Poush Mela December 2013

See Wiki link: Poush Mela

Poush Mela started on 23rd December till 26th December 2013 officially but after the Mela got over, Banga Mela took over. Bangha literally means "broken" in Bengali so it means the local artisans and craftsmen selling leftover or broken pieces that remained from the Poush Mela. They don't exactly sell broken stuffs but they do sell their remaining products for 1/3rd the original price to wrap up their sales and most often one finds a bit of broken or defective goods among it. 

Here are some of the photos taken with Olympus E-Pl2 and Nikon 24mm f/2.8 AI-S lens. This is my walk-around camera and lens combo. 

Poush Mela promotes local craft, art, handicrafts and culture. Baul Singers who are Spiritual singers perform during the mela.

Decorative Dhokra Art on winnowing fan.

painting Dhokra Art on Tee- Shirts.

Wood works.

Made of Jute.

made of Bamboo and cane.

Bead and neclace maker.

Lovely Dhokra Art on plates for hanging on the walls.

An Artist doing sketches. I believe he is from Kala- Bhawana (Institute of Art and Design) because most of the students selling art works were from the Institute.

Watercolour on paper.

Decorative stand made of bamboo and coconut shell.

Handmade flowers.

The Hawker is selling Guavas. The guavas are plucked before it is ripe and eaten with black salt on them.

Dhokra Art.

Rabindranath Tagore books sold during the fair.

Rabindranath Tagore's handwriting...

Two lovely Bengali girls in traditional attire.

Anyi Bina got Rabindranath Tagore's Gitanjali. The one holding the bag is Jigme, Anyi's friend who accompanied us.

Visva- Bharati means the "the communion of the world with India". Check the Wiki link: Visva Bharati.

This place is also well known for Ceramics. Santiniketan Visva-Bharati has Ceramics department so there are many ceramics makers here. I am interested to learn pottery/ ceramics too.

Seasonal blooms. This is the season of Chrysanthemum and I see lots and lots of these flowers everywhere here.

Anyi Bina and her friend Jigme

Anyi Bina and me

The craftsman was making tiny rats out of Amra seeds. Amra is Spondias mombin.

Steampunk!!! This guy was amazing! He made these figures from spare bicycle parts. I bought two of them: a person sitting and beating drums and a dog for Rs.500.

Cute leather coin purse. I don't endorse leather products but this place (Bolpur) is also known for its leather works.

Lots and lots of clay figures. Colourful clay figures are common in India. They are mostly for decorative purpose.

Fruits and vegetable made of clay!

Ceramics.

Necklaces made of seeds and beads.

This is COOL! I found a stall called "Foto Company- an alternative photography movement". They made box camera out of ply/wood and also had glass photography exposure techniques (I am ignorant about it). I will join their workshop later.

The dried plant when submerged in water for about 3 hours becomes green and lively. The salesman said that the plant will live for 3 years but the plant started becoming brown after 3 days... Got the conical one for Christmas. Santiniketan is a religion neutral place so it was odd to observe no pomp and show or festive feeling around Christmas. Anyi Bina told me that only Holi the festival of colour is celebrated here.

Sugarcane juices is popular in most parts of India.

Indian street food...

I bought three Salwar kameez from this stall.

Making decorative parrots. The colour of the parrots looked so real and it stood out somehow... Lovely~

I don't know what it was... like the rest of the people I was surprised... Looks like bubble...But do people buy bubbles? Hmmm.... interesting....

Charms and Wind-chimes...

Junk jewelleries...

Beading...

Selling hand-made utensils

They even sold Lingerie...

Hearts in the sky...

Trying out flutes...

Traditional Kantha work (traditional Bengali and Oriya embroidery) done by hand. The work is intricate and expensive.

A mural of a scene from Mahabharat- Lord Krishna is the Charioteer and the one with the bow & arrow is Arjun the warrior.

Clay pigeons looks so real.

Owl also known as Pecha here in Bengal is considered good omen and sold as token of good luck. It is made out of wood. I bought the small one for Rs. 20 each on the last day of the Mela. Quite a bargain!

Jute handicrafts.

This is a common mode of transport here. I have not sat on one but it looks interesting.

Cups...cheap cups for sale..

A tired child...

Dusty miniature chairs and buckets. I just couldn't resist the cuteness of the plastic chair and got 2 for Rs. 20 each. If you are an Indian then you'll know how popular and common such plastic chairs are around here but I never saw a miniature model of it and found it just so amusing.

Anyi Bina got the Dhokra Art paintings for good bargain on the last day. The art is mostly inspired by fish which is the main delicacy of Bengalis. 

Used Color Efex Pro 4 in the above photo.