Indian tradition and craft were all showcased beautifully, and the colours of the nation looked vibrant and glorious at the Dastkar Hyderabad Bazaar, making the exhibit at Kamma Sangham Hall, Ameerpet, worth the visit. With over 75 artisan groups from across the country, it has become the centre of attraction for many people in Hyderabad. With many things to shop for and artistic wonders to explore, this place is worth the visit. As we take a tour of the Bazaar, we check out a few artworks from different artists and some organic handmade product stalls that are unique to this place.
Pattachitra Art
Chitranjan Swain from Odisha, who has been working on Pattachitra artworks under the name Swastik Arts, has some beautiful handmade crafts and paintings at his stall. “Here we have nine crafts, which means we paint on paper mache, palm leaves, tussar paintings, wood carving, paper painting, coconut painting, cow dung artwork, and much more. I have home décor and kitchen magnets available with me. We also have bookmarks and different paintings available here. A few items are made using paper mache, and then we give them shape and use natural colours to paint them, which are sourced from vegetables. It takes about two to five days to complete the artworks; it all depends on the painting and the size of the artwork,” he informs.
Pichwai Painting
Sushil Soni from Rajasthan, who does Pichwai paintings, mentions, “These paintings depict the stories of Sri Krishna, and much more. We have different utsavs that are shown in these paintings. We use natural stone colours for these paintings, and we use handmade canvas made with cotton fabric that is soaked in starch. Then we draw on these canvases and fill the colour in them. I have been doing this work for almost 25 years now. The natural stone colours are taken from natural stones; we grind them and make them into a powder. We also use gond to mix the stone powder colour into it and then use them in the paintings. The shine remains on the paintings. As time passes by, the painting fades, and that makes the painting even more attractive.”
Ladakh Organic Project
Reetsot, run by Richen Youdol, a farmer and agripreneur, speaks about the specialty of Ladakh and the natural things found there. She shares, “I am the founder of Reetsot. We are about a 400-women group who work as farmers. All the things that are seen here are grown in Ladakh or sourced from the mountains and medicinal plants. The wild garlic, capers, and sea buckthorn all grow in the wild. We have two GI-tagged products, which are the apricots, and it is diabetic-friendly. We have sea buckthorn, which has 10 times more vitamin C than orange. It is a GI-tagged product. It was recently sent to Mars; it is the most resistant plant on the planet, so it survives in –40 degrees as well. It has omega 3, 6, 7, and 9 present, which is also found in fish. We have three to four varieties of rajma, apricots, and all dried fruits from Ladakh. Very few places do hand-pressed oils, and we have serum oil that helps your skin. We have all the teas as well. This has been a three-year project to make sure all the women in villages work. Until my mother’s generation there was no education, and now we all are financially independent with this work.”
Kalighat Painting
All the way from West Bengal, Tagar Chitrakar, the artist, blends culture and art together by making beautiful paintings and narrating the stories that she has painted. “Our paintings are known as Kalighat paintings, and these are done using vegetable colours. To get the red colour, we get it from a tree; the yellow comes from raw turmeric, and the orange comes from a flower mixed with mud. Then we extract black colour from the smoke that comes from vehicles. Different leaf juices and flowers give us these colours to make the paintings. Every painting has a story and a song. Whenever we make the painting, we sing and paint. Every painting here has a story that we narrate. There is the story of Durga, Ramayan, Machi, and Sundarban. We also have Tree of Life story paintings here. Each painting takes about one day to almost a month to finish; the bigger ones take a lot of time. We do these paintings on chart paper, and behind the chart paper we use a saree that gives the art stiffness,” she says.
Herbal Handmade Soaps (Jharkhand)
Neev – Herbal handmade soaps, a rural women’s sustainable enterprise co-founded by Shikha Jain, has some really good natural products that one could purchase. “I have come from Jharkhand, and we run Neev. We were award winners in 2010 for making the best village industry in the eastern zone of India. We have 150 cosmetics here which are zero-chemical, based on Ayurveda and aromatherapy. This is beauty without any harm to your health. We have zero-chemical lip and cheek tints, lip gloss (beetroot-based), organic kajal, car diffusers, hair oil, massage oils, organic sindoor, skin brightening roll-on, night crèmes, and much more. For me, organic means the base is natural ingredients and no chemicals. Our intent is to never harm you in the long term. The colour for lip tints comes from beetroot powder, rattan jot powder, chocolate powder — they are 100 percent natural and edible — and they are made with homemade ghee and almond oil. The colour will stay for 7 to 8 hours,” she shares.
Geometric Art
Artist Krishna Prakash from Gulbarga, who started A Hundred Hands Art, has been working on it very keenly. He demonstrates his artwork live and speaks about what his artworks mean. “It’s been about 30 years since I have been doing this artwork. I work on these paintings directly with a pen, and there is no outline or scale used to make this artwork. I do these paintings in a continuous manner; this is a very old form of art, and I have gained a good interest in doing this artwork. I use golden colour, silver colour, and a waterproof pen to make these works. I use coloured paper for this work. This art takes a lot of patience, as I do not use any kind of scale to do these geometric figures. I started by drawing figures whenever I had a pen in my hand, and that is how I became an expert in this work. I have been to Hyderabad before at the India Art Festival; I have also done an exhibition at Icon Art Gallery and State Art Gallery. This artwork controls your mind and gives you energy, and there is no mistake that happens while doing these paintings. It takes about one to two days to complete the work, and it all depends on the size of the paintings. Sometimes, if there is an urgent order, I do it as soon as possible,” he mentions.