Surajkund International Craft Fair or Surajkund Mela is a very popular annual craft fair where many states and neighboring countries participate. They set-up their stalls and exhibit the best of Craft, Clothes, food and decor from their place. And people from Delhi, Haryana, Noida & Ghaziabad, flock in thousands to experience this eclectic colorful mix! 

By the looks of it, Surajkund Mela isn’t really anything special. In fact, it appears to be an elder cousin of Delhi Haat. Surajkund offers all those things that Delhi Haat has been housing for years. However, if you are not a shopping fanatic and are looking to take a break from the giant malls and polluted (noise) pubs of Delhi NCR, you may get that in Surajkund Mela.

If you love to shop and explore, you might be a little disappointed in the place. It doesn’t really offer anything special and great. Still, the place is recommended for all these non-shopping related reasons:

1. Great Salesmanship: Hundreds of stalls, thousands of Customers and millions of items – ready to be sold & amidst all this, I observed many instances of excellent Salesmanship. For instance, have a look at this gentleman who was selling gram chat. He was singing Rajasthani songs and selling the chaat. Who would not want to buy what he was selling?

Click to check out this 15 second video!

2. The Best Blackgram mix: You get the best chana jor garam (blackgram) chaat here. The flattened blackgram mixed with raw onions and juicy tomatoes with spices and lemon juice on the top, served in paper cones – absolutely mouth watering.

3. The Remote but Real Talent of India: Here in Surajkund Fair, you get to see many an Indian artist who are superb at what they do but haven’t got the right stage to showcase what they got. The sad part is that they might never get it either. I was looking for a jute pouch and scanning the stalls when I heard a group a people dressed in saffron colored robes and playing an old Bollywood number with a set of local instruments.

Fan of Remote India? Click to watch the video.

4. Fenkiye Mat (Don’t litter) Campaign: It was a pleasure to see a bunch of educated lot working for a cause and discouraging people from littering here and there. I loved their enthusiasm and their simple yet effective way of campaigning. Have a look!

5. Get a taste of Asia and Middle East: In Surajkund Mela, you see all sorts of stalls from all the states of the country and from the middle East nations too. Each stall has got something unique to sell. I particularly liked the stall from Turkey & the paraphernalia that they were selling.

6. Trip down the memory lane:  Don’t know why, but I love feeling nostalgic. I just love checking out old stuff, reminiscing over the past memories, going over the incidents that happened long back & buying things that remind me of childhood. Surajkund Mela presents to you many things that remind you of childhood. Toys, notebooks, cane chairs & what not. I drowned in nostalgia when I saw these toffees and candies on one of the stalls.

7. Mouth watering, delicious food: Surajkund mela has got a huge makeshift food court where you find everything – Chinese, Italian or Indian. They also got various stalls organised by IHM crowd. That ought to be good. I loved the food from ‘Aapno Rajasthan’ stall. In the food court (so to speak), you will hardly find any chairs to sit. In fact, chances are that you might have to stand while stuffing your face with food. And in between, the wind will blow a little and green remains of leaves will dive in your food. Pretend that they are organic toppings and gulp your food down. 😉

 

You can also opt for a helicopter ride and they will give you an aerial tour of the craft fair. The fair began on 1st Feb. and will last till 15th Feb. 

You may either book a cab or take the metro till Tuglakabad metro station and a rickshaw thereafter to reach the venue.

Ticket costs INR 120 per head and can be booked via Haryana Tourism website. Or you can join the queue and take the tickets from the counter. You may also book your tickets via Paytm. Click here to book the tickets.

Planning to pay a visit to the fair? Do share your experience with us in comments.