The beautiful art of Kolam or Rangoli

            The beautiful art of Kolam or Rangoli

         Let us stop grumbling and start grasping and appreciating whatever is available in whatever  form:-

         1. First we all need to acknowledge that there are unique cultural niceties or mastery in   different realms in various geographical locations.

         2. We all must be happy that there is lot of interest and revival in some cultural aspects for   various reasons.

         3. Having said that we must accept our failure i.e. when we fail to record, document and methodically explain in an idiom [not necessarily  linguistically] understandable to outsiders  then we cannot blame lack of acknowledgment.

         4. When civilization marches on its evolutions in multiple domains certain things get relegated   in importance, we must be thankful that they have not become extinct.

         5.Life’s evolutionary aspects and aspirations are tossed among repetitions, recorded evidences and changes and therefore their [life’s evolutionary aspects and aspirations] popularity depend on how they manage to survive all these and they get further promoted through organized institutionalization and constant propaganda and not through mere desperate vocalization of   ethnocentric pride or blinkered belief systems.

         6. “The things that are wrong with the country today are the sum total of all the things that are  wrong with us as individuals” ~Charles W. Tobey

        

         “We live in a changing universe, and few things are changing faster than our conception of it”-  Timothy Ferris

         7. In civilization’s evolutionary trends which went through various ages like age of  cannibalism, age of hunter gatherers, age of sailing to  discover new locations, age of   religious activities, age of artistic renaissance, age of industrialization, age of nuclear energy, age of internet, age of IOT etc the older traditions and activities lose their charm ,   unfortunately sometimes even their relevance, unless they happen to be an intrinsic aspect of human activity, more so, in a nation with lack of economic prosperity, it becomes part of survival aspect of life.

         8. In the absence of that some aspects of tradition and culture are sustained with great difficult  by people with aesthetic sensibilities,  immense attachment or if such activities happen to be the only activity they know to do for their livelihood or they carry on with such activities with ancestral pride.

         9. There are many such activities, across the globe, which are lingering with lovely pride but   within just one or two families or in some remote villages.

         10. In India I can quote Jaladharangam, abroad I can quote sea silk for example.

         11. Even those who know and like such activities do not have even enough time to appreciate  them as more pressing issues demand their time and attention.

        

         12. In fact, on the contrary, for most of these cultural or traditional activities which we think is not that much visible, there are plenty of social networks which give more detailed information and details.

         13.For example you would be surprised to know groups which discuss how madisaru has to be  worn by Iyers and Iyengars, what type of saree must be worn by Bihari Yadavas and UP  Yadavas –and most of these sites are administered by NRI’s from USA.

         14. There are thousands of things which demand our attention in the radar of daily life wherein we can hardly even think of these things.

         15. We can at best have symbolic festivals and days assigned like Pongal, Ayudapooja,   Valentine’s Day, Marghazhi music festival, world book day etc when we can revisit  certain activities and flood the social media with our likes, leanings and learnings that’s all.

         16. In India do we know the number of folk arts, folk music that are there and how great they are?

         17. Are we proud of world’s two unique dairy products –Avial and Morekzhambu?

         18. Why last week I happen to attend a Nadaswaram concert without mike after almost 40 plus years in a place and what a pleasure it was.

         19. In my own very limited estimation that we can create at least twenty new world’s very   attractive tourist destinations for example construct bridges and roads in the hills around Gokarna, Murundishwarar near the sea in Karnataka.

         20. Despite its predominant role and extraordinary prevalence and presence no single religion could stop the evolution of new religious movements.

         [Erich Fromm, “humans have a need for a stable frame of reference. Religion apparently fills  this need. In effect, humans crave answers to questions that no other source of knowledge  has an answer to, which only religion may seem to answer. However, a sense of free will must  be given in order for religion to appear healthy. An authoritarian notion of religion appears     detrimental.”]