Background 

First hosted in 1987, this fair was brought up to an International status in 2013 with increased international participation, with 20+ countries this year. The venue every year is Surajkund (‘Suraj’ – sun, ‘Kund’ – lake/ reservoir) in state of Haryana, India. Every year there is one theme state, this year been Himachal Pradesh. 

Some logistics

• Dates – 1^st – 16 February  in 2020
• Timing – 10.30 AM till 8.30 PM, all days
• Accessible by local transport and person vehicles (with a large well-planned parking area)
• Tickets – available both at the site (and this time I noticed the ‘BookMyShow’ counter for online booking too!)

The Mela

The Mela spread over 40 acres of land with 3 entries and 1000+ work huts/ stalls can be overwhelming. So we tried to follow the numbers tagged to each stall to cover the grounds systematically and failed miserably because, the cultural activities, the colourful stalls and diverse craft continued to pull us in all directions.

Himachal Pradesh, being the theme state, you get to see a varied cultural and art exhibits from the states – Handicraft from woodwork to metalwork to clay work, Handlooms to fine dresses to woollen traditional wear! Equally matched was the handicraft work from other states.

Well, equally attractive (and more for me than my wife!) were the food stalls, ultimate satisfaction for my culinary longing. Variety of street foods from various parts of the country reinforced by a huge buffet by Himachal tourism and IHM, to name a couple.

The other attraction/ crowd-puller were the cultural activities/ programs. Traditional music-dance-songs by the traditionally attired performers were enthusiastically joined by the visitors.

What Else

We missed the evening light & sound show and the fashion show… plan enough time to cover all ground and see the evening activities! Also, if you plan for some serious shopping, visiting towards the end of the season is a good idea, you could get good deals!

Well, this short writeup hardly does justice to this magnificent event of colours, cultural diversity and our rich heritage. So, I have put together a separate gallery with my photos (click here) and videos (click here) to make up for some of this.

So, if you haven’t yet visited, go now! If not, put it up on your calendar for February next year!