Inauguration Ceremony
“ You gotta dance like there is nobody watching”
Love like you will never be hurt
Sing like there is nobody listening
And live like its heaven on earth”.
The week long International Convention of SPIC MACAY started off with a warm welcome by Mrs. Kavita Yadav Kewalramani, President of SPIC MACAY Kolkata Chapter. She quoted the famous saying, and added that she felt like ‘the youngest kid on the block.’ This was followed by the Strotra chanting by Pandit Ajoy Chakroborty.
The Governor of West Bengal, Shri M.K. Narayan, was formally welcomed by the Director of IIMC, Prof. Saibal Chattopadhyay.
Governor of West Bengal, Shri M.K. Narayan
In his inaugural speech, our Governor paid homage to Pt. Ravi Shankar. “Powers of the Universe, whoever they are, wherever they are, have taken care of India’s art and culture”, he added. Next, Prof. Ashok Banerjee, Dean (NI&ER) said a few encouraging words to the students. “ To quote T.S.Eliot, ’When you listen to music, you forget the words and become a part of the music.’[Similarly] I hope that you become a part of SPICMACAY.The next speech was given by none other than the founding father of SPICMACAY, Dr. Kiran Seth. He dwelled on the present stathe of India’s rich cultural heritage. “Indian culture is changing to an entirely different world view for surviving or is dying a slow death like the Rudra Veena” This is where SPIC MACAY steps in. The convention is specially aimed for providing an “infinite experience” and for that one need to isolate himself from the external world for a week.The inauguration ceremony ended on a sweet note with the melodious tunes of Shehnai played by Ustad Ali Ahmed Hussain Khan.
Kathak Maestro Pandit Birju Maharaj
In the evening, the audience was mesmerized by the performance (Hindustani Vocal) of the 106 year old maestro, Ustad Abdul Rashid Khan. Later Pandit Birju Maharaj enthralled the audience with his delicate graceful movements, jugalbandis and oh so charming words. Accompanying him, were his disciples, Su.Saswati Sen and Luna Poddar.
Also read:
Life as a Delegate by Kalicharan Shaw
Face to Face with Dr. Kiran Seth – (Founder and President of Spicmacay)
Q. What has been the change in the attitude of the Indian youth towards the Indian culture for the past 36 years?
Previously they didn’t even know the names of our great masters. At least now they know some of the names. Your generation possesses a lot of gadgets through which you come to know about everything. There is more curiosity in you than it was before. This is a very positive sign. But the flipside is that there has been a reduction in two things- a certain amount of patience and a certain amount of faith. These two qualities are very essential for valuing our heritage. They are far ahead of us and far brighter, and far more aware than us, when we were young, maybe because of Darwin’s Theory of Evolution [chuckles] My only request to the young person is that they must develop these two. Then it would be a wonderful combination.
(left to right) Kalicharan Shaw- Khushboo Kejriwal- Dr Kiran Seth- Raja Auddy- Ishita Roy- Chandraneev Das
Q. SPICMACAY gives unbelievable opportunities to students entirely free of cost. Has there ever been scarcity of funds? How do you overcome it?There has always been scarcity of funds. As of now, we are 1.15 crores in the rent. We are struggling for funds but we have made a policy that we want to give these things free to the young persons come what may. So there are many people who come forward and help, like IIM is helping.
Q. Will there be an international convention next year also?
Once a year we would have international conventions because all these things that you are using is from the west. We have also done some research in our country foe many thousands of years and that research can benefit the whole of human kind, just like your cell phone which had been developed in the west and has been benefitting the whole of human kind.
Q. Do you think western culture degraded our culture?
No . It would be unfair to say that western culture degraded anybody’s culture. It has given us so much. When we speak of western culture, we speak about the most negative part of it. They do a lot of hard work and research. I learnt all my research work from the west. The quality of their research makes them the maharathis in their field. We must take the best form the west but we must not lose the best of what we have. There must be a balance between paravidya and aparavidya, the outer knowledge and wisdom of the external and the knowledge and wisdom of the internal.
Q. Then what are the probable reasons for deculturrelisation amongst the Indian youth?
When you mix two chemicals in the laboratory, you can see the color change. But in our heritage, we mix the chemicals inside and we can’t see the color change. We can feel the color change and that too with a delayed response. Nowadays people do not look beyond whatever they see. There are a whole lot of things beyond what you see. That takes a little bit of patience and faith which is lacking. They want to get immediate results, like twitter. I’ll give an example. Suppose you are feeling hot. How would a traditional and a westerner look at the problem? A westerner would say,” I’m feeling hot. If I twirl the air around, I’ll be cool.” He makes the fan. Later they would use the expansion of gases and develop the air conditioner.
How would a traditional look at the problem? The surrounding air is hot. It touches my skin. That sends an impulse to my brain and it makes me feel hot. If I can break this chain of impulse, I’ll feel cool. I’ll use by body as the laboratory. Trying of different things, Pranayama, this that. After many years, I’d say I’ve got it. I say, come I’ll teach you. So you get the results but again, all you need are a little bit of faith and patience.
Q. How did an IITan come up with something as innovative as SPICMACAY?
The sad thing is that we don’t know the names of many of our great maestros while we know everything about the west. One should know about the west but one should also know about the great masters we have in our country. I was introduced by fluke. We used to have a whole night program in IIT. I used to play western music, but this caught us like a noose. It happened very slowly.
Q. Tell us something about the scholarship programme.
Scholarship programme is a scheme by which we send young people to stay with an inspired human being for a month. We send people to His Holiness Dalai Lama, Aruna Roy ji, great exponents of classical dance and music , not so much to learn but to be inspired. Sangat ka bohot prabhav parta hai.During interviews, we look at the depth of the student.
Q. Tell us more about “Naad Bhed”.
We are doing a classical music reality show program with Doordarshan. It is called the “Naad Bhed”. First prize is Rs. 10,00,000. People who have been training for at least four years and are twenty six years of age and below, can apply before 30thJune.
Q. Who according to you is an ideal Indian youth?
An ideal Indian youth is one who can take the best of the west without losing the best of what our country can offer.
Q. Finally, your message to the readers..
As I have said again and again. You guys are wonderful. The only thing required is a little bit of patience and a little bit of faith. All the best.
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