Multiculturalism and Runaiyat
I wanted to address the issue of multiculturalism and spiritualism in the Indian context in today's blog, even before I received this e-mail from a friend of mine, Sunitha. This is her account of a musical concert she went to in Chennai, in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, 2500km from Delhi where I live. But the thoughts are the same.
Runaiyat - One Evening of Splendour. By Sunitha Rangaswami
"Last evening went to this beautiful concert. It was on the lawns of the Race Course, lovely pleasant night under the stars and a gentle breeze. We sat under the damask sky with the distant sparkle of stars carried away by the divine music of small village sufis celebrating eternal love of the beloved."
"A 70 year old cobbler from a remote village in Jaisalmer (Rajasthan) clad in a simple white dhoti & kurta and a white turban, with soda bottle glasses singing Kabeer's Lohri accompanied by five young men in colorful turbans playing traditional instruments - one in particular kind of wooden flat claps was an amazing performer! They were preceded by the Qawals from Hyderbad singing a Meera Bhajan! How much more secular can it get! There were the drummers from Kerala and the Buddist monks from Tibet, the Chisti Qawali group from Moradabad who made me yearn tounderstand Urdu: the lyrics were specacular, and the Sufis from Punjab."
"It was a magical evening, the kind that lifts you up and at the same time makes you feel miniscule in the larger scheme of things. The programme was called Runayiat; I later asked two burqa clad women what it meant and they said it meant 'spiritual'! Made me think that this country is so rich in its diversity and all the fundamentalist groups strive for is a homogenous culture - like we were the MacDonald's of the world! And in some way i abett their endeavor, by not remembering often enough to give thanks to this diverse and rich cultural heritage and learning more about it. No my dears, I am not being nationalist or patriotic here. Just thought to myself if these rural men with simple lives could celebrate diverse faith no matter what form it takes, what of me? Instead, here I am aspiring to belong to a global village of lost souls."
Runaiyat - One Evening of Splendour. By Sunitha Rangaswami
"Last evening went to this beautiful concert. It was on the lawns of the Race Course, lovely pleasant night under the stars and a gentle breeze. We sat under the damask sky with the distant sparkle of stars carried away by the divine music of small village sufis celebrating eternal love of the beloved."
"A 70 year old cobbler from a remote village in Jaisalmer (Rajasthan) clad in a simple white dhoti & kurta and a white turban, with soda bottle glasses singing Kabeer's Lohri accompanied by five young men in colorful turbans playing traditional instruments - one in particular kind of wooden flat claps was an amazing performer! They were preceded by the Qawals from Hyderbad singing a Meera Bhajan! How much more secular can it get! There were the drummers from Kerala and the Buddist monks from Tibet, the Chisti Qawali group from Moradabad who made me yearn tounderstand Urdu: the lyrics were specacular, and the Sufis from Punjab."
"It was a magical evening, the kind that lifts you up and at the same time makes you feel miniscule in the larger scheme of things. The programme was called Runayiat; I later asked two burqa clad women what it meant and they said it meant 'spiritual'! Made me think that this country is so rich in its diversity and all the fundamentalist groups strive for is a homogenous culture - like we were the MacDonald's of the world! And in some way i abett their endeavor, by not remembering often enough to give thanks to this diverse and rich cultural heritage and learning more about it. No my dears, I am not being nationalist or patriotic here. Just thought to myself if these rural men with simple lives could celebrate diverse faith no matter what form it takes, what of me? Instead, here I am aspiring to belong to a global village of lost souls."
posted by anit | 9:45 PM
1 Comments:
Urban folks are more unscrupulous. How can you hope such a thing there when policies like the Iraq war are followed.
Post a Comment
<< Home