November 14 is celebrated as the ‘Children’s Day’ all over the country. Apart from this, the day is eagerly awaited for another reason too. Great business houses; well-to-do traders; engineers and business promoters from all over the world start planning for it months ahead of the actual event taking its place.
For common people, it is a rare occasion for fun and frolic. It continues for two weeks and the venue is the Pragati Maidan in Delhi, opposite the Supreme Court.
The great event is the India International Trade Fair, which is one of the largest trade fairs to be held in come to participate Asia. Many foreign and Indian industrial houses come to participate in it. The administration has earmarked an exclusive area for this exhibition. It has developed and reserved over 10,000 sq. meters of prime land for this purpose.
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Besides machineries and technologies, there are many varieties of crafts and foods on display. One can find almost anything at the trade fair, including the items of daily use, latest electronic equipments, textiles and consumer goods. We left to visit the trade fair in the morning hours of Nov. 16.
It is because in the afternoon heavy rush begins to build up. We reached the exhibition grounds at about eleven a.m. Only those on business visits could be seen around. We were allowed inside the grounds, after we deposited the counterfoils of our tickets at the gate.
We first visited the U.P. pavilion. It was decorated in a typical manner. There were patchwork umbrellas; handkerchiefs, Sarees, carpets and a model of the Taj on display. Further down there was a counter of handicrafts.
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Here hand-woven tussar sarees, carpets and mats were kept for sale. Next came the counter of the brass work from Moradabad. There are no words to describe the delicate craftsmanship of all these items.
We then visited the Punjab pavilion. It showed many latest agricultural implements. It was followed by the traditional crafts like the Phulkari and embroidered leatherwork. There was also a section for the brassware and the woodwork.
Delicious dairy products from Verka were attracting many visitors. A lot of people could be seen, enjoying mustard saag, roti from maize and buttermilk at the Punjabi Kitchen.
It was already noon and we were all feeling hungry. A few yards from where we stood was the food enclave. We headed straight towards it. After having our meals, we decided to visit the ‘Good Living’ pavilion.
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Inside this pavilion, were the latest models of refrigerators, ovens, food processor units, televisions, deep freezers and many other household items? The next section was that of furniture. Here new designs and new furniture materials were tastefully arranged. I procured an imported sofa set made of rosewood.
While we were busy looking around, rush had steadily built up. By the time we became aware of them, there were many people all around us. We decided to end our visit to the fair then and there. We quickly came out of the grounds and headed straight towards our car, that was parked, nearby.