For those who have never been to New Delhi or visited Dilli
Haat, Surajkund Mela may be hard to imagine.
Have you ever gone to a craft fair?
Visited something similar to a church bazaar? In all of these likenesses; Dilli Haat, craft
fair, church bazaar, now imagine them on steroids and place them into the spatial
likeness of a fair grounds. It’s HUGE! Surajkund
mela has many “zones” with crafts from all over India, and this 2013 year from
all over the world. It was decided last
year to increase the foreign visitors to the event the organizers of the mela have
now transformed this annual mela to Surajkund International Craft Mela. These same vendors are found in likeness
showing crafts that rotate through the Dilli Haat shopping areas in New Delhi
(both locations). For two weeks,
February 1-15, visitors can shop for crafts from all over the world. From what I saw it was mainly crafts from India,
two or so from Africa and one from Pakistan selling marble vases and tables. The food court
area becomes very busy from 1:30pm onwards, as does the mela itself after
1:00pm. I attended the mela twice this
year, once during the week and the other on Saturday and both days the mela
was very crowded around 1:00pm. I
would suggest an early morning arrival.
There is a 50 rupees entrance fee and gates open at 9:30am but many
vendors do not have their booths uncovered and selling until 10am or
later. It was sunny but not hot both
days I attended and the colors were bright and cheerful. Entertainment spills out into the main street in the grounds and all walks of entertainment keeps visitors interested and looking for more.
This particular Saturday, after the morning and a large part of my afternoon was spent at
the mela I stopped at home long enough to change my shoes, bake a gluten free
cake for a birthday girl (friend) and collect the family for a night out. We didn’t go far, a simple drive to the
American Community Support Association (ACSA), our local club we are members
of. Saturday’s dinner special was seafood which
satisfies the majority of our family's taste buds except kid three who is far too picky for most
menus. Also the band, The Paisleys of New Delhi, was scheduled to play at
7:30pm and they are always a great show.
They had guest performances from some AES students. Very well done!
It was a fun and full Saturday of entertainment. For those of you following our saga, we also
have our new driver. He has been employed
with us for one full month now. We hope
he can stay working for us until we leave this summer. Oh yeah,
and we are planning to leave this summer.
We will not be returning to the state where we own our home but instead we will
look for housing in the state where moms and dad are living. More to come in
later posts, we will be adding “transitioning out of India” as a label.
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