Baisakhi fairs attempt to capture harvest festival spirit

Traditional wares from Punjab such as phulkari embroidery work, the Punjabi jutti, nate-parande, bangles, wooden furniture and inlay items are being sold here in various exhibitions held to mark the upcoming harvest festival of Baisakhi.
At the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts whose lawns have been temporarily transformed into a mini Punjabi village for a 'Baisakhi Mela'.
Among the many stalls at the IGNCA lawns is one which features a hawker from Manipur which is stocked with items ranging from phulkari to khanda to funky t-shirts with Punjab style prints on it.
"We are selling stoles with 'Ura Era Iri' print. This is the Punjabi alphabet," says Awon Marei with a smile.

"We generally don't keep phulkari work in our shops in Chandigarh and Janpath but we have especially got it from the villages in Punjab to sell here. The phulkari work key-ring we have is from Sangrur where a part of the proceeds goes for the education of children there," says Marei.
The shopgirl who sports a Punjabi 'kada' in her hand says she knows a lot about the Punjabi culture since she has been working with the shop for eight years now.

Jawahar Dhawan, secretary, Punjabi Academy which has organised the event, says that the aim of the event was to to showcase a mini-Punjab.

"Even children belonging to Punjabi families in Delhi hardly know anything about their culture. So this event will help people know more about Punjab. We have traditional performances like giddha, bazi, gatka dhadi and bhangra here. Besides that we have called stars like Vatsala Mehra, Harshdeep Kaur, Hardy Sandhu and Ammy Virk," says Dhawan.
Food stall features cooks from Amritsar dishing out specialties like 'Amritsari kulche' and 'Amritsari macchi fry.'
Satte Singh from Gurgaon has set up her stall of semi-precious jewelery at the fair. Singh says she does not own a shop but makes customized jewelery on order.
Another Baisakhi mela is being organized by Delhi Tourism at the Garden of Five Senses which will include cultural performances by artists of Sahitya Kala Parishad and Punjabi Academy.