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Crafts Mela begins amidst cultural performances

Staff Reporter

To introduce crafts and craftsmen directly to the buyers

— Photo: Akhilesh Kumar

An artist displays his paintings to a group of foreign tourists during the National Crafts Mela in Chandigarh on Saturday.

CHANDIGARH: Marked by diverse and creative artistic activities, showcasing rich craftsmanship from all over the country and abroad, the first Chandigarh National Crafts Mela took off here on Saturday.

The objective of the mela is to create a rural ambience for the foreign and domestic tourists and introduce crafts and craftsmen directly to the buyers and help them find their patrons. About 3 lakh visitors are expected to come to the mela during these 10 days from the neighbouring states and abroad.

Punjab Governor and Chandigarh Administrator S.F. Rodrigues inaugurated the mela in the morning amid cultural performances by participants from different States.

The artistic endeavours, handicrafts, tourism-related activities, food courts, depiction of Indian culture and heritage through different modes, dominated the scene while beats of drum, dhol, thaal coming out from the venue soak the visitors in festivity.

The venue, a set of a beautiful village with mud huts, Madhubani-painted walls, shikharas, floral statues and a terracotta entrance gate, has 150 stalls, aesthetically decorated by craftsmen and artisans who have achieved National and State Awards in their fields. Jammu and Kashmir is the theme State and its presence is visible all over the place, from the colourful shikaras to the food stall for Wazwan delicacies.

Full of cultural programmes, festive feasting and artistic creative activities, the Crafts Mela, with Jammu & Kashmir as the theme State, involved considerable effort and attracted huge crowds with a message of harmonious living and working together. Basheer Ahmed Shah and his troupe, who are representing the Damali Dance Centre in Kashmir, presented a dance-drama using folk instruments like dhol, thal and an instrument called Alam, which belonged to a famous peer (sage) in Kashmir. Another troupe, Abdul Gaffar Dar Kanihari and party, will present folk music and dance.

Addressing the inaugural function, Gen. Rodrigues said the mega event had been conceived and planned to promote a better understanding and to reach out to each other, to unify our diverse and rich cultural ethos to demonstrate the strength of ‘incredible India’. He said it provides a platform and an opportunity to display our capabilities, innovations and expertise.

Chandigarh Home Secretary Ram Niwas said the mela would host a plethora of activities ranging from hasya kavi sammelans and qawaalis to folk dance festivals besides wide range of performances by more than 300 artistes from different states of national and international repute.

Apart from the handicrafts, the visitors found themselves distracted by a sky-level dinner table, the first-ever in the country. The 160-foot-tall above-the-ground eye-catching extravaganza is yet to formally hit the city, proprietor Kawaljit Singh is ready with his sky-show to awe the fun-loving residents of the Tricity. “We chose to display our high-rise sky table on the occasion of the National Crafts Mela so that the maximum number of people could get a feel of dining mid-air. We would be accommodating guests for at least 15-20 minutes daily during the mela days.”

The sky tables have been designed on the lines of those already existing in Belgium and few other countries. Mr. Singh said, “We want to provide people an exclusive experience.”

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