Yesterday, as pre-planned, mom and I went around the stalls at the crafts bazar in Valluvar Kottam.
Many stalls displayed handwoven cane pieces, block printed textiles, beads' jewellery. Wooden toys, metal objects were also there.
My mom walked slowly and she got a bit disappointed that her kallchatti stall never came into visibility until towards the end of the tour.
And there I was taking my own time and checking out some things I was interested in like the ink art on special paper from Bihar, West Bengal and Orissa.
In fact I had asked my niece from Orissa to get me some small tribal artwork from Bhubaneshwar where she stays. There are 3 or 4 types and they are called the tribal art, tussar art, the patta chitra.
I like the tussar art for its simplicity and creativity. These depict life in the tribal regions. They resemble what I once had the chance to see on the Discovry Channel which was showcasing some tribal Australian art work long back.
I wish I could upload some pictures of what I picked up from this crafts bazar yesterday. Let me try it out with the camera that my niece, Muthu from Chicago sent me sometime back.
Then when we thought we had come to the end of the stalls, there it was! How my mom's face brightened at seeing those chattis. I din't want to appear too enthusiastic as the shop fellows could hike up rates to an all time high. I found many bargaining for stuff at almost all the stalls. I could not but compare it to the haggling of auto fares with auto drivers in Chennai!
These are all the things I bought:
* Two beautiful tussar art from the Orissa stall,
* One West Bengal tribal art depicting a peacock, fishes and lotus. The artists were mentioning how auspicious fish was considered in Bengal to which I could not but tell them that is why perhaps fish were eaten even by the Bengali Brahmins too!
* Two beautifully sounding small Gujarathi Copper alloy gongs secured on key chains,
* Found two very bright and interesting glass pendants. The art work with lovely peacock feather colors were indeed a steal at Rs.125/- for both,
* Got two very thin steel chains with tiny pendants for my nieces Muthu and Nandita who I hope will like to wear them whenever I gift it to them!
The main item for which we went (the kalchatty),a medium size which can hold 1.75 lt of sambar or rasam was bought for Rs.260/-. My mom was too shocked to know that it cost that much. She may have thought it could come for as cheap as 50 or 60!!
I got talking to the kallchatti maker. Upon enquiring, I found that these were carved at Salem. That explained everything! My mom belongs to Salem, Erode areas and in her childhood she has seen her mom cooking in these kallchatties.
Somehow or the other we are always in search of our roots all the time.
As is usual, there were stalls selling snacks and savories like bhel, pani puri, samosa, cutlet, tikki, chana, kulfi from Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu stall selling kuzhi paniyaram, sweet and kara poli, nescafe coffee, Ooty stall selling their famed warki, dry fruits, spices and vadams besides pizzas, hot dogs, american sweet corn, etc.
Today I asked amma to inaugurate the new kallchatti. She made a very tasty rasam and sambar while I hovered around helping her with this and that.
May she live long, cook and enjoy life.
Mahalakshmi
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