Looking for a gift this festive season or simply for some retail therapy? Head down to the SRT Exhibition Hall at 2nd Cross, Thillai Nagar, where a fair featuring handicrafts, textiles, and gift articles is on until September 7.
Organised by the Rajasthan government-run Hastkala Gram Samiti, the biannual expo this year has the added attraction of glazed pottery from Khurja, Uttar Pradesh. Exquisite hand-painted wares include cookie jars, pickle canisters, flowerpots, and ‘dip-and-eat’ dishes that come with a small section for sauce within the bigger vessel.
Khurja has a 600-year-old association with pottery and ceramics as its original artisans are thought to have arrived here from Delhi during the reign of Mohamed bin Tughlaq.
Artisan Damodar is one of the three who have travelled to set up their stall in SRT Hall. He says their factory usually needs a year’s notice for mass orders. “Khurja pottery is different from Jaipur blue pottery because we use food-grade paints in our work,” says Damodar. “So our products can be used for serving food and also in the microwave oven. The Jaipur pottery is usually better as showpieces.”
Fifty stalls have been set up this year, says manager Bhagirath Kumar. “We start out at 10 a.m. and down shutters at 9 p.m. Evenings are busier than daytime, though business has to pick up in Tiruchi.” It takes him about six months to a year to co-ordinate the paperwork and other licences required for the fair in Jaipur.
In Tamil Nadu, the samiti usually exhibits only in Chennai and Tiruchi.
“Many artisans (registered with the samiti) have to be informed well in advance to get their orders ready. The profits of the sale are shared by the samiti. In return, the participating stall holders get allowances for food and transport from the Rajasthan government. Most of them use the hall premises as accommodation as well,” says Kumar.
On display at the fair is a vast range of textiles from Rajasthan (bandhni dupattas and chiffon saris, table linen, cotton bed sheets). Other than this, shoppers can spot costume jewellery, puja articles, and lamp-holders in terracotta. Reasonably priced cloth bags are another attraction. There are stalls selling kitchen equipment and cotton saris from Madurai.
“You can find articles from Rs. 150 to Rs. 2,000 in this fair,” says Kumar. “I hope city residents will encourage our artisans by turning up in bigger numbers.”
