All calm and some sale at the Habba square

All calm and some sale at the Habba square
Deccan Herald

St George’s Square, tucked well into the Cubbon Park calm, continues to have the Bengalooru Habba visitors walking in. Three days after visual arts and crafts demonstrations kicked off at the square as part of the Habba, however, hope that the sales would pick up remained.

The stalls — most of them set up by NGOs and organisations working for the specially abled — are visited by joggers and tourists at the park. “The sales haven’t been very encouraging. We hope that the last three days, when we shift to Palace Grounds, will be better,” said the volunteer at a stall set up by Uravu, an indigenous science and technology study centre in Wayanad, Kerala.

The Artists’ Walkway on M G Road, that sported a perpetual bustle all through last year’s Habba, is missing this time. And Cubbon Park as a replacement has only worked in parts. “Having the displays on MG Road made sense, considering that it’s the City’s main thoroughfare. Though Cubbon Park is nice and quiet, visibility is an issue. Further, these stalls wind up by 8 pm,” said Ranganath who extended his evening jog at the park to check out what’s on offer at the stalls.


Waiting for the weekend

The portraits and tattoos (at Rs 50 and Rs 20 respectively) offered at the stall by the Foundation for Art and Culture for Deaf are catching attention but volunteers are already looking ahead for the weekend crowds. Hatheli, an NGO from Dharwad, has put up a stall for paintings by the physically challenged.

The paintings come in two ranges — Rs 1,600 and Rs 800 — and Suman, who mans the stall, is yet to have the first buyer. The stalls cover an impressive gamut of handcrafted items, from Ganeshas to cloth paintings to bamboo products. Kala Madhyam from Bangalore and Namma Angadi from Udupi to have set up stalls.

The organisations pay Rs 300 as daily rent on space for the stalls.

Big favourites

On day three, big viewer turnouts at the Habba continued to be exclusive to the classical music and performing arts events.

While Hindustani vocalist Rashid Khan and danseuse Padma Subramaniam enthralled audiences at Ambedkar Bhavan and Chowdiah Memorial Hall respectively, evening music and dance performances organised as part of the Suvarna Karnataka segment at Ravindra Kalakshetra had audiences coming in good numbers.

Kannada theatre performances at Town Hall and Judith, a play at the JSS enjoyed niche patronage as did music performances at Cafe Coffee Day outlets.