North East India Trade Expo @ Maniram Dewan Trade Center

Hopped/Drove over to Maniram Dewan Trade Center today for the ongoing North East India Trade Expo that started on the 29th of September. 9th October is supposed to be the last day, but some banners at the location advertised that the expo would be on until the 13th of October.

Since it was supposed to be a North East India Trade Expo, I was hoping to pick up some local handicrafts and silks and also finish my Diwali and Christmas shopping. Unfortunately, in that respect, it turned out to be a disappointment. There were a few stalls seeling Assam silk saris, but the range that I've seen at Pragjyotika, Jagaran and Purbashree is so much superior and at much better value. There was ONE stall of Cane furniture and 1 or 2 with cane baskets out of a total of around 60 stalls.

Other than that, it was a lot of Home Shopping network products - treadmills, stain removers, roti makers etc. Cheap Chinese plastic toys, slippers from Delhi and Mumbai, synthetic carpets, Kashmiri wooden decorative pieces and stuff like that. There were quite a few jewellery stalls claiming that they were selling authentic precious stones, but I don't know who would buy precious stone jewellery from a short term exhibition.

The only stalls I did spend some time in were the Thai and Kenyan stalls and the pickle stalls and I did come away with a few pickles.

However the only reason that I felt the drive was worthwhile, was my visit to the Tirupati Balaji Temple next door.