Handicraft stalls from all states displayed their local and indigenous art at the recently concluded Bharat Parv. S Mallik takes a walk that enhances the appeal of Red Fort on a sunny afternoon
Did you know that there is a village in Kerala which is known to make mirrors from a metal alloyIJ Yes, the aranmula mirror is not your regular reflex mirror that we get in the market. It is a close guarded secret of the Aranmula, a traditional and historical village in Kerala. This metal-alloy is polished over and over again so that its surface gains a characteristics of reflection. This special kind of mirror was one of the many curious items on display at the recently concluded Bharat Parv, held at the Red Fort lawn premises.
Walking into the festival was like walking into a mini-India, quite literally, accentuated by the state tableaux which were displayed at the Republic Day parade. From food to textile and from handicraft to traditional art forms from every state in the country — there was everything you could have asked for.
Apart from the aranamula mirror, the Kerala stall had a host of knick knacks and house decor items that reflected the rich tradition of God’s own country. For starters they had their off-white cotton sarees with zari borders and their half saree. The adjoining stall was full of household objects. Sheetal, from the stall showed us a wooden boat chundan vallam, used in Onam. There was also the traditional letur (jewellery) box. “We use a lot of gold jewellery,” she pointed out and told us that it is made from rose wood.
The entry, which was free for all (one needed to show their id proofs, though) was right in front of the stalls displaying the best of handicrafts from all states. While we came across a few regular things on the stands like brass and copper figurines and home decor at the Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh stall, traditional Odisha handloom, Boyanika, and perhaps at the Jammu & Kashmir stalls, there were several other items that caught out attention.
There were some bright bags displayed at the stall from Mizoram and they were no ordinary bags because they had a patchwork of a woven material. Cindy, from the stall told us that the patchwork is handcrafted in the loin handloom of Mizoram. “They have different names, too, depending on the pattern. We have the puanropui and the hmaram weave,” she said. The bags were priced between Rs500 and Rs1,000 while the smaller satchels and handbags began from Rs150. There was also the anthurium flower at the stall, which not only enhanced the visual appeal of the small little stall but also brought forth a picture of the vast flora and fauna of the state.
In contrast, the stall from Meghalaya had a wider range of products ranging from utility, home decor and food to clothes, cutlery and toys. There were caps and tokris made from jute and bamboo, gamchas and bed sheets made of cotton and sarees woven from eri silk. What we liked best were a bow and arrow set made from bamboo and a hunting cap made from the leaves of the betel tree and jute. “Those are the only two items to have sold the most in the past three days,” said Bruce from the stall. Hailing from the Garo hills, he also showed us some locally procured condiments. First was the lakadong turmeric from the Jaintia hills which had a high curcumin level. “It is above 7.13, which is high. The curcumin level denotes how strong the colour would be and since this is so high, you would require very little,” he said.
A small stall from Karnataka seemed to draw the maximum crowd. The attraction was not some fancy thing on display but a man carving wood on a machine. It was amazing to see one little block of wood being magically carved into a spinning top. The artist K Kenchaiah is a state award winner and he obliged to tell us a thing or two about the craft. It takes time to learn the craft and years to master it. “The paints are vegetable extracts,” he said in broken Hindi before resuming his unflinching concentration on carving another piece of wood into an incense stick holder. The tops were priced at Rs50.
We found something interesting at the West Bengal stall — window and door curtains made from straw and bound with thread. It was the first time that we had heard something like that and the lady at the stall, Gouri Jana, was kind enough to show us a sample. The one that was of size 6X7 was priced at Rs550 and Jana pointed out that it is one of the traditional crafts of the state.
As we said, the Bharat Parv festival represented a mini India and it was a sheer delight to learn about the many unknown crafts of the country. And since this was the first time the initiative was taken, we hope that this festival reaches greater heights and reaches many more people in the coming years. To sign off, we would only like to say that this was indeed the picture of Incredible India.