Highlights
- PM Modi Modi on Monday visited Germany's Berlin city.
- He gifted a 'Sedali' to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
- It is a craft that is native to Surat in Gujrat through the Parsis community.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday visited Germany's Berlin city, on the first leg of his three-nation Europe tour. He met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and gifted him 'Sedali', a craft that is native to Surat in Gujrat through the Parsis community, who migrated to India from Iran. It is still used as a writing table by many merchants.
The craft bears close similarities to the Persian form of marquetry called 'Khatam'. It’s a high-skill technique that involves the fabrication of geometric patterns on the wood. It is a wooden micro mosaic work, wherein tiny thin pieces of any kind of wood are cut with geometric precision.
These shaped wood-cuts are fitted on a flat surface of natural wood. The fitting involves a specific method and only someone who has been involved in this art for a considerable amount of time can get the art of placement right. The elaborate designs add a charming aesthetic to the art pieces.
PM Modi and Chancellor Scholz discussed with top executives from Indian and German companies ways to further boost the economic and commercial partnership between the two nations.
Modi arrived in Berlin in the morning on the first leg of his three-nation Europe trip that will also take him to Denmark and France. Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar also participated in the meeting.