For a sapling to grow into a plant, Nature does not spoon-feed its seed. It just covers it with soil and mud and provides necessary water, minerals, gases, sunlight, and rain. It gives nothing readymade but only a conducive external environment. And how a seed flourishes in a favourable atmosphere and grows into a strong tree! ...Taking small, hurried steps, children moved towards the auditorium. They were asked to settle down but being children they continued with their unsettlings till strings of a musical instrument caught their attention. As the evening progressed, they fell quiet allowing the melody of the environment to do all the talking. However, the raptures in between, the applauses and the clappings spoke eloquently of their growing involvement and resultant exhilaration. On the stage as the maestro’s hands played with the instrument, it also caught, in a firm grip, attention of these little souls who often get reprimanded for lack of focus. For a generation charmed by K-pop, it must have been difficult to sit through the very Classical renditions.

 

With their over-exposed, spoiled-for-choice lifestyles they hardly had the mettle for the discipline required by the ‘guru-shishya’ tradition. They must be repeatedly told about the richness of Indian culture, its traditions and art forms and consistent efforts are needed to inculcate in them a liking for all things Indian… These and many other similar myths lay shattered at ‘Shruti Amrut’, SPIC-MACAY’s 8th International Convention at the lush green precincts of Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT). For almost a week, children -- young and not-so-young, youngsters -- upon whom youth was anything but wasted and the elders -- seasoned, yet more than ready to taste flavours of all seasons -- together blossomed in the company of Art. All the convention did was to introduce young minds and hearts, not to the rhetoric of ‘ours is a great culture’ but to the culture itself. Its vastness, its subtlety, its magnificence, its nuance, its heights and depths all lay bare in front of a spoiled-for-choice generation.

 

The exposure, they confessed, was eye-opening. As great maestros of varied art forms descended upon the convention, children realised what greatness was -- excellence, perfection, humility. Sitting in rapt attention, right on the stage and around the auditorium, as the geniuses poured springs of near-divine, perfectly perfected renditions of one art form after another, the kids seemed joyfully inundated. The light of greatness, the touch of class, the success of discipline, young hearts saw what it takes to be a maestro. “Children grow by observation and involvement, not by teachings and philosophies.” Sadguru Jaggi Vasudev had just given words to an often-experienced fact, but who takes the hard way? But at SPIC-MACAY, beyond tutorings and philosphies, children found so much to observe and involve themselves into. The bounty of an ancient nation’s ceaseless cultural riches lay for them. They peeped into many classical forms of dance and music, art and craft through a five-day workshop.

 

They heard of ‘ragas’, ‘taal’, ‘laya’ and their infinite nuances. They felt the magic of ‘Yog Nidra’. They listened to the experiences of great gurus and saw the grace of a devoted life. They understood the strength of a holistic lifestyle. City’s lukewarm reception of the event, however, was a heartbreak. Many blamed it on less publicity of the event, many on people’s general indifference to all things Classical. Whatever be the reason, SPIC-MACAY’s ‘Shruti Amrut’ provided a perfect opportunity to let children hear the sound of an elixir, to witness Art in its magnificence. In a world where education has been reduced to acquiring skills for monetary gains, this week-long event again underscored the need to differentiate between growing and blossoming, pushing and nurturing, and the inevitability of art and culture in giving a completeness to the grandeur of life.