Dari Melee
April 12, 2009
“Mela” is “fair” in Hindi, and Easter Sunday here coincided with the Dari mela. Dari is one of the villages just below the main town of Dharamsala. The fair, which clogged the town’s artery road with vendors on both sides, and spilled out into what I assume is normally an empty field, drew village and townsfolk from around the region.
It was a good excuse for an outing, perhaps a bit of adventure, and some hoped-for additional tea mugs. A funny array of goods and kitch were for sale. In the typical fashion I’ve come to expect in India, row after row of stalls sold very similar goods, either socks and underwear, kitchen ware, gaudy marbles in glass jars, or food. It is one of the larger fairs in Himachal Pradesh and people really came out of the woodwork. Announcers, rides, the whole deal.
And, the tea mugs were to be found! There were already a few here in the kitchen, found in the McLeod Ganj fair last fall. They’re these great little terra-cotta looking cups — and I broke one a few weeks ago — so we got another 10 (plus 2 glasses) for 100 rupees. All in all, very much worth braving the melee.
