After two years of the pandemic, the Surajkund Art and Craft Fair is back with a greater merchandise of rural artisans from across the country. A meeting point for the preservers of India’s dying handicraft culture and their admirers, the fair started on March 19 and will continue till April 4 this year. Faridabad in Delhi NCR, where this handicraft cultural extravaganza is held every year, is a short drive from Indira Gandhi International Airport. Since its inception in 1987, the festival has been organized to celebrate Indian art and artistry by the Union Ministries of Tourism, Textiles, Culture, External Affairs, and the Government of Haryana.
Handicraft has been the apex of rural economy in India for ages. Archaeological evidences from excavations at the sites of Indus Valley Civilization bear out to the opulence as well as diversity of Indian art and craft traditions which seem to be eclipsed by the glare of westernization sweeping across the metropolises. The Surajkund Craft fair is one of the noble initiatives to keep the county’s age-old handicraft culture alive and provide the rural artisans with means of sustenance.
Celebration of diversity and ethnicity
What you can take fancy to in the fair is everything from home décor items to performing arts to ethnically diverse cuisines. The colors of handlooms, earthen pots, effigies, and other merchandise; the warm flavors of regional cuisines, the beats of rural music and the rhythms of dancing feet make a kaleidoscopic feast of joy for the mind, the eyes and the tongues. The festivity brims with a rustic feel of folk dance and music.
Different flavors for different taste buds
Surajkund Art & Craft fair caters to the different taste of visitors from every walk of life. If you are a fashion designer, you will be overwhelmed by an amazing collection of flamboyantly colored handmade fabrics. If you are an interior designer, you can’t help taking fancy to brilliant art pieces of stone, wood, bronze, brass, terracotta and ivory. The ethnic beauty of the handicraft merchandise steals the show with foreigners too.
Meeting point of artisans & art connoisseurs
At the fairground, there is an open-air theater, Natyashala where dancers, musicians and magicians perform their respective talents to entertain visitors. Folk dancers and musicians from the culturally diverse demography of the country make the fair a gala. The Surajkund Craft fair is a meeting point for artisans including painters, sculptors, weavers, potters, and art connoisseurs who drink to the joy of life through culture.
Some highlights of Surajkund Mela 2014
Goa is the theme of Surajkund Art & Craft Fair 2014. Being a popular beach destination, Goa has been selected as the theme of the festival in order to fetch the youth and cultivate their interest in Indian culture. With nations from other continents participating in the fair for last few years, it has become an international event. As many as 20 foreign countries globalized the Surajkund Mela 2013. The participation of all the SAARC nations is the most glittering highlight of the Surajkund Mela 2014. Sri Lanka has partnered with India for the fair this year.
Surajkund at Faridabad in Haryana is accessible via roadways and railways from New Delhi International Airport. Keep in touch with Indian Eagle for such interesting updates and the lowest airfare to India.
