Sonajhuri Haat, the popular traditional handicraft hub in the space under the Axis Mall flyover, will be on through the Pujas, from October 4 to 13 The organisers have got special permission from the Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (Hidco) to this effect.

Several puja organisers have booked ware from the haat. Metropolitan Durgabari, in the lane next to Bypass Dhaba, will decorate their lights with jhuris as shades. “They have procured jhuris from us. The jhuris came from Raigunj,” said organiser Rajarshi Das of Creative Bengal Foundation. “A housing estate is Gouranganagar, on the fringes of New Town, is decorating its pandal with patachitras from our artistes, Samir Chitrakar, Khukurani and Somi Chitrakar, who also visited their pandal to help. A Baguiati puja came to pick up some pandal decor. A Salt Lake puja committee has placed orders for their gift items with us,” he added.

Another haat will be held on the road leading to the Metropolitan Durgabari housing estate, off the Bypass, near the Durgabari temple from October 2 to 13. “Ours will be the two biggest handicraft fairs in the city during Puja. Elsewhere it is more of a plastic fair,” Das claimed.

A customer checks out crochet items at the fair in BA Block community hall. Brinda Sarkar

There will be about 70 artists from the districts participating at the New Town fair while another 80 will be there at the Durgabari haat. The latter will also host a jhumur dance troupe from Purulia.

Currently, the haat is being held on weekends at the New Town address, from 11am to 10pm. “Several new items have come in the run-up to the Pujas, like decorative pieces made of buffalo horn, a new range of window curtains and cushion covers etc," Das added. The fair is getting foreigners among its steady stream of buyers, he pointed out.

The timings of the fair will be extended at night during the Puja as the organisers plan to cash in on the flow of visitors to the adjacent Newtown Sarbojanin puja.

Bake, make & more

They may be too busy with their day jobs to run full-time shops, but weekend fairs give them the push to pursue their creativity while also making a quick buck. One such fair at BA Block brought together a variety of budding entrepreneurs under one roof.

“I’ve no time for a full-fledged bakery, but still get two to three orders for cakes daily. That’s enough for me, except at fairs like these where I work overtime, but only for the weekend,” said Mousumi Chakraborty, a BC Block resident selling under the name Cake Tech.

Dharitri Ganguly, a media professional, has found a niche in the market and bakes part-time too. “I personally love dry cakes, and at birthdays and anniversaries, all you hear is people asking to remove the cream from their cake. So I started Love for Loaves to make low-sugar dry cakes,” said the CK Block resident, handing a piece to a customer.

Moitrayee De works for a legal publishing house but enjoys creative pursuits as an outlet. “With office work, there’s hardly time for these, but if I know a fair is coming up, I push myself to paint canvas bags, coffee mugs, and other items. It’s hard work but I enjoy it,” said the BA Block resident.

There were more stalls selling saris, jewellery, plants, and food. BA Block-based eatery New Labong had even brought in a magician and mentalist to entertain guests.

It was a delight to watch five men manning a food counter. “One plate of kebabs, two plates of wings!” called out Subrata Hore, as Radhamadhab Paul, working in tandem, served the order, Saibal Mitra added onions, Suvendu Kundu the chutney, and Mihir Ranjan Dasgupta wrote out the receipt.

Meanwhile, Subrata Hore’s wife, Shatarupa, arrived with taaler bora for them from another stall. When asked if he did the cooking at home, she laughed! “I neither cook nor shop,” confessed Subrata, a retired political science professor. “We’ve outsourced the cooking to chefs, and we friends are just selling for the lark as we have an interest in food.”

Shatarupa was the secretary of the mela ghor committee under BA Block Association, that organised the fair. “We began this event last year, and it was such a success that the stallholders had been asking us to hold another around Holi. We couldn’t manage that, but we’re happy to have pulled this off now. In fact, 40 out of 50 stalls were booked within hours,” she said.