A Madhubani painting stall at Enterprise-2006. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Jamshedpur, Feb. 10: The Madhubani paintings looked colourful as always, each canvas telling its tale in style and zest.

The paintings along with the Pytkar pieces and other varieties of the state?s beautiful handicrafts stood out, creating their own space and reaching out to the visitors in their own way.

It did not matter if the fair was Enterprises 2006, the biennial industry and technology fair organised by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) Jharkhand Council at the Gopal Maidan, where there was a lavish display of some high-tech gadgets from the techno-savvy world.

The important thing was that the traditional and ethnic art of rural Jharkhand was there and it made everyone take notice.

There was every type of handicraft from the Kuchai silk to the elegant and resplendent world-famous Chhau masks and the colourful Pytkar paintings, each object symbolising the traditions of the state in a different and coherent way.

?Our aim was boost the work of the rural artisans. So we brought the artistes who work in the remote pockets to showcase their art to the city people,? said a man who displayed the works at a stall put up by District Rural Development Authority in association with Kalamandir, a city-based art and cultural organisation.

Amid the collection of traditional handicrafts the kuchai and tussar silk products got the maximum audience, occupying quite a conspicuous place at every stall promoting the traditional aspects of the state.

Designer shawls and sarees in tussar silk to the coarse kuchai silk and bottles of medicated honey from Ranchi and Chaibasa, the visitors lapped it up.

Brought by the Singhbhum Gramudyog Vikas Sansthan, an NGO from Chaibasa, these products have been made by women working under various self-help groups.

Cut off from the rest was a little outlet put up by the Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy, Calcutta, which displayed some beautiful craft items made by the special children.

There was a little donation campaign called ?Chalti ka nam Wheel Chair?.

?Every rupee collected would be utilised to buy a wheel chair for one special child,? explained an executive standing at the stall even as he persuaded people to donate.