Where Cultures Converge: Lok Virsa Mela in Full Swing on Last Day

ISLAMABAD: Lok Virsa Mela 2020 in the federal capital continues in full swing on the last day as the crafts, cuisines, and folk music of different indigenous cultures have not stopped casting spells on the local and foreign visitors yet.

The 10-day folk festival at Islamabad’s Lok Virsa Complex will end November 15 (today).The entrance to the colorful event is only a nominal ticket away but what must be followed are the precautionary guidelines against novel coronavirus.

The pavilions of all provinces and regions including Sindh, Balochistan, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) have so much to offer once a visitor steps in.

After getting in, the visitors can find everything on the premises from crafts to embellish their homes and offices to cuisines to satisfy their appetites.All this is supplemented by the traditional and folk music nights that the visitors can enjoy every day until the culmination of the event today.

One can exactly witness the traditional dances of different regions of Pakistan which he or she may have heard of or read in books.

Punjab’s Luddi, Sammi and Bhangra, Balochistan’s Lewa and Jhumar, KPK’s Attan, Khattak and Kumber, and Sindh’s Ho Jamalo take not very long to mesmerize spectators.

All these pavilions portray the uniqueness of every regional culture.The vibrant traditions depicted in crafts shaped by artisans and accessories representing indigenous cultures particularly draw the attention of local and foreign visitors too.The adroits of local musical instruments, which are rarely heard now, stalled moving visitors who find it hard to leave until the tune is completed.The artisans offer to see how to fashion clay to make different objects, traditional methods of spinning and weaving that have long been replaced by machines, and other traditional techniques of making things that the young generation only hears in stories.The tantalizing aroma of local cuisines rising from different regional food stalls made visitors salivate and it gets nearly impossible to focus something else.

The visitors plunge into many options available to choose from such as Kabuli Pulaow, Seekh, and Chapli Kebabs, Sindhi Biryani, Balochi Sajji, etc.Kashmiri and Green teas are also hot favorites of the people visiting the festival in the chilly weather of Islamabad.