Thiruvananthapuram is never short of exhibitions and here is another one, the SARAS (Sales of Articles of Rural Artisans) Mela. This annual handicrafts fest is here again as part of the Onam season sale with around 50 stalls displaying handicrafts from all over India.
Laila, Sulochana and Manju have travelled early this morning from Vamanapuram, and they are now at the Manjalikulam ground, in their small stall next to a green machine that is used to make rugs. “It takes an hour, sometimes two, to make a patchwork rug. It is available in different sizes,” says Sulochana pointing to bright green and pink doormats and rugs. The interesting part is that you can watch them spin the thread and observe the making of a rug that is sold for ` 25.
Wayanad has a bamboo stall with wooden ladles, bamboo kitchenware, bamboo rice and interesting things like ‘pappadamkuthi’ and bamboo tongs. The musical instruments made from bamboo, like the ‘mazhathulli kilukkam’, the ‘puttu kutti’ made from bamboo reed and wound with coir etc are some of the sure-shot crowd pullers. The fest has almost all ingredients and elements required in any Kerala kitchen including rare stuff like dry mango, wild honey and kuthu puli.
Knives seem to be a recurring item for display in many stalls, the same goes with flower and vegetable seeds. Handy tools for farmers are plenty to choose from.
Kids would like to wander near the stall from Idukki which has a few soft toys to offer.
The most colourful stalls are from Alappuzha and Thrissur. Alappuzha with its bright swings and cane baskets in various shapes and sizes and the Thrissur stall with Kerala saris and Ganapathi wall hangings made out of ‘ramacham’ never fail to find buyers.
Clothing materials from Gujarat and Jaipur, metal artefacts from Odisha, leather ornamental shoes from Punjab and much more are on offer.
There are more than a few empty stalls now at the expo which will soon find themselves occupied with goods from various states. In a day or two, the place is sure to be crammed by people shopping for all their Onam needs!
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