The wonder called silk

A six-day exhibition-cum-sale of an exquisite range of silk garments began at the New Marrion Hotel on Wednesday. Called Silk Mark Expo, a variety of garments with ethnic and contemporary patterns are on show attracting crowd,   mostly women.The expo showcases a wide range of collection of handloom saris made of the four natural varieties of silk - mulberry that is reared domestically, and tussar, eri and muga silk which are reared outdoors.“India is the only country that produces all the four varieties of natural silk and ranks second in the world in production of silk. But silk should be bought in its purest form,” said nodal officer of the Silk Mark Organisation of India R Bhatacharjee. The Central Silk Board is organising the event which was inaugurated by Textile Minister Usha Devi.Speaking on the occasion, the Minister said the basic objective is to sensitise customers on pure silk and protect their interest to get rid of the duplicate and art silk (look alike silk) products available in the market.“Through the expo we are trying to let consumers know the difference between pure silk and the spurious varieties. Each item sold here has a Silk Mark tag to endorse the purity of the product,” Bhatacharjee added.With 31 stalls, the expo displays different weaving patterns from states such as Kashmir, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Assam, Andhra Pradesh and so on. The patterns vary from ‘Ikat’ and tie and dye of Orissa and Pochampally, Pashmina, Banarasi brocades and Tanchui, Kancheepuram wedding saris, ornamental Baluchari and Kantha saris of West Bengal to south silk handloom.The saris have tribal prints in blocks as well as colourful printed works in blue, golden, red, black, green and white. Thick stripes and circles give a stylish look to some saris while some have intricate designs for the pallu.Other than saris, there are suit pieces, dupattas, stoles, scarves, hand bags, kurtas for both men and women, shirts, furnishings like carpets and cushion covers.Even mobile covers are available at the expo. The products start at `300 for handbags and stoles while for saris and dress material the range begins at `2,800. There are also kiosks at the expo that show forming of cocoons by silk worms. A number of varieties of cocoons produced in Orissa are on display at a kiosk that has been set up within the expo premises.The expo, organised by the Ministry of Textiles under Government of India, has been held at 17 cities and will be held at 19 more cities across the country. Here, it is on till September 12.No Orissa Stall This TimeA large number of visitors to the expo were disappointed with the fact that the Silk Expo had no representation from Orissa this time. While some State NGOs dealing with training weavers and marketing their products alleged that showcasing of Khandua Silk was stopped by the organisers this year as they claiming that the products were not pure silk and mixed with cotton, the latter had a different opinion.Executive of Silk Mark Organisation of India M Murali said as the expo aims at selling pure silk, Khandua sarees that were mixed with cotton while designing ‘pallu’ and saree borders were rejected. “We are coming up with a different mark for silk sarees that are mixed with different materials including cotton, but this will take some time,” said Murali.Textile Department commissioner-cum-secretary Arti Ahuja said considering the business point of view, setting up of a stall in the expo by Orissa weavers would have been expensive and unnecessary. “We already have big showrooms where we are selling Orissa silk products,” she said.Among others, Textile Department commissioner-cum-secretary Arti Ahuja, Director Bikash Mahapatra, Additional Director Surya Patnaik were present.