AMMAJI flashes a toothless grin, happily calculating her substantial earnings on the last day of the week-long Women's Crafts Mela, held recently beside the popular tourist spot of Karna Lake along the National Highway. A veteran exhibitor, she can be found at most craft exhibitions across the country. Selling beaded jewellery, and bags and pouches encrusted with sequins, you can gauge her popularity when you are told that Jaya Jaitley, on her visit to the fair, pointedly asked the organisers if Ammaji was there. Not only that, she went across to her, exchanged a few words with her about the current recession hitting business before buying something appropriate for herself and her daughter Aditi.

According to Ammaji, handicraft fairs were a big draw in the late 80s and the early 90s. The market has since then saturated. Popular fairs like the Surajkund Mela too don't attract euphoric crowds any more. Her native wisdom tells her that new destinations, new products, new buyers and new ways of presenting the same old thing have to be worked out if crafts have to be kept alive. She found Karnal to be a virgin territory. Echoing her sentiments is Sunita Dutta, one of the chief organisers of the show. When she and seven other prominent citizens of Karnal set up an NGO called HIFA (Haryana Institute of Fine Arts), little did she know that its scope would cover the whole nation within seven years of its existence.

What started out as an initiative in sensitising Karnal residents to the soothing and enriching effect of art, music and dance, has today succeeded in putting the small township on the cultural map of the country. Besides regular classical music baithaks, kavi sammelans and dance festivals, art workshops, exhibitions and carnivals for children are held. People gradually warmed up to the idea and audiences started pouring in.

The Women's Crafts Mela was born out this very interactive process. Residents expressed a keenness to assimilate different experiences. Their general regret was that though their town was so close to the Capital on one side and to Chandigarh on the other, Karnal was not chosen for launching most promotional campaigns — be it consumer products, fashion accessories, book fairs or jewellery shows. HIFA enlisted the support of the local administration to make a success of their project. The Ministry of Textiles decided to be a co-sponsor. It invited artisans from all over the country, including Mizoram and Kerala. All arrangements had been made for the artisans — they were given travelling allowance — all they had to was come and display their wares.

More than 150 stalls were set up. More than 8 lakh people visited the fair and sales over Rs 40 lakh were registered. Handmade-paper products displayed by inmates of Tihar Jail were all sold out on the second day itself. The absence of middlemen and overhead costs made the products affordable. For the locals of Karnal, it was a fun venue for the week. A place where they could sample the exotic cuisine put up by the Haryana Tourism Department and soak in the festive spirit, thanks to a wide variety of cultural programmes organised like street theatre and Rajasthani puppet shows. Flower arrangement, rangoli and cooking competitions were also held. Throughout the five-day mela, senior bureaucrats, politicians and industrialists kept pouring in to express their appreciation and solidarity for a good cause.