(Top) Art teacher Netai Chakraborty from Nadia has put up a stall that sells owls made from betel nuts. Prices start from Rs 150. (Above) A few steps ahead is a stall that sells puppets made out of palm leaves. Madan Mohan Dutta, the puppet-maker from Guskara, Burdwan, has been doing this since his childhood. He has six models of puppets. While the small ones are priced at Rs 30 to Rs 100, bigger ones are priced at Rs 500-600
Patachitra is another popular pick at the mela.Jhuma Chitrakar from Pingla, Paschim Medinipur, says her whole family is involved in this art. They don’t have any shops, they go to different melas all through the year to sell. The locality they stay in is full of ‘patachitrakars’. The ‘patachitras’ starts from Rs 500
(Top) Manisha Dey from Palta and Arnab Rana from Dakhineswar have been visiting the mela for the past four to five years. They come here for the love of art. ‘You get to see so many different art forms in one mela. It’s so colourful and vibrant,’ said Manisha. (Above) Sampa Samanta from Howrah came to the mela with her family. ‘I come here every year. Not only do you get good stuff at an affordable price range but also get to see handicraft from different parts of Bengal. It’s really worth visiting every year’
