Annual Tilonia Bazaar at Triveni Kala Sangam

Tillonia Bazaar or exhibition at Triveni is a regular event held each year before Diwali. The first going back to 1975. I though, visited it for the first time, this year..sounds rather silly for someone who has been living in Delhi for so long and has written so much about crafts. Actually, Diwali is such a busy time and so much happens that it is very difficult to catch it all. Nevertheless, Tilonia Bazaar was wonderful, bazaarish yet intimate and friendly.

Tilonia is a small village in Rajasthan ( around 426 kms from Delhi), a driving distance of 7 hours. It is known for The Barefoot College (Social Work Research Centre)  started by Bunker Roy in 1972.. It is synonymous with this place. The journey of The Barefoot College, its goals, its progress towards self reliance, using solar power and the individual achievements of Mr. Bunker Roy and his wife Mrs. Aruna Roy (yes of the RTI fame!) is mind boggling. The Barefoot College empowers rural communities in water, energy, health and education – more importantly it trains women across the world in solar energy. How to harness solar energy for growth. The focus is to use simple concepts to create a sustainable model. The key is grassroot development by the creation of micro entrepreneurs. A lot of craft traditions which have been lost have been revived and the traditions include block printing, embroidery, quilting and more.

The Bazaar started in Delhi at Triven in 1975. The story is as shared by their website – www.tiloniabazaar.org. It was the likes of Kamaladevi Chattopadyay, Pupul Jayakar, Shona Roy and several others that a bazaar be held to sell the products made and thus started a journey.

Without sounding prejudiced, the bazaar is brilliant and very affordable. The products comprising clothes, home décor, home linen, bags including leather, toys and upcycled stationery are beautiful.

Where – Triveni Kala Sangam, 205 Tansen Marg,  Todermal Road Area, Mandi House, Delhi, New Delhi, Delhi 110001

Timing – Usually it is before Diwali. It was between 10^th to 13^th 2025 from 11 am to 8 pm.

Highlight -  The clothes are great especially kurtas, tank tops over jeans. Home furnishing material and puppets. I did not explore too much but very satisfied with my pick of kurta with parallels and a brilliant readymade blouse. It is wonderful to wander around the stalls picking and interacting with like minded craft lovers. Each level offers something unique and I enjoyed every moment of it knowing that it is all for a good cause.

Insider tip – The sellers are extremely helpful and keep goading you to buy more so that they can come the next year with better products. The clothes are sized accurately and one can blindly pick up one’s size as per retail norms. The colour combinations and stylization is perfect.  The AC Blankets in hand block printing is beautiful as also the cutwork applique, be it the cushions or bedspareads.

 

A visit to Pehla Akshar, in Gurgaon aka Gurugram

My first blogpost from Gurgaon – and why not? Gurgaon is a part of NCR and all of us keep going there, as if it were our backyard!

This post is also special as it was my first visit to Pehla Akshar, a teaching centre run for children of construction workers by my dear friend and batchmate Vikas Bagga and his team of like minded committed individuals. How committed Bagga is? Try this, well, he literally drags the kids from their homes to bring them to the little centres he has established where they get a semblance to education. Most kids have no or little access to formal education. Far from playing in the mud and sand at the construction sites.

This visit happened, thanks to dear Neetu Sehgal Mahajan, yes of the Ek Mulaqat play mentioned earlier! We had organized a lunch for another friend visiting from Vancouver. The day tallied with the day Neetu taught the kids at this little Centre.There was lot of back and forth and cajoling me to reach Gurgaon by 10 am in the morning! An enviable task from good ole South Delhi. But destiny had its way and I was there at 10.02 am delivered safely by Uber.

At Pehla Akshar -  Bagga was outside deciding on his agenda with Richa, a team member for the day and was he pleased to see us. He shooed us to the basement promising to join us in a bit. As I descended the stairs, one look at the innocent 3 – 4 year old gazing at me and my heart sank. Such innocent minds did not deserve this. Their parents build some of the most expensive condos and luxury apartments in the country, yet these kids did not seem to have any future. No option of formal education or dream of  a secured life. Left to their own devices when the parents went to work. The older ones look after the younger siblings. Some privileged ones go to nearby Government Schools. The rest simply move from place to place wherever the journey for bread and butter take their parents.  Dressed neatly (yes, they were sent neatly) in hand me downs, the innocent eyes were heart wrenching!

I was soon shaken to reality with the cheerful enthusiastic, “Good morning ma’am”! I perked up.The basement looked lovely and cheerful. Lots of charts, carpet on the floors, individual desks for the kids to use for writing, chairs, a few laptops with wifi connectivity and of course racks and cupboards full of books, notebooks, pens and more. Neetu promptly took over her teaching.

The mandate for me had been to sit in a corner and observe. But Bagga had other plans. A set of older children around 10 years were around. Of the 5 handed over to me teach English – 1 went to regular school. The others when they went back to their village. For someone who has not taught after leaving college decades ago, it was fun. The story was of the fox and the raven and the kids loved the story. Holding their attention, getting them to read, write and understand was another matter all together. This little interaction gave a clear indication where we are headed to in the education system of our country. And whether it actually has inclusive plans for such kids.

About Pehla Akshar  – Bagga has been a long time advocate of inclusiveness in education. Having worked with literacy India for a longtime, it was time to set up his own. Today, it is run with a core team of volunteers – Richa, Dipika and Aarti. There are other volunteers supporting as an when they can. These three form the backbone for each of the centres. There have been patrons, friends and family who are helping at each step.

Volunteer, contribute do your bit with Pehla Akshar if you believe in what they do!

Where – Sector 43/27/28 Gurgaon. You can reach out to Pehla Akshar – Instagram -@pehla_akshar, www.pehlaakshar.org

Timings – 7:30 am to 2 pm everyday

Highlights – The children are from the age to 3 – 14 largely 3 – 10. The kids are adorable and as vivacious as kids their age, very quickly forming friendships. It is wonderful to hear them sing the National Anthem or other songs.  They paint, sing, learn and probably see a world which otherwise would not be within their reach.

Insider Tip – Bagga goes above and beyond in his passion for education. On Children’s Day, the kids, the volunteers and teachers were treated to a trip to Hamleys where they played to their heart’s content and of course ice creams from the nearby Burger King and McDonald’s. Generous donors do hand out soft toys, food, biscuits..anything to brighten up the children’s life. 

For me, this post was straight from my heart. After 78 years of Independence, such little minds definitely deserve more!!