Is 92.5 silver real silver?
Why jewellery is made in 92.5 and not pure silver, and what the number on the tag really tells you.
Bali Jatra week in Cuttack: a visitor’s guide
The great November fair on the Mahanadi bank, with notes on getting there, crowds and shopping for silver.
Bali Jatra begins on Kartika Purnima, usually in November, and fills the bank of the Mahanadi near Barabati Fort with one of the largest open fairs in India. It remembers the sea traders of old Kalinga who sailed to Bali and Java. For a week, the town is crowded, cheerful and full of visitors.
If you are coming for the fair, stay near Buxi Bazaar or College Square, so you can walk to the grounds rather than sit in traffic. The fair is best in the late afternoon, once the heat has gone, and busiest after 7 pm. Go early in the week if you can, and keep phones and wallets in front pockets.
You will find silver at the fair: stalls selling filigree, toe rings and souvenirs. Some are good, some are plated brass, and in the lamplight they look the same. Ask for the weight and the purity on the bill, and test a magnet against it; real silver does not stick. If the seller does not weigh it, walk on.
Many visitors also come into the old silver lanes around Nayasarak and Chandni Chowk, about fifteen minutes from the fair by auto. During Bali Jatra week we stay open until 9.30 pm and keep a karigar at a bench downstairs, twisting wire and soldering filigree, so you can see how tarakasi is made. Children are welcome to watch. If you buy, we can engrave a name or date on the inside of a cuff while you wait.
