Date: 07 to 14 November, 2014
Venue: Delhi Haat

Khadi , India’s very own hand spun and hand woven textiles, has been synonymous with patriotism. Our Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his colourful stiff cotton kurtas and half jackets, is Khadi’s new poster boy. That explains the resurgent interest for these items in the country.

Dilli Haat is presently host to an exhibition of Khadi goods. The term Khadi is now used in a bigger context and various non textile items that are made by cottage industries using natural raw material are also included  thereunder. Thus the government Khadi stall as well as the other stalls at the exhibition not only displayed clothes and yardage but also carried pickles, spices, honey, cosmetics, aromatic oils and winter wear.

The efforts in organising this Mela seemed half hearted. Only routine clothes items like kurtas, few jackets and yardage were on sale. The wide variety of Khadi textiles (each part of India perhaps has its own version) was just not explored. In fact, some stalls displayed machine made clothes items, not made out of Khadi spinning / weaving, on the sly.

Nonetheless, we found the food items such as pickles, savouries and candies to be extremely tasty but free of chemicals and preservatives. Their wide variety of honey was mild. Other goods such as soaps, lotions and perfumery had subtle fragrance and seemed low on artificial ingredients. These goods were affordable and had an inherent simplicity about them.

Using Khadi is a personal choice. All we say is try it once.