As you enter the ground floor of the ongoing North-East Crafts Fair at Chandrashekharan Nair stadium, you will be riveted by miniature Meghalayan tea houses crafted out of tea stems, complete with birds and flowering creepers. Given that the North East is home to 36 varieties of bamboo, the exhibition is dominated by bamboo handicrafts including bamboo vases, fruit bowls, candle stands, lampshades, magazine holders and even furniture (with sets starting at Rs. 15, 300).
Fine crafts
Bamboo vases are filled with flowers that have been cleverly twisted out of dried peepal leaves and corn stalks or carved out of soft wood by artisans from Nagaland. I also spy some jute bags from Assam, some with zari work and some in more peppy tones, ranging from a tiny purse (Rs. 50) to a dinner clutch (Rs. 350).
Young Purnima Pathak from Assam fashions hair clips, bangles, necklaces, combs and more from bamboo while Bijoy Mala introduced me to Moyiramphi embroidery from Manipur. She sells salwar sets (starting at Rs. 800) and saris (starting at Rs. 1,875). She also sells Naga shawls (Rs. 800), distinctive with their red/maroon backgrounds and stripes of white, blue, beige or green embroidery. She also sells make-up purses (priced at Rs 300) woven out of Kauna grass from Manipur.
In the textile category, there is Kantha work from Tripura with elegant silk stoles (Rs. 1,400 onwards) and saris (Rs. 4,000). There are also stoles and saris made of the famous raw silk look-alike – Endi silk or ‘ahimsa silk' (woven without harming silkworm cocoons).
And then there are the Assamese silks – Moga with its natural golden hue and Eri with its pale, off-white shimmer. Here you can pick up a stole priced Rs. 250 or splurge on a Moga silk sari with Balu embroidery, that is resplendent with rich folk scenes in gold work, priced Rs. 13, 500.
There is also an outstanding display of palm leaf art where the artisans painstakingly etch scenes from ancient epics onto palm leaves and then colour the etchings with vegetable dyes. These paintings are priced based on the man-hours involved and range from Rs. 1000 (for 10 days of work) to Rs. 25, 000 (for 300 days of work).
The exhibition extends to the first floor and features work from other parts of India such as quilts from Jaipur, Kota silk saris from Benares, Kundan work and Bandini work from Gujarat, Chikkan work from Lucknow, Dampuri and Banjara work, wooden toys, carpets and a mind boggling array of jewellery.
I came away with a strong urge to visit the exhibition again. The exhibition ends on December 14.
