The Spectacular Surajkund Mela 2013

The 2013 Surajkund mela started from 2nd Feb and will last till 15th Feb 2013.

This year’s theme state in Karnataka. There are various artisans from Karnataka displaying the rich heritage and handicrafts. The performance of the folk dancers in the open air theatre is enthralling.

This year apart from India other prominent participants are from Thai, Bangladesh. Bhutan etc.

The food courts located in the centre of the   grounds provide various regional cuisine. Only few food stalls are very region specific and one have to be very careful in selecting them. I have found most other stalls serving the delhitised food in the grab of local name. 

There was a Mughalai Biryani stall selling the worst biryani one could ever have. One can get far better pavbhaji outside than that made available there. Overall the food stalls are not that which display the local grandeur. Went to the Madras Cafe thinking that they will be serving the south indian coffee but to my utter dismay they were only serving Nescafe, which tasted something like little sweet hot milk. For  that too one has to jostle among the crowd and wait for your cup for about 10 minutes.

Coming to the best part is the handicrafts stalls displaying the best of the artisans output.

There is a stall from Bagepalli(border of Andhra and Karnataka) displaying the leather decorative items like the lamp shades, wall hangings. One can very easily be mistaken for they look like paper , thin and very light.

The lamp shades look fablous. Also there are wide variety of wall hangings which goes well with any light shades in the room.

The wooden carving of Lord Venkateswara( Tirupati Balaji)  below is an example of the glorious work of the artisan.

The other wooden wall hangings carved out of single piece of wood can be a beautiful procession to have.

Some are painted with exquisite colours which looks awsome. For example the one with Lord Ganesh in various postures and painted where each one is different from the other in one way or other.

The Panchamukha Ganesh made from Wagea wood is priced at Rs.2.95lakhs.

The door below made from jackfruit wood may be one of the most sought after main door for a rustic as well as ancient look.

 

The panchamukha Hanuman and the Ganesh ji holding the Tambura ( a musical instrument) made out of teak wood and polished.

The Saibaba idol made from single piece of Teak wood and polished for shine. The price of this was told as Rs.48000.

There are lot of small idols crafted from teak wood and rose wood.

The beautiful idol of Saraswati made out of wood on display.

 

The artisans at work weaving a colourful Dari.

Below are crafted from a special wood/bark available under water by the artisans from Bengal. The price of the smallest one being Rs.250 and goes upto Rs.10000 for big ones.

 

The flowers ok Karnataka on display.

There is a stall selling fruits and vegetables from Karnataka. Here we can get the Yalakki Bale the Banana variety from Karnataka and vegetables of south  India.

 

The wooden elephant made from plank look like a real one in 3D.

The visit to this Mela is very enjoyable for the art lovers and also have a look at various artefacts at one place. It will be a full day affair to indulge and see the whole mela.