Monday 29 January 2024

Nabagunjara Lecture - Odisha's Handloom Art Tradition

Thanks to the Nabagunjara Lecture series organisers for choosing "Odishara Bayana Kala Parampara" or "Odisha's Handloom Art Tradition" topic for the Lecture Series- Talk No. 36 & for your warm invitation 🙏🏽

Parampara means- Legacy, Tradition or Heritage.
Odisha has an age-old Parampara & cultural heritage with textiles.


The thoughtfully designed poster itself has handlooms as the background for the faces! Can you identify the handlooms?

Thank you so much, Nabagunjara Family, for the honour & great opportunity to learn & share about Odisha's rich handloom tradition.
 🙏🏽


Dr Surendra Meher presented great points aptly dressed in a beautiful Sambalpuri Bandha Kala jacket.

Both Prof Dr Umakant Mishra & Shri Bhuyan introduced and conducted the programme very well.

Apt questions were asked.
Shows the interest of the participants.


Nabagunjara, based in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, is a Culture Forum that has been sharing about Odisha's culture.
I feel such discussions are great for documentation too.
Totally appreciate the efforts of all those who are working for such cultural heritage causes and choosing these topics.
It takes hard work to conduct & share.

When Prof Dr Mishra first spoke to me regarding this session, I expressed that covering our vast Odisha handloom heritage would be tough within the limited time. Still tried to present a bit about the 10 registered Geographical Indications (GI) handlooms of Odisha & some pressing issues.


Prof Mishra had a glowing introduction for me.
In my haste to share, I forgot to give this disclaimer in the beginning- "I am no expert; but a learner."

Started being the #OdishaGI #vocalforlocal #vocal4GI #GIsofIndia researcher & voice thinking that at least someone has to do this & attempt to unite all for this culturally rich state's GI causes.
It's all a part of our sincere & humble efforts- trying to share concerns & make all aware so that we all can take collective responsibility & action.


Sharing is never easy.
Like, I find myself struggling to first continue the presentation creation process, adding extra points/images to the existing template, and "share" the presentation online (some speakers do it all so effortlessly!). After a presentation ends, I always feel concerned that I was unable to do complete justice to the topic and think of all that I could have shared, names & images & info I have missed mentioning & vow to include & make the next one better!
The same feeling as for school/college "test/examination"!

The motto has always been-
"Let's make things better!" that was the tagline of a Philips India ad 🙂
Then, of course, there is the sharing on social media - sharing about the event! Struggling for that as well! 🙂

But, then all the struggles come to nought when the carefully created Odisha/odia culture posts are unceremoniously deleted. It's like cold-blooded elimination.
Having seen this happening for multiple posts now, creating new ones feels like a Herculean task and what's the point of creating something that'll be destroyed?
This blog post has more-

This was by no means an exhaustive presentation.
There are many more points to be shared & more work to be done.

All need to work together.
Our heritage is our pride.
It is our duty and responsibility to protect, preserve and promote.

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for providing information. You must have given excellent presentation. We are very proud of you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Beautiful background of the handloom work. Nice.

    ReplyDelete

Your words mean a lot to me.

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