Thursday, October 15, 2009

* V I R A S A T * The Folk Life & Heritage Festival

The distinctiveness of Indian Culture over the millennia has lain in the unique fact that its matrix has been its village from where its cities have drawn their cultural nourishment.

However, in the last fifty years our villages have suffered a cultural drain, especially because they have ceased to function as the spring-wells of our national culture, and during all this time, ideas, values, norms and forms of living have tended to flow in one direction, which is from the city to the village. This development coupled with the growth of modernism has aggravated the negative fall-out of the modernistic development, which can be counter-balanced and negated by ensuring the cultural vitality of village life and its multifaceted life forms.

Virāsat is a step towards this revitalization process.
Come the festival of lights, Dehradun, the capital city of Uttarakhand, India bestowed with the nature’s beauty also comes alive. Virasat, the folklife & heritage festival brings along with it the vibrant, ethnic kaleidoscope of India’s art and culture. World renowned exponents of various art forms showcase their genius over a period of two weeks at the festival. Virasat encompasses the spirit of heritage in the Himalayas.

Evolved on the lines of the Theban Celebrations of Ancient Greece, the international festival aims at creating a perfect ambience for the flow of knowledge and the application of the ennobling effect of true art. The effort is to develop a genuine concern in the inquisitive minds of the precarious materialism our society finds itself in the midst of. It encapsulates the vital arts & crafts of India with their attendant legends, rituals, myths and philosophy.

Virāsat attracts participation from more than eight Lac people who come to enjoy the rhythm of folk life. 50,000 impressionable students get acquainted with their roots over 15 days.

* FoV (Friends of Virasat) *

Dear Patron,

For last 15 years REACH (Rural Entrepreneurship for Arts and Cultural Heritage) has been working selflessly to bring culture at the center-stage by organizing Virasat at Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India. Your patronage has helped it achieve the distinction of being one of the biggest multi-arts festival in the Afro-Asia region. As you know the event is organized by the youth and thereby it trains them to assume Eco-cultural leadership. All the presentations of the great artists and tradition bearers are free for general public.

However, for last two years, due to unprecedented financial crisis, it has become very difficult to hold this event. The support needed for this mammoth event has been interrupted and a sure closure is staring this festival of the people.

Under the above circumstances it has been thought to appeal to our enlightened patrons like you to help generate financial support. A new concept of FoV (Friends of Virasat) has been thought of which is given below in this message. As REACH has got tax exemption under 80G you can claim 50% tax rebate for your donation of Rs 5000/- for which a proper receipt/acknowledgement will be given to you. This will afford certain privileges to all the FoVs which is well enumerated in the link (FoV) given below.

We solicit your support so that our dangerous dependence on the governmental grants could be minimized to the manageable level. At present we intend to enlist only 1000 FoVs and hope you will be the privileged one. This year Virasat is from 21st November to 4th December 2009.

It will be my pleasure to personally answer all your queries.

With thanks

RK Singh
General Secretary, REACH
virasat.reach@gmail.com
www.virasat.com

RSVP Sunil Verma 09358130598,Manoj Panday 09412047597,
REACH office 0135-2763618

Please Click on this link FoV (Friends of Virasat) to support us.