The Nature Bazaar Venue near Chhatarpur—an open-air space with stalls decorated in wintry motifs, paper lanterns, and streamers for The Winter Mela—was buzzing with the excited chatter of customers, basking in the warm sun a day after it opened to the public.
The patrons moved from stall to stall, scouring through vibrant woollen kaftans, bright pashmina shawls, traditional carpets, and other seasonal items.
Organised by Dastkar, a non-profit organisation that works towards the upliftment of indigenous handicrafts, The Winter Mela was unveiled on December 16.
With 76 exhibitors, this fair—it will continue till December 27—pays homage to the native crafts of the country. Apart from this, Dastkar has organised a series of traditional folk performances for the upcoming weekend.
The exhibitors, a mix of homegrown businesses or NGO-based crafts programmes, offer a range of crafts. The handlooms that are on sale here include Jamdani, Pashmina, and Kantha, among others.
A host of traditional crafts
Pitta Ramulu, a national award-winning carpet weaver from Telangana, has brought his craft of Kalamkari to the fair. The carpets by Ramulu are handpainted using natural colours. Mohammad Sadiq of Oriental Carpets and Afghan Handicrafts has handwoven and hand-knotted carpets from Kabul on display.
Although an Afghan national, Sadiq has been living in Bhogal for the past three years. “Earlier, we would get the carpets by flight. Now, since the flights are not operational, I can only sell the old stock I had with me when I arrived here,” he shared.
Behrouz Handicrafts from Srinagar, helmed by Tauseem Amin Shah, manufactures pure pashmina clothing—shawls, stoles, jamawars, and more—hand-woven by Kashmiri women.
“Weaving pashmina is a very taxing process. Due to the intricacy of the designs, it takes around seven to eight months to weave one shawl,” shared Shah. Similarly, Kilmora, a brand by the Kumaun Grameen Udyog from Uttarakhand, works to provide sustainable livelihood to the artisans and farmers of Kumaun.
Healthy winter essentials
The Winter Mela also has a special section of organic products—dry fruits, pickles, tea, among others. Chokkha, a homegrown brand from Prithviraj Road, features an array of pickles and Indian snacks.
“I like to keep the health factor in mind so the pickles are made without oil. The matrees are also made using sooji [semolina] instead of flour,” mentioned Mamta Gupta, founder of Chokkha.
Featuring their range of herbal tea, Elizabeth Yambem, founder of Imphal-based brand Dweller, shared, “We wanted to share the goodness of all the indigenous food and herbs found in Manipur while also creating opportunities for the locals.”
Their variety of flavours is driven by Yambem’s childhood memories and traditional knowledge of Manipuri herbs and spices.
Talking to us about the exhibition, Supriya Aaron—a Bareilly resident, who was browsing the stalls on the second day of the fair—concluded, “I always make it a point to come here. Although these are traditional crafts, there is a sort of innovation at every fair.”