Welfare for Nature and Men!

A society for crafts and craftspeople Dastkar, is a registered society that aims at improving the economic status of craftspeople, thereby promoting the survival of traditional crafts. It was founded in 1981 by six women, who had worked in the craft and development sector including Laila Tyabji, who is the current Chairperson.
What better way to spend your day on a Saturday afternoon than attending the Nature Bazaar organised by Dastkar at the Indira Gandhi Center for Arts. This is an initiative to improve the economic status of the small town workers and also to preserve the traditional handicrafts of each state. Most of the commodities put up at this exhibition is environment friendly and made with waste or natural resources. So when I reached there, it was a difficult task to find a parking slot for the car. But, in my opinion its a very good sign, because obviously it is something that people are appreciating.


There we stalls from various states ranging from Uttrakhand to Kutch. And the beauty of the handicrafts cannot be captured in words. The raw silk sarees and the Himachal shawls were the one of the sure shot hit with people. The pottery and the clay kept the kids occupied. My personal favourite was stall called 'Haathi Chaap' which is paper made from elephant dung. In spite of the base ingredient sounding gross, the stuff is actually very good. It includes dairies that can be gifted, coasters etc... The other stalls had jute bags, kantha work sarees, bangles made with beads, blocks for block printing and home decorations. 


The best part was yet to come, and for me that is food, food and more food. So the food stalls included delicacies from Kerela, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Hyderabad. The Dal Bati Choorma from Rajasthan which is a wheat dumpling served with lentils gave a tough competition to the Kathi Roll form Hyderabad which was loaded with egg and chicken. The conclusion, I loved them both. Finished it with a filter coffee from the Kerela stall and some Kulfi as dessert.



All in all it was a good day spent considering I was also supporting a welfare activity. Just an advice, the strata of the society that normally attends such fairs, is upper middle to higher class. Hence the prices of the goods are not very cheap. But I guess tax is not levied on just going and having a good day, right?