Something for everyone

WINTER SEASON in Chennai attracts the most colourful and beautiful of craft melas, with craftspersons bringing their wares from remote parts of the country.

In the lovely lawns of Gandhi Mandapam, at `Expo 2000', the All India Handicrafts Exhibition sponsored by the Development Commission of Handicrafts, Ministry of Textiles, Government of India, exotic Naga and Manipuri crafts rub shoulders with those from Punjab, Haryana, U.P. and Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, creating a collage of riotous colours and diverse craft forms as well as the ambience of a joyous mela. Most of the craft items are moderately priced and for the middle range shopper. Yet, one can pick up the rare and the unusual, from exquisitely etched and painted Moradabad brass artefacts created by mastercraftsman Om Prakash Rawat to an exotic namdah or even a `root' sculpture crafted out of bamboo roots by Tripura craftspersons.

Expo 2000 has something for everyone. Cane furniture from Manipur offers a different cane experience for Chennai shoppers as do the large variety of attractive cane and bamboo artefacts such as baskets, boxes, beer mugs, pencil cases etc., from Tripura, Nagaland and Manipur. The cane craft of the North Eastern States has a distinct and attractive flavour of its own. Manipuri textiles is another craft attraction from the North East.

From loveliest of namdahs from Jammu and Kashmir, filled with the poetry of flowers, birds and annuals to Kolhapur's famous chappals, and Punjab's pretty hand embroidered `tilla jutties' - there's much that is unusual for the Chennaiite at the All India Crafts Fair and Gandhi Mandapam. And the gift or artefact shoppers can have their fill at stalls selling Nagina's etched and inlaid artefacts and trays, walnut artefacts from Kashmir, sandalwood carved pieces from Haryana and some pretty, well designed Moradabad brass knickknacks and decorative pieces.

Chikankari saris and `made ups' from Lucknow and a selection of Banaras silk and cotton saris at a reasonable price range are added attractions at the Crafts Fair which also has a large range of carved and inlaid Saharanpur furniture as well as walnut wood furniture from Kashmir.

Ceramic bowls and vases in fresh colours from Lucknow, attractive sheetmetal artefacts and wall plaques from Vijayawada, wood cut panels from Karnataka at the Expo 2000 capture the colour, charm and rich diversity of India's multi-faceted craft tradition. Expo 2000, which is on at Gandhi Mandapam Complex, Opposite IIT, Sardar Patel Road, Guindy, Chennai, concludes on December 10.

PUSHPA CHARI

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