REPORT SUBMISSION

Date of visit: 02/05/2023

By: Anshu Giri Goswami, 2k21/HS/11
To: Mr. Virendra Singh Bithoo
“Understanding Popular Culture”
INTRODUCTION:
Dilli Haat , as the name suggests is a local market/Haat set up by the joint efforts
of the Delhi Tourism and Municipal Corporation of Delhi. It consists of a number
of shops ranging from ethnic jewellery, regional cuisines , traditional attires to
home accessories and much more.
The construction of this Haat was completed in 1993 and has served as a site of
expression and sale for local artisans from different regions of India.
This report will be a brief description of personal observation of the student of the
architecture, the functioning of the Haat, the different category of shops/stalls and
then will deal with some interviews based on the conversations with the artisans
and shopkeepers.
Architecture: Delhi is usually visualised as a developed urban centre with a lot of
developed structures. But certain pockets of Delhi also serve to give an experience
of the local, rural setup of India. Dilli Haat is rightfully one such pocket. It has
structures and shops set up with a village like architecture style , made up of raw
looking bricks and wall murals /paintings. There are sheds at intervals with
village-like thatch and straw construction of a local, village haat. There are
permanent shops made from cement and mortar and temporary shops or stalls with
temporary roofs.

TYPES OF SHOPS/STALLS:
1) Jewellery and braid makers: The first kind of shops near the
entrance of the market are the jewellery shops selling ethnic silver
jewellery. Some of them are also braid makers. Getting one’s hair
braided with the colourful nylon threads is one of the major attractions of
Dilli Haat and is usually in one’s checklist during the visit to this place.
2) Textiles shops: These are the shops with different kinds of clothing items,
a major chunk of them were for females while some like shirts being for men.
There were also regional items like Pashmina shalls, Kashmiri blankets.
There are also shops of cotton rugs and mats loaded with a variety of colors and
prints and prices ranging from INR 1500 to several thousands.

3)Paintings: Artworks in the form of paintings covered the major portion in

the entrance area. The art works were majorly madhubani paintings depicting
different themes like nature, mythological visuals of deities and several abstract
themes.

4) Traditional handbags and totebags

A wide variety of bags ranging from plain jute bags to vibrant, fancy bags from
Gujarat can be found.

5) Home decor: Other than paintings, several other items of home decor
could also be found. There were lamps, cushion covers, wall hangings from
different states(e.g. a wall-hanging of katputali from Rajasthan). This category of
shops cater to a large number of buyers with their attractive and unique options and
varieties.

6)Food Stalls
Food is simply considered one the of most significant attractions of Dilli Haat.
Ranging from the North-eastern Thupka , to Bengal’s Jhalmuri to Rajasthan’s
Kulfi, and South Indian Dosa, this place offers a treat of different flavours from
different parts of the country. It also had stalls for cuisines from almost all the
states of the country with prices ranging over a large bracket.
7) Commercial shops
Other than the shops of the artisans from different pockets of the country, there
were also some commercial shops which are basically owned by small
business/enterprise owners with products based on sustainability. One such
example was a stall named “She-made”, a sustainable bodycare and cosmetic
brand run entirely by females in Delhi. Another such sustainable brand was “Soap-
square”. These shops take a permission of 3 months and sometimes keep their
shops in Dilli Haat for the entire year.

INTERVIEWS OF THE LOCAL ARTISANS:

1) Ashish Kumar from Bihar-
A madhubani painter from Bihar, he explains about the entire system of sale and
profit in Dilli Haat. He told me about how a letter is first sent to the artisans by the
Govt. and they are then invited for several days to stay and conduct a sale of their
products in Dilli Haat. The artisans have to pay for their shops in Dilli Haat. Their
arrangements for the stay too are not aided by the government. After a period of 15
days the location i.e., the shop number of the shops is interchanged through a
system of lottery.

Ashish Kumar and

his brothers as they
pack their paintings
to shift the shops’s
location after 15
days of stay.

2) Mr. Rupesh and family from Rajasthan

Mr Rupesh and his family have been working on the Rajasthani painting art since
generations amd have also made it a means of earning. Every member in his family
is involved in this art but most of the paintings that were up for sale were, as he
says, painted by his daughter-in-law, Srishti ji, who also provides training classes
for this art form.
 3) Mohd. Aslam. From Delhi
Mohd. Aslam, a wire artist explained about the vanishing art of wire bending and
discussed how he took it up as a hobby but has now become his passion and means
of livelihood. This artist based in Delhi had generations before him following this
art and this is his effort in keeping this art alive for which, platforms and places
like Dilli Haat help in bringing the art form to the forefront. The pieces made by
him consisted of keychains, neckpieces, wall frames and even small toys. This
speed and perfection with which Mr. Aslam creates his art pieces is purely
commendable.

My personal observations:
Dilli Haat, I feel, serves as the perfect site where taste, ethnicity and vibrancy of
the Indian culture comes together. The infrastructure of the place has been created
in such a way that it keeps us in touch with the simplicity yet fanciness of the
Indian art forms.
While having conversations with the artisans, I also came across the fact that being
selected by the Govt. Of India and allowed to sell their products in Dilli Haat or
any Govt. set-up market comes with the burden of bearing the cost of staying In
Delhi in the very first place.
I also got to know that since many regional and folk art forms are on the verge of
being lost, several efforts from its artists are helping them keep alive. For instance
taking classes of that particular art form to make sure it is learnt and continued by
atleast some if not many of the children of the upcoming generation.
One important observation while having a conversation with one of the artisans
about the higher prices of some of the products was that the reason behind the
raised prices is usually the involvement of middle-men for the sale of products
made by local artisans who stay in their native places and have to sell their
products to these middle men in order to avoid the cost of staying in a city like
Delhi which results in higher prices as the commission of the former also gets
counted.
CONCLUSION:
The visit definitely proved to be an insightful one with a peek into the lives of
these artisans and their livelihood. I would like to extend my gratitude to the our
Professor, Mr Virendra Singh Bithoo Sir for encouraging us for the visit and also
the entire History faculty for being supportive about the physical visit. The visit
also led me to develop am understanding of how these government set-up markets
run and what are the pros and cons of actually setting up these markets. Moreover
it made me look at these markets not just as a place of purchase but also of
insightful conversations and cultural instincts.

SOURCES:
The report is based on self-observation and conversations with the artisans with
additional factual data from the internet. The links for this data have been pinned
below.
 https://www.delhitourism.gov.in/delhitourism/tourist_place/
dilli_haat_INA.jsp
 https://www.cityspidey.com/news/15990/dilli-haat-a-celebration-of-the-
aesthetics-and-flavours-of-ethnic-india

 Photo Courtesy: Self