While surfing the internet a couple of weeks back, a letter from Lebanese born British National, Zena el-Khalil, riddled this columnist with questions to which no war monger would have an answer- the questions that intricately entwine our motherlands with war, culture , religion and humanity. Following is a small excerpt: " The question is what am I to do if I had the opportunity to leave? Would I leave? What do I do with my friends? My family? My art studio? I have a British passport;I could be evacuated with my husband. But what would happen to my best friend Maya? She has a very rare and bad case of Cancer! I have been taking care of her since she was diagnosed a few months ago and I know that my care for her is what has helped her do so well. Her type of cancer is "untreatable", but ironically, the day the shelling started, her doctor told us her tumors had shrunk! Unbelievable- a true miracle. I can't leave Maya!What about art work in my studio? What about all my brushes and paints and glitter and books! All my books! Again- the crazy things that cross your mind.What about our photo albums? All our family pictures? The memories…What about the doodles I drew on my balcony a few summers ago when I was suffering from a bad break up?What about all the love letters I have saved? Letters that document my youth that I wanted to some day give to my daughter."
A few days after reading this letter, as one watched the signing cermony between World Culture Forum Alliance and the ICCR to host 3rd World Culture Forum in New Delhi, in January 2008, there were mixed feelings of hope and despair that made one question the need for such an event at first place. How would such a meet really matter to someone like Zena, who could be killed any minute while refusing to be evacuated from the very bloddy Lebanese earth? What use will this global platform (of hundreds of culture czars, thinkers, artistes, civil society, NGOs, government bodies ) be to the innocent men and women- who like the victims of Mumbai train blasts, will make their last journey with half finished promises? The world is ending, the hell is here and the Biblical Book of Revelations stares at the vermilion stream…These questions, walking like spiders on the walls of reason will knit their web forever. The clutter they produce cannot be wished away but where must we go, what must we do?
Dialogue. That is and will be the only solution to all we suffer. The death and misery, the violence and hatred will stay as a parallel to humanity but it is dialogue that will help understand the consequences, the issues at stake, the dangers that lie ahead of us and the precarious future we are ferociously building for the furture generations. Zena's story is an act of such a dialogue just like conferences and events like WCF have been and will be. Religion does not have answer to as many questions, as our culture has. The two must be separated while understanding the need for universal brotherhood, of equality and compassion. Holding out a promise that the event, will be used to promote and showcase to the world the cultural diversity that marks our social fabric and makes us tick- despite all the problems of a third world country, WCF India 2008, has the potential to blur the boundaries that differentiate rest of us from the first world. The dissemination of malicious media, the aggression of the bully powers, the muffled destruction of tradition at the cost of modernity and globalism and the de-famliralisation with the concepts of peace and tolerance are the immediate concerns that require practical long term solutions.
Treating Culture, as a misfit, as an anti-thesis to cosmopolitan world is the most foolish thing to do. And we are doing just that abundantly. Events like WCF India 2008, which will be a build up to a number of regional level conferences in various parts of the world, is a reminder that we need to continue the interaction. WCF India 2008, is now more significant that it ever was- not only because we need to understand and sustain the growth of cultural industries or we need to make the markets culture friendly, but because the very philosophy of Ananda that is at the very centre of Indian soul (and which has enlightened many a civilisations world over) is at stake. Our myths and folklore, had immense wisdom to share. They linked our countries and continents through images and stories, long forgotten, erased and muted. Every year we lose nearly a hundred dialects, and with them countless lullabies are also lost. And still in Lebanon, Bach holds an olive branch…
A moment of harmony in Beyrut
We suddenly heard from one of the houses
Bach music beautifully played -
The whole company stopped
To hear the music.
The pianist played beautifully
And the whole company stopped and
listened to the exquisite harmony.
The bombs did not succeed to stop us -
but a sixteen year old girl
Playing Bach music -
Stopped us!
( Bach In Beyrut © Ada Aharoni - Haifa, 2001)
( In the Pic above: Calling Cultures: The Director General, Shri Pavan K. Varma and the Chairperson of the World Culture Forum Alliance (WCFA) Mr. Franz Patay signing an agreement on hosting World Culture Forum's Global Meet in India in 2008. )
© The Statesman 4th August,2006
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