Chandigarh, July 8 : ‘Colours and Sounds of South India’ shall be the theme of the ‘3rd Chandigarh National Crafts Mela’ to be held in October 2011 at Kalagram where special focus will be on showcasing folk traditions, arts and crafts of the Southern States: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andeman & Nikobar Islands, Lakshyadweep, & Pondicherry. South India is known for its diversity in terms of landscapes, people and cultures, food habits, art and architecture. This year’s special focus will be handicrafts, handlooms and folk traditions including authentic fragrances and flavours of rich Indian cuisines, and also folk music, folk instruments and folk dances.In a meeting convened by the Secretary Home & Cultural Affairs Sh. Ram Niwas with the Director NZCC Sh. D.S. Saroya, Chief Engineer, Chief Architect and other senior officials of Chandigarh Administration, it was decided that ‘3rd Chandigarh National Crafts Mela’ shall be organised by Chandigarh Administration in collaboration North Zone Cultural Centre from October 8 to 17, 2011. This festival has already gained immense popularity over the last two years. The themes of 1st & 2nd National Crafts Melas were Jammu & Kashmir, and North East India, respectively. The chief objective of organizing this National level annual Mela is to showcase Indian handicrafts, handlooms and folk traditions , folk music, folk instruments and folk dances of India with special focus on Theme State(s).
Home Secretary directed Chief Architect to prepare the layout plan of the stalls; Entrance/exit gates; exhibitors’ huts and prominent structures/features as per South Indian theme of Crafts Mela. This year, around 145 ethnic huts (stalls) made from bamboo will be constructed where acclaimed craftsmen preferably Shilpa Gurus and National awardees including those from Tribal areas from all the cultural regions of India will showcase handicrafts and handlooms. The main focus will be on crafts and handlooms of South Indian States. The whole village at Kalagram will bear the look of mini South India with the participation of Southern States comprising of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andeman & Nikobar Islands, Lakshyadweep, & Pondicherry.
During the ten days, various cultural evenings like folk music, folk instrument, folk dances from all parts of the country will be organized besides day long performances by renowned artist’s .The village shall have different features depicting the rich Art, Culture and Heritage of South India. The exhibitors will display the work related to traditional clothing, cuisine, music and dance, architecture and paintings, communities and traditions etc.
According to the Home Secretary,” Chandigarh National Crafts Mela provides a platform to the crafts persons to set up an environment where rural crafts traditions could be displayed. He further added that this Mela will provide an opportunity to the travellers from various parts of the country as well as foreigners to have a feel of traditional rural ambience.
With the theme South India, Crafts Mela will be fascinating and a definite crowd puller as this year, visitors can have glimpses of various features depicting the temples of Tamil Nadu to the backwaters of Kerala and caves of Deccan, south India. Visitors can also relish the south Indian food which plays vital part of the heritage and culture of South India. South Indian food is perfect permutation of flavours, colours, zest, nutritional balance, aroma, savour and visual appeal and it quite popular in this region
Director NZCC, D.S.Saroya stated that acclaimed craftspersons from the constituent states of North Zone Cultural Centre as well as from other six Zonal Cultural Centres will invited to display their crafts and also give demo wherever possible with special focus on Theme State(s) for a particular year.