You are bound to spot vendors selling window screens made of bamboo slats and tied with plain or coloured string in designs all over northern India. These are called chiks. Chikwalas or makers of such screens can be seen in and around the city. Delhi also happens to be an important centre for chairs and stools made of the tall golden-white sarkanda grass, which grows in large abundance in this area.


¤ Basket and Mat Weaving

Across the length and breadth of the country, basket and mat weaving depends solely on what grows locally. Tamil Nadu has bamboo, coconut, date and palm leaves, Rajasthan has reeds, Ladakh has willow, Bihar has the local grass called sikki, and Uttar Pradesh and Haryana have the sarkanda grass. Villagers often make fodder containers, fish baskets, trinket boxes, modhas (stools), chattais (mats) and grain-threshing trays for themselves while the domestic surplus finds its way to the local haat (weekly village market).