Fair Start

The shoppers arrived even before the Dastkar Nature Bazaar had opened on Thursday morning at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA). So while the stall owners unwrapped their stocks,visitors enjoyed the performances of Bagh Nritya dancers from Orissa and browsed through the stalls already up. Of course,there was more to come — Nehru jackets, sarees,stoles, pashmina shawls and silver jewellery are just a few of the options at the annual fair,which has something for everyone. While stoles at the Kashmir Handmade Pashmina Promotion Trust stall seemed to be a crowd puller,there were also takers for artifacts in walnut wood at another stall from Kashmir. The nut cracker comes for Rs 150 and a side table with intricate engravings at Rs 60,000.

Geetanjali Krishna from the NGO Haathi Chaap decided to release her book,Whispers from the Wild on the near extinct animal species in India,at the fair. “It seemed the right place to reach out to people,” says Krishna,flipping though the pages laced with illustrations of endangered animals like snow leopards and black bucks. Also available at her stall are ludo boards priced at Rs 250 apiece and snakes and ladder,for Rs 300. The paper handbags are priced at Rs 25 onwards. The Andhra Pradesh stall has hand-painted lampshades in leather starting at Rs 250,while Apindra Swami from Puri,Orissa has got Warli patterned bookmarks (Rs 10) and beer bottles (Rs 750). Another stall,Prabhat,too has products made of trash,with audio reels woven as bookmarks (Rs 100 for two) and handbags (Rs 250).  

Children can choose between wooden toys and Sheela Choudhury’s cloth dolls (Rs 50 upward) or woolen knitted stuffed toys (Rs 100 onwards),at the Kilmora Grameen Udyog stall. At Rs 2,500 one can take home crocodile-shaped side tables made by artisans in Kathputli Colony,while the blue pottery spread on sale by Gramin Blue Pottery Samiti could make for good Diwali gifts. Aaccompany it with a chime made of cloth kites from Rampur for . 

Besides the regular participants,newcomers include a participant from Bhutan with his array of stoles and jute bags. Rajesh Gahlot from Rajasthan has got gold-silver overlay Koftgari art on swords and pens.

The festival is on till October 31.