A Rugged Road to Beauty- Khurja (U.P.)
Every weekend I wake up and feel great about the two days that my husband and I can take off from work (not so much for me!), not worry about numbers or that we both have to send our daughter to school early in the morning. These two days i.e. Saturday and Sunday are two of the most blissful days in our lives or if I may add in most our lives today. This particular Saturday we decided to go on a journey that actually took us nowhere!
We usually spend our time in some shopping center or a mall or a gaming arcade or just aimlessly driving from one end to another or if worse comes to worst we just simply sit at home! This Saturday was different from the usual as we actually decided to explore one part of Uttar Pradesh along with our dear friends for a change. Our journey of rugged roads and lots of dust with people having no driving sense took us to a sleepy town or village of #Khurja! Khurja is located in the Bulandshahar district of Uttar Pradesh and is famous for its pottery and ceramics. We had and particularly I had never heard of this place located just about 1.5 hours from Ghaziabad i.e. 76 kms from my house. The name itself sounded like a mean place and made me think about a dagger more than anything else! However, we were delightfully struck by the quietness and simple beauty of this sleepy village. When I say quiet I genuinely mean there were no lights, not many people on the road possibly because of winters and that we wondered all throughout how these people actually survive without electricity!
Though we started late from our own destination, we reached the village or town by around 5:30 pm and during winters 5:30 seems like 8:00 pm! My friend had been all praise for this place because of its Blue Pottery and #Khurja Pottery that the name comes from! Our journey into darkness led us to some very beautiful ‘go-downs’ and ‘emporiums’. Now all the shops here sell wholesale ceramic or “chini ” products that are all hand-made and hand-printed. I was astounded by the large variety of pots, plain drinking glasses, tea sets, serving bowl sets, beautifully designed decorative items, kid’s tea sets, wide range of single coffee mugs, dinner sets, salt and pepper sets, dinner plates, quarter plates, snack dishes, bathroom sets and much more starting at Rs. 30 and beyond. These are things that surely drive a woman crazy! The most striking feature about Khurja is its #Blue Pottery. The ornately hand-crafted and delicately hand-painted white and blue colored pottery or sets take your breath away! For all those crockery aficionados, Blue pottery is surely the stuff! The pottery itself ranges from Rs. 4000 to Rs. 25000 depending on the type or design and delicate paintings on it. This is probably the most expensive of the products that you find in Khurja and believe me it is absolutely worth it!
Next time you decide to take a drive out of Delhi, try taking the road to Khurja via NH 24 / AH 2 onto NH 91 for some cheap and interesting shopping!
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