CUTTACK: For terracotta artisans of West Bengal, the annual Balijatra has been a ray of hope for the craft which is otherwise facing an uncertain future back home. As many as 15 terracotta vendors and artisans from the State have set up kiosks at the Balijatra ground. Their reasonably priced products like jewellery, flower vases, idols, wind chimes and other decorative ware made out of the red clay are selling like hot cakes. These artisans from West Bengal arrive at the Balijatra ground two weeks ahead of the fair and stay back for three to five days after the fair. This year too, they arrived much ahead of the Baliyatra with raw materials and set up kiosks near the venue where they gave finishing touches to their products. “Like every year, this year too the business has been good so far. However, we could not set up as many kiosks like we did last year due to space constraints,” said Prabir Pal, an artist who has attended the fair for the last four years. Till now he has made a business of over Rs 30,000 by selling terracotta items. He said the demand for large flower vases and decorative idols is high. “These vases are priced at Rs 4,500 each and people usually buy them in pairs. These can be placed inside house or even in gardens for several years. I have sold five such pieces till now besides the regular decorative items,” he added. Idols of Ganesh and Buddha are also popular among the people. The prices range from Rs 30 to Rs 800 depending on the size and demand. Srijoy Mukherjee, another terracotta artist who has set up his kiosk at the Gandhi Shilpi Bazaar, said that fairs like Baliyatra provide a major chunk of annual income to artisans from West Bengal.He added that artisans look for participating in events like this as there is no appropriate market linkage for the craft in rural villages of West Bengal.
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