CHANDIGARH: After the rainy welcome of the artistes, artisans and craftsmen to ‘City Beautiful’ from different parts of the country, they are finally making the most of the pleasant autumn weather with foot-fall picking up.  Their soaring spirits were visible at the 10-day-long Chandigarh National Crafts Mela, a joint venture of North Zone Cultural Centre (NZCC) and Chandigarh Administration, which went off to a colourful start at Kalagram, Manimajra (Chandigarh) on October 7.

Over 200 artisans from across India are participating in the fair. Aesthetic and traditionally set up stalls are displaying a range of products like Banarsi silk, cotton textiles from Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, ethnic jewellery from Gujarat and Rajasthan, carpets, terracotta and pottery items, and dried flowers from West Bengal.

There is a wide variety of products on sale like footwear, carpets, home decor, furniture, and eating stalls too.

Artisans from Bihar Bagesh and Nagesh Kumar are showcasing Madhubani paintings, their intricate work based on nature and ancient texts.

People were seen picking up items from a wide range of products like ethnic wear, crockery, cutlery items, artificial jewellery, rugs, etc.

One of the sellers, Shashi Sharma from Karnal (Haryana), says “We have brought artificial jewellery, including bangles, bracelets, earrings, and ‘kainthi’ sets from Karnal, which are hot favourites with ladies of all hues. Customers generally fall for the handmade items of ethnic value”.

In an interaction, Aparna Guha travelling all the way from West Bengal, said “We have brought artificial handmade jewellery, including junk jewellery, a hot favourite in West Bengal, besides kitchen utensils made of expensive wood. Our sales are gradually picking up by the day after being dismal initially”.

A cultural  programmes is also planned for the evening each day. The inaugural ceremony was marked by a mesmerizing musical presentation – ‘Swar Lehiri’, a soul-soothing symphony of 42 musical instruments of various states. This was followed by a hilarious comedy gig ‘Bhopal Ki Train” and Nrityam, a fusion of folk and classical dances drawing a lot of attention from the audience.

Rich tributes were paid to the iconic ghazal maestro Jagjit Singh on his death anniversary on October 10. Dattaprasad Ranade, an accomplished ‘ghazal’ singer from Maharashtra, doled out some of the ‘ghazals’ immortalised by the late ghazal legend.

Among the well-attended stage performances, popular folk singers from various states will continue to entertain during the current week with live performances, including Gurkripal Surapuri and Ms Glory Bawa (Oct 12), Rabbi Folk Band of Punjab (Oct 13), Padma Shri Malini Awasth (Oct 14) , Nizami Brothers – Gulam Sabir and Gulam Waris (Sufi qawwals) on Oct 15, and Flamenco Dance Group from Spain will display its dancing prowess on the concluding day.

Prominent among the folk dances include Bhangra, Malwai Gidha (Pb), Chakri (Raj), Lai Haroba and Pung Cholom’ (Manipur), Karma (Chhattisgarh), Sirmauri Natti (HP), Jhamakra (Kangra) Gatha Gyan (Har) and Geetru (J&K) and Jabro (Ladakh).

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