Celebrating India the bangalore way

Yesterday I went to the Bangalore Habba – a cultural event spread over a week. The event itself is a private initiative by Artist Foundation for Arts and is the best performing arts event in Bangalore. There is another event for fine arts – the Bangalore International Arts Festival - also a private initiative. The government had no role in these events but gave its full support for regulatory approvals, traffic management etc. There were enough sponsors; event management was professional and the events themselves were of great quality. Both these events are just 2 year old and are an indication of the way things are going to progress in India. People will come up with viable and commercially attractive cultural extravaganzas celebrating rich Indian heritage instead of old politicians giving lip service to “great Indian culture”. Late Protima Bedi’s Nrityagram (also near Bangalore) is another example of the same. Nrityagram also organizes ‘Vasant Habba’ – a once a year all night performing arts event.

The best part is that all these events are free for the public. This a luxury enjoyed in a consumerist society since people indirectly pay for these events through the goods and services they consume. People lamenting growth of consumerism would will do well note these advantages. And the government would do well to reduce taxes and leave more money in the public’s hand. Imagine what Bangalore Habba would be like if the Government were to use the tax payers money for this purpose!

Even the format of yesterday evening was keeping with the times. The evening started with Pandit Shivkumar Sharma’s splendid performance with the Santoor, had a fashion show in the middle and ended with a performance by a Pakistani pop group that sings in Hindi!

Bangalore is leading change in India in more ways than one. A sizable young pool of rich software techies is only helping in the cause. In times to come software industry will just be one of things Bangalore is known for.