By IANS
New Delhi : The fragrance of bamboo shoot and dried apple fills the air, the vases are full of pink and purple orchids, and cane – in various forms ranging from tiny purses to royal beds – lies strewn all around. Welcome to the northeast trade expo, a window into the region endowed with natural resources.
With the eight states of the region – Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Manipur, Nagaland, Mizoram and Tripura – bringing forth their natural wealth into the capital, the expo, which started Feb 8, is attracting quite a crowd.
Aruna Mazumdar was one of the many visitors at the expo totally enthralled by the exquisite cane handicrafts. Standing in front of a stall from Manipur, Mazumdar said she had never before seen such a variety of things in cane.
“From tea sets, coasters and vases to lamp shades, king sized beds and cabinets…never have I seen such a wide variety of things in cane, not even in Dilli Haat where there are so many handicraft stalls,” Mazumdar said.
“I have bought nearly ten cane purses which are dime-a-dozen. Useful and cute, they would make for an ideal gift,” she told IANS.
A bamboo bed costs around Rs.12,000 while a bamboo divan, which is both sturdy and looks elegant, costs around Rs.4,600.
Pretty and in a range of colours – blue, pink, purple and red to name a few – the artificial flowers and orchids section is another crowd puller.
“These flowers are made of palm leaves,” said Harish Kumar, the manager of one of the stalls even as visitors looked around.
Assam’s famous muga and eri silk saris are, as always, very popular.
A typical muga silk mekhla, which is equivalent of a sari and is brown in colour with small red flowers, costs about Rs.7,000.
“I already have a mekhla which I had bought from the Assam emporium. This time I will buy a Naga shawl and probably one of the half jackets. They are both warm and look very smart,” said Rupa Sethi, one of the visitors.
To add the extra effect, weavers sat weaving mekhlas even as intrigued visitors looked on.
Besides these, spices, Assam tea, passion fruit juice, dried apple and bamboo shoot pickle were the other specialities that had many takers.
The expo is taking place at the NSIC exhibition ground in Okhla and is on till Feb 18.