NEW DELHI: A hub for rookie fashion designers in south Delhi—Shahpur Jat, which has a long history of 900 years with roots in Haryana, is set to become focal point of urban fashion and rural culture’s convergence. The Delhi government has picked the urbanised village to celebrate an annual autumn festival.
Besides a mega musical concert, live performances by traditional artisans and craftsmen, along with a fashion show by elderly villagers, the two-day event, which is scheduled on October 19-20, will host several programmes including village walk and workshops showcasing rural ethnicity of Delhi’s 369 urban villages.
The theme of the programme is based on Haryana folk tradition with the amalgamation of pop-culture mirroring the confluence of the cultural multiplicity of Shahpur Jat.
Greater Kailash MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj said that the festival aims to bring together Delhi’s urban and rural traditions. “The efforts are to promote city as an all season cultural tourism destination. Recently, the government successfully hosted Monsoon festival at Mehrauli. We are planning to organise a winter festival in December-January in Connaught Place or some other location,” he said. Earlier, the MLA organised a two-day event — Urban Folk Festival — in February this year in the same village and announced to make it a yearly feat.
Next in line in the series of seasonal cultural events, after winter festival, will be ‘Basant Utsav’, heralding the beginning of spring which will happen in February.