New Delhi: Out of the several stalls at the ongoing Hunar Haat at the city’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the Rampuri Chaku stall has emerged as one of the crowd favorites.
The much-maligned Rampuri Chaku is arousing the curiosity of the visitors as they are pouring into the stall. Most people would recognize the Rampuri Chaku from old Hindi films, as a commonly used accessory of the villains for committing violent crime.
The Chaku is both notorious and awe inspiring. Muhammad Yameen, the manufacturer of the Chaku and the one who is managing the stall laments that the Rampuri chaku has become so infamous due to its negative portrayal in films. Yameen points out that the chaku is the traditional product of Rampur with a long and distinguished history.
“The chaku is much maligned due to films that depict these being used for murder and other violent crime, the reality is that this is a traditional product of Rampur with more than 200 years of history behind it. Rampuri chaku was once so famous and it had such utility that people would specially come to Rampur for buying these. The chaku has multiple uses- from being used in the kitchen to paper and cloth cutting. The chaku is a work of art it takes a great deal of specialisation to make, an artisan may take ten years to get specialised in making this chaku.”
Apart from chakus of various shapes and sizes Yameen’s stall offers different types of scissors, sarhota, supari cutters, and some other implements, all products are made in iron or brass.
Yameen is very enthusiastic about participating at the Hunar Haat and thinks that the event would go a long way in promoting Indian artisans.
“Hunar Haat is an excellent initiative of our government, Modiji through this event wants to showcase the talent of Indian craftsmen, remind people that Indian craftsmen are second to none in the world. Till now Chinese products were dominating the market, through initiatives such as Hunar Haat Indian craftsmen would be promoted and we would achieve the goal of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’. I am here trying to convince people to buy Rampuri chakus for their daily kitchen and home use so as to promote local products and support local artisans.”
Yameen says that manufacture of the Rampuri chaku and several other traditional implements had remained shut at Rampur for 15 years but due to the efforts of Union Minister of Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and the District Magistrate Anjeneya Kumar Singh he restarted manufacturing the traditional implements from 2018 onwards.
“We are grateful to Naqvi saab for taking a keen interest in reviving our traditional crafts, our District Magistrate Anjeneya Kumar Singh has been very active on this front he has visited my workshop on several occasions and even offered loans for supporting artisans.” (UNI)
