Surajkund Fair Play

The 8km separating Delhi from Surajkund was once a stretch of dense forest where sighting deer was a cinch. Today, the only antelopes you’ll sight here are the stuffed ones selling at the crafts mela.

The 8km separating Delhi from Surajkund was once an unbroken stretch of dense forest where deer spotting was effortless. Today, the only antelopes you’ll sight here are the stuffed ones selling at the 24th Surajkund Crafts Mela. Krishna-inspired wall hangings made of leather and car-shaped carpets now vie for space with potters’ wheels and handlooms. The rickety ferris wheels and maut ka kuan have given way to a makeshift amusement park. And with 125,000 visitors having arrived on Sunday, 6 February, alone, even shrubs and boulders of the surrounding Aravalli hills have had to make way for parking lots. The mela offers the bizarre alongside the mundane.

AravallicraftsSurajkund