There was joy and benevolence in the air in equal measure as the gates of German consulate general were thrown open on a recent Saturday afternoon, welcoming shoppers who walked in with open hearts and wallets, ready to indulge in retail therapy for a cause.
A total of 35 NGOs, working for issues as varied as child trafficking, girls’ education and sustainable development, had set up tables on the lawns, where handicrafts and food products, clothes and accessories, plants and paintings were all being sold.
German consul general Barbara Voss flanked by her husband Franz Kemper (left) and deputy consul general Juergen G. Kurzhals
It was a lean Santa Claus who was welcoming guests and shaking hands with beaming children. “I promise to eat more next year,” Simon Kleinpass laughed on being pointed out the inappropriateness of his waistline. He had been on Santa duty last year too. “You get to give gifts to children and they want to click pictures with you. Last year was fun. So I volunteered this year,” said the young diplomat.
US consul general Melinda Pavek was spotted with a couple of bulging bags. “I was not supposed to shop but once I walked in and saw the spread, my willpower just vanished,” she laughed.
The lawn took on a festive look once the lights came on
Director of Goethe Institut Astrid Wege loved a sleeveless long jacket with tribal art motifs at the Sreejani stall so much that she wore it over her top as soon as she purchased it. “I am advertising it already,” she said, with a smile. The jacket was stitched at a tailoring school for tribal women in Santiniketan. “We also run a school for underprivileged children called Basha in Hazra,” owner Saswati Arora said.
The stall of YMCA Ranchi sold candles, a German bread called Dresdner Stollen and cookies, alongside cake-like popsicles. But their best-selling item was a traditional Adivasi sweet called Arsa roti. “We made all these over four days,” said Alida Johanna Nitschke, the youngest at the table aged 12 years.
Saurav Haldar of Ma Kali Enterprise demonstrates his craft with shola and sabai grass
Children coming to the market flocked at the far end of the lawn where Rajat Mullick had spread out playthings created out of throwaway objects that one can make music with. “There is no need to have any musical sense to use these. I work with challenged children and people with Alzheimer’s disease,” he said.
Raffle tickets were sold through the afternoon and ended with several lucky winners returning home with attractive hampers sponsored by star hotels.
The folk song performance got people jiving
Saurav Haldar gave a demonstration with sabai grass and shola, creating table mats and baskets out of the first, and flowers of various shapes and sizes out of the second material.
The evening ended on a musical note with Christmas carols by Debalina Chatterjee and group, followed by folk songs by Sourav Moni, during which the young and the young at heart who were nimble of limb, including Santa Claus, joined in a roundel dance.
“This is my first Christmas market in Calcutta. We used to organise one during my stint in Pakistan too. It has turned out to be an occasion for cultural exchange, with carols and Bengali folk songs on one hand and German mulled wine and Indian beer on the other. I was amazed by the products that the NGOs have brought,” said the hostess, German consul general Barbara Voss.
