Every year, one week after the festival of
Holi, a colourful
and mesmeric fair called the
Nauchandi Mela is held on the
Nauchandi
Ground in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. This mela has been a tradition of
hundreds of years and was started for cattle traders, way back in
1672.
Since then, the mela has undergone many changes and cattle trading has
been replaced by a number of other activities having a mixture of
religious fervour, commercial activity, artistic creativity and rustic
merriment. This mela is a rare symbol of communal harmony of Hindus and
Muslims because the
Nauchandi temple and the
Bala Mian
Dargah (shrine), are lying close to each other and devotees pay
obeisance at both the shrines irrespective of the religion they belong
to. For a month, Meerut hums with activity with people from far and near
coming to participate in the
Nauchandi Mela.
