Tradition to Fashion

I was lucky to spend a day with some of the renowned dancers in the city today. Big thanks to Yasoda aunty (Kalashetra dancer) for treating me like her daughter, and of course, for the kindness she bestows upon me every time we meet. 

The day started with morning practice @ 7. I watched the dancers groove to the beat and the song their guru sang. The other half of the day, I was indulged in a marathon of attending various dance programs held in various parts of the city. I was lucky to meet one of the great Kalashetra dancers, fondly called Katherine aunty (a US citizen).  (http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20060909/saturday/stamped.htm ) A day’s stay with her made me wish if I had enough time to ask her more about her 40+ years of career in Indian dance.  

Hats-off to all those wonderful performers (as well as their gurus) for their efforts and dedication.  I really felt envious and lamented my big loss of not continuing my shikshanam.

But what prompted me to write down my thoughts today is not the graceful performance, but the fact that they were semi-Indian performers from the US who managed to put up those eye-widening, jaw-dropping shows for the Indian audience.  (I met dance students from Japan and other parts of the world too).

The time has come in Indian culture that very little of it remains with the youth today for I have seen children speaking the most opulent English and some others who struggle to get their ‘er’ and ‘oa’ strike the right tone. All thanks to the British invaders who gave us the sweet seductive taste of the western civilization. Ask a youngster what civilization is - s/he might go on for hours about  how man is different from other animals, education, the growth of science, interaction with the outside world, keeping up with the hottest trends, and probably Facebooking! If his/her history classes have a strong base, probably a para or two about the Indus valley civilization can be expected. I sincerely doubt if they would have the slightest notion that they belong to a country of great tradition – where one of the first and the most talked about civilization budded and bloomed.

I mean; today, when we and our fellow people find joy in the jazz and bass of western music and dance,   I witnessed a lot of international students who, with all their hearts, have embraced the un-diluted version of the South India soul – the art of south Indian dance. When people from far-far-away have realized the wealth and value of our tradition, I wonder how many of us sincerely are interested in the depths of our art and culture.

If this is to continue… that is to say; if we keep mugging up what sizzles in the west while they sponge-up our true ethnicity, it would one day come in a full circle. That way, if we keep following the western style for long, I am glad we might finally land up with our very own traditions (only to be re-learned from some foreigners). Then, maybe, you would hear youngsters singing praises of our culture. Tradition, then, would have become the fashion!