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A Fair to Remember ... Surajkund Mela Veeresh Malik
Located eight or ten kilometres from South Delhi, actually a bit beyond Tughlakabad, is a forgotten sun pool. Surajkund derives its name from this pool, which once belonged to the original Tomar rulers of Delhi (circa 10th century AD ). The mela is timed, every year, to take place during the first fortnight of February. This date usually coincides nicely with the culmination of the festivities surrounding Republic Day in New Delhi. Born -- according to those jealous of its astounding success -- from the leftovers of the various cultural and regional events that take place in Delhi around this time! The Surajkund Crafts Mela, even to a jaded Delhi-ite, like yours truly, is simply – pardon the Americanism -- awesome. Over a decade of escorting assorted NRI types, relatives and friends, has not in any way reduced the wide-eyed amazement that each annual episode brings along with it. Surajkund is in a class of its own. No event in nearby cosmopolitan Delhi has been able to get anywhere near it. We await our annual pilgrimage with mixed feelings. The backbone is the usual "ethnic" Indian arts and crafts scene, with a different theme each year. This year it is weaving. There will 200 stalls of weavers up, as well as 189 of other craftsmen. The craftsmen selected are usually national award winners, which is not, in itself, very amazing. What is amazing, however, is the sheer difference in quality that you get, as well as the non-middleman pricing. This year there will be many more saris on sale, perhaps because of the high number of weaver stalls. In an excellent attempt to stay way from parochial considerations, which is commendable for the host state of Haryana, the organisers bring in a different states or regions as the "theme state", every year. Apparently there is great jostling now amongst the other states to be nominated as the theme state. Past themes, since 1989, have been the North-East, Haveli (Gujarat), Maheshwar Devta (Himachal Pradesh), Ram Bagh (Punjab), Hoysala (Karnataka), Muktheshwar Peedha (Orissa), Bastar Danteshwari (Madhya Pradesh), Kottayambalam (Kerala), Vishnupur (West Bengal), and Shekhawati (Rajasthan) This year the theme state is Andhra Pradesh… Qutb Shahi to computers… Kakatiya to ikat. Tughlak to Charminar. Bidriware to kalamkari. Black pottery to lacquerware. Suri bowls to wooden block making. Nirmal toys and brassware to jute crafts. Pearls to Kondapally and lacquerware toys. The AP-experience will be all there… authentic… even though the state is miles and miles away. In fact, it has taken one and a half months and Rs 1,100,000 to build an impressive scaled-down version of the Charminar at the fair grounds. Moving on from the Charminar gate you will reach an open area where folk artistes from both Haryana and Andhra Pradesh will perform throughout the day. The Andhra performers will display dance and music forms from all the regions, these include Garagalu Bonalu, Dappullu Tappeta Gullu Veera Natyuam, Butta Bomalu, Tolu Bommalu, Puli Veshalu. There's bound to be lots of bright colours, loud drums and a beat that would show the ghetto blasters in Harlem a thing or four! There are about 150 performers from Andhra, and for the inauguration, they were all heard. In fact, the beat from their giant drums out does the mournful shehnai music being piped over the fair intercom, which is just as well. The artisan and crafts stall are, well, once again, awesome. On the weaving theme, there were telia rumaals, kalamkari paintings, cotton scarves with ikat weaves, brocade weavings, cotton dhurries, aprova sarees, silk sarees (sure!), ikat sarees, jamdani, gallapally, peddanchu gadi, ari buta. Some of them have even brought their weaving instruments along and at least two had computers on which you could select designs as well as see short presentations. In a short talk with the very helpful people at Haryana Tourism, I learnt that the impression they seek to convey, with the AP theme, is that the 1999 Surajkund Mela is to be more than just a simple show window into the state. Andhra Pradesh as a state, which has successfully weaved the ancient with the modern, will be projected as an example of functional cohesion… where the grassroots popularity of the information technology industry will be reflected within this handicrafts setting. It would be interesting to see this happen. From personal experience, a journey to the melais a bit tiring. If you are going by car, carry your own drinking water, and you can always make forays back to where you are parked, otherwise it is mineral water all the way. The main arena of the fair is open from 9.30 am to 5.30 pm. It makes sense to go during the first part of the day. They also have cultural programmes, everyday, from 5 pm to 7 pm. The details of these have not been finalised as yet. The tourism department are hoping that M F Husain will pay a visit ot the mela. Apart from the folk theatre, music and dancing events that are likely to be on the schedule, jugglers, drummers, puppets and acrobats will have do their gig at the fairgrounds. By the way it gets dark early, by about 6 pm or so, in February. The food sold tends to vary wildly in quality -- from the greasy-oily-fried variety to the better stuff available in the theme restaurants. There will be the typical paratha, dosa, Chinese food and makkai-ki-roti-sarson-ka-saag stalls. This year we look forward to some hot delights from Andhra, preferably from the Machlipatnam coast. Hopefully, as every year, there will be a special stall introducing us to Andhra sweetmeats There will be 10 food stalls in all. In short, if you are in or around Delhi between February 1 and 15, a short diversion to Surajkund would, in all probability, be a better walk back in time than visiting any of the other crumbling monuments around. Surajkund, incidentally, has enough of those, too. In ending let me provide you with a little known fact: the Surajkund lake and other natural reservoirs had all gone dry about a decade ago due to rampant land-grabbing by "colonisers" who were then building houses there. This reduced the water table considerably and dried out most of the lakes, thus pushing what little wildlife was left out of there, too. A Supreme Court order a few years ago, in a totally unrelated case, banned all building activity there. It is a tribute to nature that the lakes are full again and the wildlife is back. While you won't see much of the wildlife during the mela because the animals probably retreat in sheer fright at the sight of the approaching hordes of tourists -- you can -- if you take short diversions from the main approach roads, get a view of some of the best flora and natural beauty near Delhi. There are plenty of yet undisturbed archaeological remains in the area. While it is a great idea to let them remain that way, do try and spot them.
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