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All that glitters isn’t traditional
Roll
your eyeballs in disbelief if you’d like to, but the conventional Himachali jewellery, that you adorn your recollections with, is crafted in Delhi .The idea may not seem convincing, but it’s true. The silvery jhumkas, and haars, that most of us get ourselves photographed in whenever we visit Himachal, may actually have nothing to do with Himachal Pradesh. For, the state’s traditional jewellery is apparently on its way out. As you walk out of your hotel room and embark on the Cart Road (car road, if you please) on way to the environs of Kufri, the dazzle of anklets and solid iron-headed bangles, on display along the roadside, makes you stop in your tracks. After all, the temptation of taking home glittering memories of your trip to Shimla or the “Jewel of the Orient” is too hard to resist.
Well fellows, even before you practically step out of the cab, the lens man wraps you up in the long-established Himachali shawl and embellishes your looks with traditional ornaments for decorating your memoirs. The digital-camera picture of an ornament-studded Himachali girl, that he instantaneously hands over to you, is almost perfect. Almost, except for the fact that the heavily crafted necklace around your fragile neck is not really made out of silver and has nothing to do with conventions. The same holds true for the bangles, anklets and other ornaments! Peeping from behind the camera, placed strategically on a point from where you can practically see the whole of Green Valley, local photographer Raj Kumar cannot help but own up the reality. Getting emotional, he says: “It’s hard to get hold of traditional jewellery nowadays”. Offering you a heavy made-in-Delhi jhumar, Kumar asserts: “There was a time when master craftsmen in almost all the villages were making it, but now you have to search for the silversmiths still involved in the ancestral art of creating magic out of the metal. Little wonder, it’s easier to pick up conventionally-chic white metal jewellery from the national capital and other places, than buy the real stuff”. Kumar adds: There’s another reason. As few local craftsmen are displaying their flair in the intricate designs, the conventional jewellery is becoming really expensive. That’s why we cannot afford to keep the real stuff here.” Heaving a deep sign, co-photographer Sanjeev Kumar adds: “The customary jewellery was quite popular until about a decade ago. You had people wearing not just the haars and jhumkas, but also customary ornament called dhorutu. But now, chunk jewellery has made the traditional stuff loose its sheen. Everywhere you look, there are people wearing chains, beads and lockets”. No wonder, the traditional jewellery business is just not lucrative! Ajit Singh of a small village, some 20 kilometers away from Shimla, has left it and is now working as a sales agent with a consumer goods manufacturing company. “Though the art was handed over to me by my father, I am just not into it,” he says. “You see, the business involves too much of effort, and very little returns”. Clearly, the aftermath of the new craze for chunk jewellery is there for all to see. “All over the state, tiny chunk jewellery shops have cropped up. In fact, even in and around the Lakkar Bazaar area, you have kiosks offering faux pleasure,” says Punjab and Haryana High Court advocate-cum-regular frequenter to the hills Raman Kumar Sharma. “Though the Language Department is collecting traditional jewellery of the state, and a traditional jewellery section was inaugurated in the State Museum by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh last year, something more needs to be done to prevent the art diminishing,” adds Sharma. Folks, let’s hope something more is done to add glint to the glitter of tradition.
Snowhite sizzle Silver jewellery is one of the oldest handicrafts in the state. Silversmiths scattered across the state narrate the holy tale of Sita, the wife of Lord Rama, wearing silver jewellery designed and crafted by their ancestors in days of yore. Carrying on the tradition, some silversmiths still religiously produce articles of utility, including engraved silver teapots, glasses, lamp stands and fruit trays. Tinkling rinkets Fine Himachali jewellery is crafted out of silver and gold.The jewellers of once-Rajput kingdoms of Kangra, Chamba, Mandi and Kullu, were famous for their enameling skills. Working mainly with silver, they created exquisite pieces like elliptical anklets, bangles and hair ornaments. Particularly famous were peepal-leaf-shaped forehead ornaments and necklaces known as chandanhaars. If you haven’t seen them, chandanhaars are made out of long silver chains linked by engraved or enameled silver plaques and pendants with motifs of the mother goddess. The craftsmen were also partial to deep blue
and green. You also had coin necklaces and chokers called kach made of silver beads with triangular plaques. A collar-like hansali was also there in a big way. Heavy anklets, bangles and silver bracelets – solid or filled with shellac – with clasps in the shape of crocodile or lions heads were also in vogue. And then, there were silver anklets in old Kangra pattern with a flock of birds connected by silver links. Unfortun-ately, most of this is no longer made, but you can still check it out in Kangra Art Museum at Dharamsala, the State Museum at Shimla and the Bhuri Singh Museum at Chamba.
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Vignettes
If
you were a Shimla denizen of the early twentieth century, Edwards Ganj, now Anaj Mandi or simply Ganj Bazaar, shall have satisfied your carnal to physical to spiritual needs. There were nautch ghars in its vicinity; thriving wholesale market of grains and pulses exporting foodstuff to the adjoining princely hill states too, now sliding down towards closure laments Rajneesh Kumar, the owner of a fifty year old establishment; Sanatan Dharm Sabha Mandir built in 1889 and an open-air platform from where you would have heard the great leaders of the Swaraj movement. Your camel, mule or horse would also have found a halting place here, a shed, which still exists with letters SPCA done in relief work. Chaudhari Ram did horse shoeing of animals here in olden days; the mantle has now passed on to young Hira Singh, who hesitatingly disclosed that the cost of horseshoeing has gone up to Rs 325 per horse now. The draught animals had to shed a little of their importance when the toy train chugged into Shimla in 1903.The stable in Edwards Ganj, therefore, was zipped up in 1907.
The nautch girls had enchanted Emily Eden too. She writes, ”Some of the nautch girls in the bazaar are very pretty, and wear beautiful ornaments but it is not lawful to look at them even for sketching purpose”. According to Pamela Kanwar, these barbalas were shifted to a compound of Gusain in Jakhu in 1921 from the Gunj Road, the road joining the Cart Road near Ghora Chowki. There are differing opinions among historians as to who established the Gunj. Was it Herbert Edwardes or William Edwards? It was William Edwards. Queeny Pradhan in Empire in the Hills, O.C.Sud in The Simla Story and Pamela Kanwar in Imperial Simla vote for William. He was a reformist in favour of the natives. His oft-quoted sentence that he wrote in 1859, “The police are a scourge to the people and that their oppressions and exactions form one of the chief grounds of dissatisfaction with our government” unfolds his nature. This gentleman, who was superintendent of hill states from 1847 to 1852, replaced the commission agents and middlemen in order that the grain is cheap and buyer content. He had planned this market called the Edwards Gunj in 1848. The commission agents and the middlemen returned when another William, domineering and imperial William Hay, became the Deputy Commissioner of the town. Edwards Gunj during its formative days was in a shaded spot with a spring providing water. Today, the shade as well as the spring is buried in the past. The Gunj was turned into a first class market in 1878. And in the 1880s, contractors started employing load-carrying labour from Kashmir and elsewhere. To reduce this type of population pressure, the Municipal Committee decided to have about three-quarters mile long ropeway from the Maal Godam (railway goods terminus) to the Gunj. The haulage started around 1905 when the lower bazaar and the Auckland House tunnels, called khachhar surangs in common parlance, were also built so that mules carry the goods without disturbing the gora log on the Mall. The ropeway here remained a mute witness to its unsuccessful attempt in checking the growth of coolie population and finally gave way in 1932. There is a small open area here sandwiched between the temple and the Gunj opposite ninety eight year old S.D. Senior Secondary School, which was earmarked as a site for Indians’ Town hall in 1914. The Town hall remained in papers but here stands an unsung open-air platform, rejuvenated by the Sanatan Dharm Sabha three years back, from where Mahatma Gandhi, Vitthalbhai Patel, Lala Lajpat Rai, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur had addressed the people. The place is small but when the windows of the nearby buildings open with female faces jutting out and balconies carry loads of men, the number rises to thousands. It is Maidan-I-Ganj. There is neither a plaque nor a mention of these national treasures visiting the place. How ungrateful are we? Tailpiece “Integrity and wisdom are required for success in business. Integrity is to make a promise with the customer and keep it even if there is loss of money. What is
wisdom?” “Not to make such promises.”
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Brand Bazaar
Says Vipin Sharma, who owns the Sawagat show room in Hamirpur, When I started readymade garments’ store here in 1993, there were not many takers for branded clothes but the craze for brands is now growing. Many multi brand outlets are doing good business in this town with the changing market behaviour.”“ Not just the students but even the other people have become brand conscious, he adds.”
Avers Aishvarya Gautam, a young lady with a penchant for brands, “ There is a growing craze for branded items and when these are readily available in the local market, why settle for less?” Informs an NIT teacher “ Branded items have quality, their prices are almost uniform throughout the country and one does not feel getting cheated while buying branded items from a reputed show room.” Opines Anuj Thakur, who’s recently started his own Koutons showroom, “ Young people, especially college boys and girls, are coming to buy ready-made garments from show rooms.” The owner of Charlie exclusives says, “ We offer the cheapest range of jeans and shirts for the age group of 17 to 35. Youngsters in the town are going crazy for fashionable garments and Hamirpur is totally into brands now .”
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Return of theatre
Despite the absence of a proper stage and cultural hub in Mandi, the Himachal chapter of the Indian People Theatre Association (IPTA), has taken a slew of steps to revive theatre in Mandi under the ‘Education through culture’ programme of the Central Cultural Ministry. IPTA claims it has taken theatre to remote areas and reviving folk theatre. Convener IPTA Lawan Thakur says that IPTA involves children, trains them and they perform plays in which they learn the nuances of theatre. Under it IPTA has performed two plays - Bili ka Khail and Pathar ke Sainik. The programme promotes education through theatre and should be extended to schools in all districts.”
“The idea here is promote theatre through education and vice versa,” says Abhitabh Dasgupta, an ITPTA theatre expert from New Delhi. “Our state is sitting on a gold mine of art and theater. The response is very good, as children want to learn. It serves two purposes- it promotes talent and promises a good career for the budding artistes in the state”. “Bajantris, the traditional village musicians, who accompany the processions of devtas during Shivratri and Dasehra are being recognised as artists of great folk art quality by us, but the department cares a damn for them”, says Thakur. “In the recent past, heritage building Darbar Hall used to be a venue for theatrical performances, but today building is occupied by the Post and Telegraph department to run the post office in Mandi”, says Thakur. “We are demanding that the building should be taken back by the government and should be promoted as a cultural centre.
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SHIMLA DIARY
UNScientific
disposal of debris is emerging as a major problem because of the failure of local municipal authorities and public works department to create dumping sites. The concern of the government in this regard is confined just to hydroelectric projects, cement plants and other big projects and it is mandatory for such projects to create proper dumping sites as a part of the environment management plan. However, no such steps have been taken to ensure proper disposal of debris generated due to construction of roads, houses, commercial complexes and other structures, which is taking place on a massive scale.
In the absence of proper dumping sites debris is being dumped on the hill slopes causing irreparable damage to the environment. The indiscriminate dumping of debris destroys all vegetation on the verdant slopes and the muck is ultimately washed down into the nullahs and rivers that often get choked during rains. A glaring example of reckless dumping is Darni ka Bagicha on the bypass road where thousands of tonnes of debris has been dumped in a dense deodar forest. The mountain of muck is rising with each passing day causing damage to the standing trees and polluting Ashwini Khad, the main source of water supply to Solan and a number of villages. The forest department and the state pollution control board have also not taken action to check indiscriminate dumping of debris. They have been serving notices to the municipal corporation and the PWD from time to time that has made no impact. The concerned divisional forest officer, R.K.Raj maintains that debris was dumped at odd hours mostly during night, as a result of which the department was finding it difficult to take action against the offenders. The number plates of the trucks used for transporting the debris was covered with mud to avoid challan. He said, “The matter is being taken with the national highway authorities to provide dumping sites. The debris could also be used as a filling material for widening of the highway.” However, for a lasting solution the municipal corporation should create dumping sites by raising retaining walls in various parts of the town where construction work is on. It would not only solve the problem of debris disposal but also help widen narrow roads and reclaim land for building parking places and other requirements. Cleanliness drive
Cleanliness and streamlining water supply will be the top priority of Narinder Kataria who took over as the new mayor of Shimla early this week. In fact, he considers restoration of the city’s clean look a challenge and is on the job from day one. The city has been divided into nine segments and the concerned sanitary inspectors have been asked to move in their respective areas to make the field staff work. Kataria will himself carry out surprise visits to see if his instructions were being carried out in the field. He has made it very clear that the sanitary inspectors will be held accountable for any laxity on the cleanliness front. Aware of the problems being faced by residents, Kataria plans to revamp the entire water distribution system. The first and foremost task is to ensure that adequate water is being pumped daily from various sources to meet the requirement. He said, “In the past there had been problem due to lack of coordination with the irrigation and public health department.” He would monitor the situation on daily basis and see to it that they function efficiently. Next, the faulty distribution lines would be rectified in a phased manner to ensure equitable supply of water to residents. At present the storage tanks of some residents over flow, while taps of others remained dry for days together because of faulty connections. Kataria has also issued directions for completing the tarring of roads on a priority so that the work is over before the onset of monsoon. Also, strict checks will be enforced to ensure a good quality of material is being used for tarring of roads and other constructions work.
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Powerless
The builders are supposed to submit the power requirement of the infrastructure at the time of approval of their project. They usually show lesser demand than required for which there is no need to erect a transformer. As per the electricity board’s guidelines, transformer is to be erected when the demand is more than 50 KW. The problems of the electricity board increase when these newly built buildings draw more electricity than expected that results in frequent power breakdowns. About 700-800 flats are coming up in and around Solan out of which barely 220 have sought registration from the Himachal Pradesh Housing and Urban Development Authority. The electricity department has now served notices on these erring builders. They have been directed by the department to give the actual load assessment and also to install a transformer if the power demand exceeds 50 KW. Since the builders approach the board at the last moment when the entire building is complete, at times adequate space is not left to install a transformer. The board officials said that to solve this problem they have written to the local Municipal Committee and Town and Country Planning Department. It is through them they will get the requisite information about existing as well as old cases of this nature. This exercise will help them streamline the system and bring the defaulter builders to install transformers. Power demand has gone up in the town with maximum of 22 MVA in use this year. This has further increased burden on the 33 KVA transformer installed in 2003 at Kather. The power requirement stood at 19 MVA in 2003. The mobile towers have further perked up the power requirement as each tower uses load of 17 kilowatt.
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Coping up with life
She is alone and clueless. She looks speechless and motionless. Maya who has lost her two siblings in slum fire at Baddi last week is trying to accept the harsh situation.
The tragic fire snatched Rahul (3) and Shivam (1) from her. She rues leaving the kids alone in jhuggi. She ran to save her children when she saw the colony raging in fire. However, high flames blocked her efforts to pull the kids out. Later, Maya was admitted in a private hospital in Baddi for burn injuries. Maya hails from Rampur district in UP and had come to Baddi along with her husband for livelihood. The local social organisations have come forward to help the ones affected in fire.
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Experts: Reap benefit of rainfall
As agriculture in Himachal is being greatly affected by weather during the past few days,the state agriculture university here has constituted an interdisciplinary core team of scientists to chalk out weather-based advisories for farmers.
June 4 was found to be the hottest day with the highest temperatures of 35.2 °C at Palampur, with 41.8 °C at Akrot and 36.2 °C at Malan on June 6. The highest temperature recorded at Palampur was 37.2 °C on May 31, 1988. Earlier, the highest temperature recorded at Shimla was 31.7 °C on May 21, 2004; Dharmsala 38.3 °C on June 8, 1973 and Manali 33.2 °C on May 24 and June 6, 1978. The rise in temperature is generally considered good for heavy monsoon rain. As per the monsoon forecast, the state is likely to get a good rainfall during the coming monsoon season. Scientists of the agriculture university have advised the farmers to capitalise on the good monsoon likely to be received this year. Farmers must prepare their fields immediately for early sowing of maize.
— TNS |
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Catching-up with the other modern towns of Himachal, Hamirpur has also joined the brand-bandwagon with much fervour. The sleepy town that didn’t even have a single noticeable show room of ready wears till a few years back, can now boast of some major apparel brands having set shop here. Right from Wrangler, Pepe Jeans, Black Berries, Zodiac, Shapes and Octave to Lee and Numero uno, every brand is selling from Hamirpur. Readymade garments are also available in exclusive showrooms like Koutons, Charlie and John Players. What’s more, a few more exclusive stores like Kouton County and Adidas are also in the offing.
Adding to the chaos, are those builders who have constructed 4 to 8 flats. There is no need of registration for them, so the authorities cannot trace their where abouts. According to an estimate, at least a dozen of such small time builders have constructed flats in and around the town. As per the instructions of the State Electricity Regulatory Commission, each commercial unit whose power requirement exceeded 50 KW is supposed to install their own transformer for which space had to be provided by the owner.