Crafty Affair

Ahead of the first Dastkari Haat Samiti exhibition in the city,founder-president Jaya Jaitly talks about the new milestones in the Indian crafts movement.

Ahead of the first Dastkari Haat Samiti exhibition in the city,founder-president Jaya Jaitly talks about the new milestones in the Indian crafts movement.

As we made our way through the verdant back lawns of thespian Neelam Mansingh Chowdhrys residence in Sector 9,its the colour of Jaya Jaitlys sari that first caught our eye. To say that it was just a pink-coloured sari would be a disservice to the baavan booti handloom weave from Bihar that Jaitly wore. The sari gets its name from the 52 bootis woven in, she said.

Come April 3 and the lovers of handloom (including saris) and handicrafts in Chandigarh will get to view and buy from a colourful potpourri of Indian crafts and textiles at Dastkari Haat,a six-day crafts bazaar organised by the Dastkari Haat Samiti,of which Jaitly is the founder and president.

Among the products at the Haat,which will be formally inaugurated by Chowdhry on Wednesday,would be Madhubani art on metal boxes,Gond art on wooden trays,lacquer-finish home accessories from Karnataka,beaded jewellery from Uttar Pradesh,Kantha embroidery from West Bengal,and textiles and weaves from Madhya Pradesh,Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. Its our first ever exhibition in Chandigarh,which I believe is very cosmopolitan in its outlook but would appreciate the Indian crafts and textiles that we are set to showcase, said Jaitly. The event will also have an international flavour by making space for products from sister countries such as Bhutan,Nepal and Pakistan,as well as Afghanistan.

Rightfully credited for steering an Indian crafts movement,including the setting up of the popular Dilli Haat,Jaitly has now taken a sabbatical from electoral politics. Her latest endeavour,an exhibition called Akshara: Crafting Indian Scripts,is already a success. The project,which took two years,covered 13 Indian languages,58 craftspeople,21 craft skills which cover 16 states of India. It has been a monumental effort to encourage craftspeople to be literate,honour their mother tongue and use scripts as part of design to match up with world calligraphy, said Jaitly.

An exhibition was held in New Delhi late last year and saw nearly 150 artifacts on display. Jaitly will be taking it to Cairo later this month.

We also hope to showcase Akshara to UNESCO,which is working to preserve languages of the world, said Jaitly,also looking forward to the setting up of Hast Kala Akademis like the other akademis Sangeet Kala Akademi,Sahitya Kala Akademi in the future.

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The exhibition is on till April 8 at Kisan Bhawan,Sect 35,Chandigarh.

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