Keeping Culture Alive: A Look at Georgia’s Individuals and Institutions preserving our heritage.

There was once an old Jewish man. All he ever did in his spare time was go to the edge of the village and plant fig trees. People would ask him, “Why are you planting fig trees? You are going to die before you can eat any of the fruit that they produce.” But he said, “I have spent so many happy hours sitting under the fig trees and eating their fruit. Those trees were planted by others. Why shouldn’t I make sure that others will know the enjoyment I have had?” – Megan McKenna in Parables

The parable above applies very well to the immigrants who have been transplanted to this country as adults. The cultural heritage they took so much for granted back home is what most of them seem to miss and want desperately to pass on to their children and grandchildren. There is a deep yearning to return to their roots and a greater appreciation of the history, the diversity, and the vibrant richness of their legacy.

Our cultural heritage is deeply imbedded in the psyche of Indians. It is evident in any country where people of the Indian race have made their home. Generation after generation has retained its culture and traditions. Many of them may have never set foot in India, and yet they celebrate our major festivals with perhaps more fervor than is done in present day India itself!

We set out to explore how this desire to perpetuate our culture is manifesting itself in the Atlanta area. We talked to several individuals and institutions that are engaged in keeping our culture alive for our future generations, whether it is through the performing arts, spirituality, or through other diverse avenues. Atlanta is replete with organizations that have been striving for years to revive and pass on the legacy of India. Their efforts have been aimed at members of not only our own community, but also of other ethnic groups that are interested in learning about India’s rich heritage.

According to Dr. P. V. Rao, in the early 1970s, when a definable community was still starting to take shape in Atlanta, Georgia Tech served as a place where Indians would meet, watch movies, and hold other cultural and entertaining events. As the community grew, so did its requirements, giving rise to the thought of creating a community organization with an open membership. The result was the founding of the Indian American Cultural Association (IACA). The IACA’s first major activity was the production of the Ramayana ballet after a yearlong rehearsal. “It attracted the attention of the local community in a big way,” recalls Dr Rao. “We started bringing artists, all on a modest scale. We focused on meeting community needs, introduced newcomers to the old-timers, and participated in blood donation drives to encourage people to be part of the mainstream.”

Boosted by the initial enthusiasm for the IACA, the founders – by the mid 1980s – had bought the $250,000 complex that houses the organization today. “The building was designed to attract people for cultural and religious activities. The main purpose of the organization then, and perhaps even today, was to provide the nucleus where the community could hold activities that can only done by large groups. The IACA is struggling now and facing an identity crisis because no single organization can care for the huge community there is today, and because people will naturally veer towards regional organizations to meet their specific needs.” Dr. Rao adds, “The IACA still continues to work on issues and events that are of interest to the entire community. Besides, every other organization has imitated what the IACA has been doing, though they have done it even better and more efficiently, but that’s what you hope for.”

In fact, the growing number of Indian associations in Atlanta and in other cities reaffirms the Indian commitment to retaining our culture and traditions. While the IACA struggles to carve out a niche for itself and to create its unique identity, other regional associations have seen phenomenal growth in terms of membership and in what they offer to their respective communities. Starting initially as forums for people from the same region of India to meet and get acquainted, watch movies, or go to picnics, these associations are taking tremendous pride in showcasing their rich cultural heritage. The associations have hosted famous poets and other literary giants, music maestros, politicians, and business tycoons. They host community dinners and have traditional festivals that serve regional cuisine and display their heritage through dance, drama, poetry recitations, and other forms of expressions.

Today, a Patel convention or a Telugu convention draws over 5,000 people each. At these conventions, elders of the community show pride in their heritage, foster a spirit of camaraderie, strike marriage liaisons, and reinforce the values of the community. The strength in numbers, the positive environment, the richness of traditions, and the sense of belonging have a lasting impact on the young in the community. The North American Bengali Association (BAGA) will be holding its signature annual convention in Atlanta this year on the July 4th weekend. Literary giants and famous artists from both India and the US will participate. The event, with a budget of half a million dollars, will showcase the Bengali culture in a big way. Held at the Georgia World Congress Center, the convention is expected to attract Bengalis from all over the world.

While the conventions are indeed significant, they are transient. Practicing culture in daily life is what really shapes the outlook and mindset of our future generations. What then is the single, most popular endeavor that Indians in Atlanta participate in that is primarily responsible for cultural perpetuation? It is the performing arts, of course! For centuries, the classical performing arts of India have had a defining role in societies. From the durbars of Mughal dynasties to the halls of south Indian temples, classical dance and music has been revered as divine. Even today, colorful brochures for India’s travel industry and advertisements for basmati rice feature the Indian classical dancer to the point of cliché. But cliché or not, the classical performing arts are a defining part of Indian culture.

In Atlanta, on any given weekend, you will notice Indian moms and dads in their minivans scuttling their kids from Bharatnatyam classes to tabla or language classes. In fact, several accomplished artists have established dance schools in Atlanta. Chandrika Chandran and Padmaja Kelam teach Bharatanatyam and have students ranging from little children to adults. Kumud Savla teaches Kathak, and Sasikala Penumarthi and Revathy Komunduri teach Kuchipudi. Dina Sheth goes one step further. She has incorporated Bharatnatayam, Indian folk dances, Hindustani classical music, Gujarati classes, and now a program of contemporary and folk dances for boys between the ages of 8 and 12 at the Kruti Dance Academy.

Both Padmaja Kelam and Kumud Savla say that the monetary compensation is the least of their worries. Just doing their part in keeping culture alive is satisfying. In fact, Mrs. Kelam often waives tuition fees if she feels that a child has not progressed as required. Mrs. Savla says that for her, the greatest satisfaction comes from seeing her students enriched by their education. There are several graduate students and women in their 30s and 40s who are learning classical dance from them. Mrs. Savla’s academy, called the Nritya Natya Kala Bharti, has locations in Dunwoody, Douglasville, and Columbus, Georgia. Her commitment is reflected in the views of her students. Says Sarika Gupta, a student, “Learning dance gives me exuberance and joy and allows me to look forward to the weekend. Through it, I have also learned several new meanings of Hindi words and expressions for them. This art has disciplined me both physically and mentally. It has given me insight about the geographical and societal aspects of our country.”

Similar regard is shown by Lakshmi Sriraman, student of Padmaja Kelam, “For me, Bharatnatyam is an inner journey and it is one of the most complete experiences I have in terms of mind, body and spirit. It captures the essence of Indian culture and expresses ancient thought through sacred music and movements, and it is one thing that keeps me close to my roots. There are many great performers who are not good teachers or vice versa. But Padmaja Kelam is an excellent combination of both.” Roopa Narasimhan is another student of Bharatnataym. She credits her teacher Chandrika Chandran and her late mother Geeta Narasimhan as the strong influences who have encouraged her in that. “It has created a path for me to connect with my historic heritage and has also helped me develop a sense of pride in my culture and develop a better understanding of my roots.”

Sasikala Penumarthi is not only a national and international performer, but also the founder of the Academy of Kuchipudi Dance, a non-profit organization founded in 1997. Recently, she received the Master Artist Award from the Georgia Arts Council and the National Foundation for the Advancement of Arts. Mrs. Penumarthi also teaches credit courses in Kuchipudi to students in the dance department and in the Asian Studies Program at Emory University. She works with the teaching faculty in presenting lectures and demonstrations on Indian dance, religion, and culture. She has conducted lectures with demonstrations on Kuchipudi at various universities, and works with arts organizations associated with the Georgia Council for the Arts to promote and propagate Kuchipudi.

The Kruti Dance Academy, brainchild of Dina Sheth, has become an icon for performing arts in the Atlanta area over the years. Its annual recital programs are performed with fanfare and are attended by over 500 enthusiasts. Her students range from young children to people in their sixties. For Mrs. Sheth, it was obvious that learning a classical form of dance added to a child’s understanding of his or her cultural heritage. “I actually changed the format of my teaching to incorporate strong cultural awareness into the dance form for my students. When I was learning classical dance, the focus was obviously on technical prowess, the steps, and the hand gestures. However, I redesigned my course to focus on the two important prayers that form the core of Hinduism. I now teach my students prayers about different gods and their links to Hinduism. When I meet my old students who are in their mid to late twenties, I see how strongly bonded they are to their cultural heritage, how much pride they have in who they are, and how much they want to keep going to India to discover more and more. Quite a few of them want to marry within their community,” she adds. Here is what one of her students, Charmi Jani, has to say about her experience. “Over the years, I have been able to express myself and create a self identity through the medium of Bharatnatyam. Through each moment, I am able to express my feelings and thoughts. Bharatnatyam has helped me to cope with my everyday life.”

The Indian Classical Music Society (ICMS) has also worked very hard to bring to Atlanta maestros from the performing arts. Shyam Navathe moved to Atlanta in 1990 and found that there was no organized effort to bring artists of high caliber to the city. Dr. Navathe, along with Ram Sidhaye and Uday Kumtekar, launched the ICMS in 1994 with the mission to organize at least four good concerts every year. “We have worked very closely with the University of Pittsburgh, which has an Indian cultural center run by Dr. Balwant Dixit. He has been sponsoring artists for the last twenty years. With the help of the University, we have been able to bring to Atlanta some very illustrious performers.” Among the notable names who have performed in Atlanta at the invitation of the ICMS are Rajan and Sajan Mishra, Ajay Chakravarty, Veena Sahasrbade, Shiv Kumar Sharma, and Hariprasad Chaurasia. ICMS membership is nominal, and what disappoints Dr. Navathe is the fact that most Indian-Americans prefer to splurge on baseball games rather than patronize the performing arts.

When it comes to teaching music, one name stands out as a true veteran in Atlanta, and that is of Haresh Bakshi, who has been teaching music since 1992. According to Dr. Nitin Mayur, a student of tabla, “Shri Hareshbhai Bakshi has been doing a wonderful job pretty much single-handedly since a long time.”

Last year, Pandit Jasraj, the renowned exponent of Indian classical music, added Atlanta to his list of cities where he has established schools to teach north Indian classical music. The school in Atlanta was started in the summer of 2001 and provides instruction in classical vocal and tabla (north Indian percussion). Currently, the school runs group and individual lessons and is looking to expand by offering lessons in violin and sitar in the near future. Both Saugat Bannerjee, who teaches vocal classical music and Harshad Kanetkar, who teaches tabla, are exceptionally gifted artists who already have a good number of students. Dr. Mayur is equally appreciative of this school and of Kanetkar. “I have been very fortunate in having a close association with Shri Hareshbhai (Bakshi) and playing with him for the past several years has been very helpful. That has taught me the art of accompaniment. But now I am able to learn from Shri Harshad Kanetkar a lot of other new skills. He is a wonderful teacher, a tremendous performer and a great person. He is humble and he is friendly.”

Usha Balakrishnan, who came to Atlanta four years ago, is an accomplished vocal artist. She teaches music and has served at the studio faculty at Macalester College in Minnesota. She has also gone on the air to conduct informational interviews, demonstrations, and short programs related to Indian classical music. Having learned classical vocal music from the renowned vocalist Padma Talwalkar, Mrs. Balakrishnan is now learning from Saugat Bennerjee to continue her own growth as a vocalist in a genre of music where the guru-shishya parampara and the ongoing and real-time feedback from a teacher are of critical importance. She says that having Pandit Jasraj’s school of music in Atlanta is a privilege for all music lovers. “Saugat Bannerjee is a very patient and creative teacher. He is very well versed in his art form and is able to express and explain the fine nuances of what and how to sing very well to his students.” Similar excitement for the school is reflected in comments by Pavitra Shetty and her husband, Sriganesh Sangodkar, “We were thrilled to learn about The Pandit Jasraj School of Music and couldn’t have missed this opportunity of being a part of this prestigious music school. The school has been a media to keep Indian music and culture alive amidst the American culture. Its amazing to see the number of ardent Indian music lovers coming in together to learn music.”

Gandhian scholar and long time Atlantan Uma Majmudar says, “What you teach children sows the seeds for their future spiritual inclinations. It’s extremely important, and I tell this to my daughter, who has an infant son. Even when they’re a few months old, they should be introduced to prayer or meditation.” Neeta Sanders adds, “The Indian culture is so powerful that my husband, despite being an American, is totally immersed in it.” Dr. Sohan Manocha puts it very aptly. “When the Mughals invaded other countries, each of those countries, whether it was Egypt, Iran, or Iraq, converted to Islam. India, on the other hand, has sustained 700 years of Mughal rule without losing its age old culture and traditions.”

While many of these organizations and individuals have a central role in keeping culture alive within our folds, for any culture truly to thrive in a foreign land, it must strive to build bridges with and encompass the mainstream. Efforts to assimilate with the mainstream while promoting their heritage and culture have been made by many of these organizations. For example, the Georgia Tamil Sangam has a Tamil youth group that is planning to go to churches, feed the hungry, introduce their community and their history, and discuss their heritage with mainstream Americans. Says M. Balasubramaniam or “Balu,” as he is popularly known, “We recently had a senator from Georgia visit us, and we gave him a Tamil book with an English translation.”

What embodies the influence of Indian heritage on Atlanta is a life-size bronze statue of the father of our nation, Mahatma Gandhi. The statue stands proudly at the Martin Luther King Center in downtown Atlanta. The Gandhi Project was a dream that began in 1992. It as nurtured and nourished diligently by stalwarts Giriraj Rao and Subash Razdan with help from the IACA and the NFIA (National Federation of Indian Associations). The task force set up for the Gandhi Project was successful in recruiting the help and endorsement of key figures such as Mrs. Coretta Scott King and Mayors Maynard Jackson and Bill Campbell. The Gandhi statue became a reality in the summer of 1998 after brilliant campaigning that spanned over half a decade. Commenting on the achievement, Giriraj Rao says, “In order to install a statue of any leader or foreign person on property controlled by the US government, one has to have the approval of both houses and the President. So it is a great honor.”