Back to the roots

Aural treat Balamurali Krishna will perform at the convention. Photo: K. Ramesh Babu

The Spic Macay convention aims at inculcating awareness about Indian heritage and culture among the youth

Nada-yoga, meditation, tree-planting, Indian classical music, puppetry, folk arts and crafts, cinema and painting are the main highlights of a five-day gurukul in the city as part of the Spic Macay Karnataka State Convention that starts today and goes on till November 1 at the Garden City College, K.R. Puram. Jointly organised by the Department of Youth Empowerment and Sports, the convention will host Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia (Hindustani Bansuri) and M. Balamurali Krishna (Carnatic vocal). They will provide lec-dems and conduct concerts on October 30 and 31 respectively.

Participants can look forward to nearly six hours of daily arts and fine arts workshop conducted by Subhomoy Bhattacharya, Kiran Seth of Spic Macay, Vyjayanthi Kashi (Kuchipudi), Manjula Murthy (Mohiniyattam), Kaivalya Kumar Gurav (Hindustani), Ateeq Hussain Khan Bandanawazi (Qawwali), Nagamani Srinath (Carnatic vocal), and Revanna and troupe (Kamsaale). “We would also conduct unique cultural immersion exercises in this residential programme where the students would be exposed to cultural performances with platforms thrown open to conversations with the artists,” says Supriti, a Spic Macay volunteer. These sessions will include a screening of Girish Kasaravalli’s Kurmavatara followed by discussions with the director and critic Manu Chakravarty on October 30, Shadow Puppetry by Nadoja Belagolu Veeranna and Balayakshagana by Srinivas Sasthan followed by interactive discussions. “The Rajyothsava celebrations on November 1 will be a showcase of students presenting what they have learnt in the gurukul,” says Supriti.

Volunteer P.G. Padmanabhan says out of the 8,000 national programmes from Spic Macay directed at the youth, 400 have been in Karnataka. “We have covered 75 government schools this year in the State. With the Union Government advising all central government schools, public schools, technical education institutes and higher education institutions to bring in Spic Macay heritage clubs to nurture culture, Karnataka will benefit by the creation of cultural hubs in over 1000 institutions.”