Shilparamum - Art and Craft Village

In the heart of Hyderabad is a very well known Art and Craft village known as Shilparamam.  It sits on over 50 acres of land in the heart of Hitec city, with office blocks all around.  Once you enter the village, the sounds of tuk-tuks, buses, cars and trucks fade away and you are left with a hidden oasis.

Inside the park, there are many different sections to explore.  Obviously, there is the craft area, there are some parklands, some ponds and playgrounds, and even some 'wildlife' - more on that shortly.  The overall feeling is supposed to depict a traditional Indian village with thatch roofed huts and dirt roads.  I'm not sure it actually hits the mark but it is an interesting escape from the city.

The art and craft provides a platform for all different artisans from all over India to display and sell their items.  There are so many things for sale - jewellery, clay pots and idols, brass artefacts, fabrics, traditional toys, and many more things.  During the week there are probably only half of the stalls open but on the weekends, it is pumping with visitors and sellers.  The quality of the items appears to be very good and the stall owners are always up for a bit of haggling.

Workshops are often held to demonstrate and share the skills required to create many of the arts displayed at Shilparamum.  There is also a Museum in the centre of the village which was very basic - actually just very Indian - very little descriptions, dusty and unkept and generally not very informative.  During the many Indian festivals they have cultural shows and celebrations to showcase some of the specific arts and crafts related to the festival or region.  While we were visiting, there were a number of schools visiting and exploring the grounds - I am not sure how much they learned but they looked like they had a fun time.

As mentioned above, we came across a cage labeled 'Birds' (see below) - well we looked and looked and could only find a couple of ducks and a chicken.  Not quite the wildlife displays I'm used too but maybe that is a good thing.  The less animals in cages the better but it really raised the question of 'why was it even necessary' ?

Another fun morning out.

beautiful gardens

we are not sure if this was the 'Sandy Beach' ????

why not put a horse statue on top of a bunch of boulders ??!!