"Through Sasian Journeys, we aim to revive the rich traditions of South Asia from its precipitous decline and provide the traditional artisan with dignified options," says Rajeev Sethi, designer and founder of the Asian Heritage Foundation, of the festival starting on March 29. Sasian Journeys is aimed at creating a single international platform for India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and the Maldives to rejuvenate artisan skills through the exchange of creative knowledge and the creation employment opportunities for the skilled poor.
The festival has been organised by artisans' foundation Jiyo in collaboration with the Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA), UNDP and the World Bank in an engagement with the Smithsonian Institution of USA.
Eminent personalities from across the subcontinent - Ela Bhatt, Richard Kurin, Hameed Haroon, Madan Gopal Singh, William Dalrymple, Shabnam Virmani, Ritu Kumar, Andrew Logan, Vandana Shiva, Sunita Narain, et al - will deliberate on issues relevant to the promotion of legacy enterprises. The discussion sessions will start on Sunday by addressing what it means to be a South Asian, with Haroon in conversation with Dalrymple and remarks by Julian Raby (director, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and The Freer Gallery of Art). Haroon, media baron from Pakistan, says, "South Asians are bound by a sense of geography that is sacred and by bilateral relations that are profane." This coexistence of sacred and profane love is not very productive for the people, and Sasian Journeys is an attempt to come to a better working dialogue on culture and education, according to him. "It is an objective towards a new sense of vision that will appeal to people, not just in the urban locales but also the rural hinterlands." Bhatt, the octogenarian pioneer of SEWA, agrees wholeheartedly. "There is a saying in Hindi which I believe encapsulates this festival: Hum sab ek hai (We are all one). There is so much diversity and skill in our traditional industries, but it is slowly getting lost with the barrage of modernity," she says. She explains how Sasian Journeys is an effort to deepen the engagement - so that artisans and farmers from different South Asian countries can interact with each other to exchange skills and better their livelihoods.
The Lotus bazaar is the crafts mart of the festival and a conclave for designers and artisans to meet, exhibit products and retail directly to customers. The theme for this edition of the bazaar is "traditional skills of South Asia as means of conflict resolution". Sethi explains the paradox between poverty and culture. "The world is in conflict, these eight-nine countries can't meet each other, can't trade with each other. But what politics cannot, culture can. The theme is to honour a shared strategic intent of promoting peaceful and prosperous coexistence within the south Asian region and making it the basis of effective dialogue."
The sessions will be wrapped up with a conference that will finalise an agenda for action, to be chaired by sociologist Ashis Nandy. "Considering the difficulties of intra-Sasian interaction, it is important to draw out a systematic roadmap of meaningful activities and tasks," say the organisers.
Sasian Journeys will be held from March 29 to March 31 at Hotel Ashoka, New Delhi, from noon to 10 pm
The festival has been organised by artisans' foundation Jiyo in collaboration with the Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA), UNDP and the World Bank in an engagement with the Smithsonian Institution of USA.
Eminent personalities from across the subcontinent - Ela Bhatt, Richard Kurin, Hameed Haroon, Madan Gopal Singh, William Dalrymple, Shabnam Virmani, Ritu Kumar, Andrew Logan, Vandana Shiva, Sunita Narain, et al - will deliberate on issues relevant to the promotion of legacy enterprises. The discussion sessions will start on Sunday by addressing what it means to be a South Asian, with Haroon in conversation with Dalrymple and remarks by Julian Raby (director, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and The Freer Gallery of Art). Haroon, media baron from Pakistan, says, "South Asians are bound by a sense of geography that is sacred and by bilateral relations that are profane." This coexistence of sacred and profane love is not very productive for the people, and Sasian Journeys is an attempt to come to a better working dialogue on culture and education, according to him. "It is an objective towards a new sense of vision that will appeal to people, not just in the urban locales but also the rural hinterlands." Bhatt, the octogenarian pioneer of SEWA, agrees wholeheartedly. "There is a saying in Hindi which I believe encapsulates this festival: Hum sab ek hai (We are all one). There is so much diversity and skill in our traditional industries, but it is slowly getting lost with the barrage of modernity," she says. She explains how Sasian Journeys is an effort to deepen the engagement - so that artisans and farmers from different South Asian countries can interact with each other to exchange skills and better their livelihoods.
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An exciting part of the festival is Sanjha Chulha, a food exhibition curated by culinary scholar Pushpesh Pant that will aim to showcase the diversity of South Asian cuisine. "We hope to celebrate an interface of time-honoured indigenous skills and practices, slow foods, organic ingredients with modern-day technologies," says Pant. The food festival will give visitors a chance to partake of delicacies from across the subcontinent, from a stall serving celebration foods (linking food with festivals and harvests) to Chowk Chandni ki Chaat (a performance oriented food stall from Old Delhi.) There are different art exhibitions on show as well, displaying the salts and vessels of the subcontinent and India's trade in foodstuffs. Visitors can also witness a wide galaxy of artisan organisations from across the nine South Asian countries which includes musicians, jugglers, storytellers, puppeteers, cultural performances such as Rajasthani dhol, Pem recital, acrobatics from Maharashtra, Baul singing from West Bengal and a traditional magic show.
The Lotus bazaar is the crafts mart of the festival and a conclave for designers and artisans to meet, exhibit products and retail directly to customers. The theme for this edition of the bazaar is "traditional skills of South Asia as means of conflict resolution". Sethi explains the paradox between poverty and culture. "The world is in conflict, these eight-nine countries can't meet each other, can't trade with each other. But what politics cannot, culture can. The theme is to honour a shared strategic intent of promoting peaceful and prosperous coexistence within the south Asian region and making it the basis of effective dialogue."
The sessions will be wrapped up with a conference that will finalise an agenda for action, to be chaired by sociologist Ashis Nandy. "Considering the difficulties of intra-Sasian interaction, it is important to draw out a systematic roadmap of meaningful activities and tasks," say the organisers.
Sasian Journeys will be held from March 29 to March 31 at Hotel Ashoka, New Delhi, from noon to 10 pm