NEW DELHI: Evere year during the period of stubble burning in Haryana and Punjab, the lives of Delhi-NCR residents turn into a nightmare. Though only about 50 per cent of Delhi’s pollution can be attributed to crop burning, it’s a fact that the quality of life gets affected.
But help is at hand with an eco-friendly idea. If you visit Dastkar’s Basant Bazaar 2020, you will find the stall of Kriya Labs, a brainchild of Enactus Hansraj, a society in Delhi University’s Hansraj College, which aims to eradicate the pollution menace. It creates products using stubble that is converted into pulp. This can then be used to make eco-friendly products.
The other prominent participants include Turpaii from Lucknow, hand-painted garments with folk paintings by Vedic Creations, The Yogi, a contemporary label working with sustainable techniques and hand-spun textiles, and Shramik Bharati, that promises to transport you to Punjab with its display of various crafts and cuisine from Punjab.
“Weaving, knitting, knotting, embroidery or music – the women of Punjab have always been expressing themselves through various art forms. With Shramik Bharti project, we intend to introduce the visitors to the wearable craft as a new dimension to what is already known and admired. The knots and hand knits they use as decoratives at the end of dhurries are imagined in contemporary jewellery forms with the hope that it would bring back the essence of the grandeur in products and articles,” says a spokesperson from Shramik Bharti. The group works with artisans across eight villages in Punjab.
Inspired by the elements of 1990s Nintendo Video games like Mario, Contra, Space Invaders, the Digital on Local collection by The Yogi synergises digital and local world. The pixelated motifs are handcrafted by artisans from a number of urban villages around Delhi while the hand spun and hand-woven fabric comes from Kutch-based weaver families – cotton plant is grown organically in Kutch.
The weekends have a few demonstrations, including Sarkanda grass weaving as well as dhurrie weaving and dyeing. Along with these demonstrations, cultural performances from Manipur and Nagaland will be held on the opening weekend of the bazaar, February 15-16. On the last three days, February 22-24, Dastkar will host women-led businesses, design entrepreneurs and start-ups who will showcase their products, including textiles, apparel, home furnishings, lifestyle, wellness and accessories. For this, it has collaborated with ELSA, the Lady Shri Ram College Alumni Association. This weekend will see cultural performance by rominent names including ELSA alumni and Hindustani Classical vocalist Meeta Pandit and Hindustani classical singer Sunanda Sharma.
At: Nature Bazaar,
Andheria Modh
Till: February 24, 11:00am to 7:30pm