasupati temple in Kathmandu. These intricately crafted replicas start from Rs 2,000 onwards.

The masterpiece of Joshi on display is the Taleju temple, which took about four months to be completed and is priced at Rs 50,000. He adds, “I seek inspiration from the architecture of temples in my works and try to depict the similar refinement in my designs too.”

Exquisite crafts fascinate one and all

Each of the frames of the national awardee craftsperson Jyotsna from Faridabad speak volumes of the skill that she possesses of making grass leaf reed paintings. Her favourite themes are of Lord Buddha’s relaxing pose, Lord Krishna playing flute, elephants, village scene and so on. Tells Jyotsna, whose entire family practises this art,“First I sketch the drawing on handmade sheet preferably black in colour, then I cut the ‘sikki’ grass sticks into fine pieces and paste them on the sketch with babul tree resin.”

Each of her work takes from 4-7 days to be completed and these paintings are to be made in the morning hours to get perfection. Her pieces are priced from Rs 500 onwards. Jyostna further adds that these paintings do not spoil with time and stay the same forever.  

For the cause of keeping environs clean

Expeditions for Cause (EFC) with Haryana Tourism and Surajkund Mela Authority has come together with an awareness campaign called ‘Pledge for my city pride’ at the ongoing 30^th Surajkund International Crafts Mela at Faridabad. Under this program, the volunteers of the organisation have visitors at the Mela sign a form to take a pledge that ‘I pledge for better city I live in as it is my home and I promise’, and EFC certifies the same.