Chappar Mela in Punjab

 Originated as a small-time village affair in Chappar, Ludhiana, around 180 years ago to worship the snake embodiment of ‘Gugga’, Chappar fair has grown to become a mega affair. While the crowd has been growing by the year, so has the size of the shrine. Once a small ‘samadhi’ for the ‘Gugga Pir’, the shrine now spans 4-5 acres, villagers say. The seven-day collections by devotees now cross Rs 10 lakh, according to a member from the committee that manages the shrine.

On the opening day of the mela that is held around September, families can be seen thronging the shrine, some out of the customary practice and others out of firm faith. Villagers begin by scooping the earth seven times and forming a mound. They fill it with wheat and puffed rice. Interestingly, this offering of grains by villagers is sieved and taken by some who use it for cooking. Almost 60-70 kgs of grains is thus collected by the end of the day, informed a member.

Villagers feel that by praying to ‘Gugga’, they will be protected from snakebites. This belief has been passed onto generations through a legend that narrates the story of a boy and a snake born together in an agricultural family in the village. It is said that the snake and the child were so intimate that if one suffered, the other would feel the pain. One day the child was left on a cot by the mother who went to the fields. The snake, in an effort to protect the child from the heat, stretched its hood over him but was mistaken by the villagers as attempting to bite the kid. The villagers killed the snake, but the boy died immediately too. The family was advised by the villagers to perform religious ceremonies to worship Gugga that led to a revival of the kid.

Khajla

No visitor to the Chhapar Mela misses the ubiquitous stalls selling ‘khajla’, a delicacy from Uttar Pradesh. The most popular eatable and the best selling item at the fair, khajla alone draws in hundreds of patrons from nearby villages who come especially to savour this snack.

Over 150 stalls of this snack line up the two-three kilometer stretch that hosts the fair, leading to Gugga Marri shrine. According to a seller hailing from UP, over 1000 people skilled in khajla preparation come to the village every year for the fair and stay till the seven-day rural extravaganza is on. The majority of the skilled labour comes from Kanpur and Bulandsheher where this snack is extremely popular. Chhapar mela spells brisk business for them and, on an average, a stall sells anything between 150-200 pieces of the snack a day. 

Prepared with refined flour and oodles of butter, laced with various condiments and deep fried, the snack comes in four varieties – salty, sweet, made with milk, and using khoya – and is priced at Rs 50 to Rs 120 a piece.

“I have been coming for the fair for the last decade. The demand for the snack increases every year as the crowd itself swells up each time. The number of stalls put up have gone up over the years too,” says Pankaj Kumar from Kanpur. “Anybody who visits the fair carried a piece or two from the fair to home as the snack is available only during this fair at the village,” he further notes.

While khajla rules the roost when it comes to eatables available at the fair, other snacks popular are jalebi, petha and pakodas.