The Festivals of Disparity...
On my regular evening stroll, while crossing
the MANDI HOUSE circle, came across this large, heavily illuminated, hoarding
of Amazon - Great Indian Festival. It could not have escaped any eye that
passed the circle today...
For the uninitiated, Mandi House is the
melting pot of everything art and culture in Delhi (may be in India, as I have
not seen anything closer to this so far anywhere in India yet).. This one
circle houses the Triveni Kala Sangam, the Shriram Kala Kendra, the Sahitya
Akademi, The Lalit Kala Akademi, the Sangeet Natak Akademi, the National School
of Drama, Kamani Auditorium and so many more... At any given point there would
be at least a couple of plays/exhibitions/fests at some of these... today, saw
an exhibition of musical instruments at Rabindra Bhavan (centuries old to new
age ones on display), children’s theatre fest ‘Bal Sangam’ at NSD, a painting
and a sculpture exhibition at Triveni and small posters about these put up at
the respective institute entrances... Aren’t these our traditional, culturally
rich fests?
Got me pondering, the Amazon’s online shopping
sale branded as ‘Great Indian Festival’ must have had lakhs of customers in a
day, which these art and culture exhibitions/fests at Mandi House struggle to
get in a year! And so the Amazon hoarding, with its radiance, outshines the
dark structures of Mandi House. Not sure whose failure is this... Of these
institutes and centers for not being present where we people are... or of we
people for not being present where the real festival is... either ways, we both
lose and Amazon wins !
Definitely much to learn from Amazon and the
likes, yet much to remind ourselves, that the art and culture should be an
intrinsic part of our life.. we may talk of work-life balance, but even the
life part needs further balance by embedding bits and pieces of art in it... if
not practice, at least in promotion and participation... I am myself a
vociferous user of Amazon for much of my shopping - festive or otherwise... but
while it may bring the remotest of handicrafts to my fingertips, it never can
enrich me with the process of creation of these handicrafts.. no amount of
robotics or augmented reality can match the feeling of creating strokes with
paint on a canvas or enacting on stage in a ‘live’ play or messing up hands in
creating a sculpture or swaying the fingers (and soul) to the melody of an
instrument...
So let us remind ourselves, that Amazon (and all such others)
are just about shopping and maybe convenience, but our fests are about culture
and craftsmanship... In them, let us seek the real balance and a whole
lot of ourselves too...
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