The loss of inheritance...

At a recent India Today Women's Summit, Akshata Murthy, daughter of dr.Narayan Murthy, founder of Infosys, narrated an interesting story about what made her take plunge into her new project in fashion industry which aims at catering to the western market and revive some Indian traditional weaves and fabrics by using them for her designs suited for western taste.

Akshata was gifted a set of intricately handcrafted silver earrings which her mother Mrs. Sudha Murthy bought while she happened to visit a remote village in Assam during her routine social work trips. Those earrings were made by the local women silversmiths. During Mrs. Murthy's next visit to the same place, it was learnt that the silversmith women had stopped working in their age old profession and joined  unskilled labour work and few of them were even compelled to join prostitution for the sake of survival !

This incident is not some isolated case, narrating shocking plight of our traditional artisans and craftsmen. There are many such examples in each state of India where artisans have abandoned their precious wealth of traditions and skills that were inherited through generations and embraced lifestyle and culture that is alien to them. The Patan double Ikat Patola, the Jamavar embroidery from Kashmir, Paithani weaving of Aurangabad that our mothers and grand-mothers flaunted during social occasions are on verge of extinctoin! And so are metal block making of Varanasi, Kasuti embroidery from Karnataka, Toda embroidery from Nilgiri or silk printing from Uttar Pradesh and many other Indian traditional crafts. The most tragic part of this problem is that there is hardly any awareness about these crafts even within our own country!!!

We claim to be a nation that is progressing rapidly in many areas. Is our journey to future complete without our true cultural DNA? Isn't it important to preserve and document our cultural history that has survived waves of different eras? It is disturbing to see the traditional crafts and arts being perceived inferior to contemporary arts even by "elite" and patrons of art. Our traditional arts and crafts are significant document of our society and country that evolved through centuries of creative yearnings, artistic imagination and skills.

It is evident that a lot more needs to be done to preserve, promote and encourage our traditional arts and crafts. The traditional artisans have not been able to gradually adapt to changing times of technology. Most of them are not equipped to handle the pressures of modernisation, hence often get exploited.There is an urgent need to create a forum that integrates traditional artisans, contemporary artists, art historians, social scientists, government agencies, NGOs and encourage exchange of ideas and experiences that help the traditional artists, up-date their skills, practices and methods to meet the demands of contemporary world without compromising the core identities of their crafts.We need many more people like Akshata Murthy and Ila Pathak (SEWA) who provide livelihood to rural artisans by combining social activism with successful commercial premise.

We need to be aware and proud of our cultural heritage to pass it on to our next generation. We owe it to them. We can't be callous to let it die a tragic death. Let us try going that extra mile and promote our traditional arts and crafts and support our artisans in whatever way we can. I always gift things made by traditional artisans (with the note about the details of the craft ) to my friends and family and they have always been highly appreciated. If we can make a difference by such simple gestures and make someone smile, it's worth it, don't you think?