Imagine the market place from simpler times with most of the transactions happening on Barter, the commodities being produce of the forest like Mahua flowers, Tendu leaves, dried fish, simple value added household items like Baskets, ropes and brooms and simple manufactured items like utensils and garments displayed in baskets arranged on the ground under shady trees in an open place that serves as the market place.
The villagers walk to these markets from miles around for their needs, marketing their produce, sample some local brew, indulge in a moment of escape, fun and frolic. The Haats offer perfect escape with something for everybody. Everyday household items like ropes, brooms, pots and baskets, food items like grains, dried meats, Mahua flowers, toys, bangles, jewellery and accessories to give the women and the children engaged. Tourists can pick up that perfect little handicraft and a poor girl can pick something up in fake silver ‘Dalda Chandi’.
Vendors at the Market place
People also come to these Haats selling their skills. It is common to see a barber, a tailor, a tattoo maker, a faith healer or a local medicine seller. There are also fun and games such as cock fights and it is elevating to see men and women often with a bit of local brew in their systems, enjoying the fun. Local liquor- toddy, mahua ar salfi are sold in Gourds or containers of all shapes and sizes by the villagers and everybody seems to be both a seller and a buyer.
The Haat is also a social forum and makes for a meeting ground for friends, relatives and kinsmen, where they come dressed in their finery, gorge on local delicacies that include (a variety of ant and termite preparations among other more conservative options of Jalebi, pakodas and boiled eggs. These haats are held in different villages on different days of the week. Some of the major ones are ‘Dantewada’ on Wednesday, ‘Jagdalpur’ on Sunday, ‘Bastar’ on Thursday and ‘Lohandiguda’ on Friday. However there are so many Haats that a comprehensive listing is not possible.
Tourists at Chhattisgarh Haats
From a tourist’s perspective these Haats are an insight into and an opportunity to experience the local culture first hand and participate in it. Chhatisgarh is a charmed land with multitude of attractions in form of natural forests, major waterfalls, places of religious importance and extremely rich wildlife and has traditionally not seen much of tourist traffic. Definitely a must visit for the seeker of the tourism variety, whose heart lusts for more..
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