Why Dilli Haat, The Crafter's Paradise Lost its Sparkle?

Is this the true Dilli Haat   Close to our hearts, the beautiful Dilli Haat is known to be a hub for distinctive art and craft stalls. I remember as a child, the excitement I used to have whenever, I was told that we are going to visit the Dilli Haat. However, things are just not the same anymore.   Do you still feel the same when you enter the premises as you did probably a while ago? Most likely, the answer would be a “No”. The charm, the spark it had, it’s just changed. And this change doesn’t feel too good. After our recent visit to our much adored Dilli Haat, we felt a major disappointment in our hearts. Thus, we thought of sharing the pain points with our readers too just to create awareness and hoping for an improvement too.  

The unnecessary repetition

  We witnessed that there were too many stalls selling the same stuff. To name a few out of many, silver and pearl jewellery, Kashmiri clothing were the major highlights of the day. We felt so much of repetition wasn’t really necessary and instead there can be other distinctive stalls too as there is a lot more to India which can be displayed and appreciated here.   It had too many such stalls,definitely not fair!   A lot of ceramic and bone china items are spread across.  

Less visibility of the real craftsmen

  Most of the stalls appeared as being owned by traders rather than the real craftsmen whose hard work has really been put in and who deserves the real appreciation.  This is comprehensible that the work in one particular stall is a combined effort of a lot of people and not all can be physically present at the stall. However, there can be an appreciation given to them in a form of a picture on all of them at the stall which sells their work. It’s not always just about money as these little gestures would have them feel more valued which they truly deserve.   Imagine the hard work for these pieces.  

Barely populated stalls

  We are not talking about the time of the day when the stalls have just been put on or its scorching hot.  Our time of the visit was early evening and that too on a not so sunny day. We saw few people dropping in and fewer who were buying things from the stalls. As per our understanding, the probability of this is because:  

• The shift towards the malls and big stores
• Its no longer a place for the true Indian artisans
• The increase in Chinese and plastic products being sold here like key chains etc.
• Lack of uniqueness being felt

  Look at the not so populated stalls   Don't they deserve to be appreciated and regarded?   We feel that something has to be done before this place faces an identity crisis.  It’s about time for the authority to act now and save the treasure.   As Johannes Brahms said" Without Craftsmanship, inspiration is a mere reed shaken in the wind"