Handicrafts of India ; Our Living Cultural Tradition

We are so fortunate in India that life provides us with an opportunity to create objects with the skill of the hand, the perception of the mind and the love of beauty as seen by the eyes. How often a child will make a kite with just a few things, paper, scissors, bamboo strips and sticking paste. Boys and girls will join in creating decorations for the home, for the panchayat ghar for festive occasions. It is a rich tradition, which is a part of our life, punctuated with festive occasions, be it Deepavali, Eid, Gurupurab or Christmas. Hand made objects created for the home, for our everyday use, for our clothes are created by professional people, who have been carrying on this tradition for the last 5000 years. We are perhaps one of the only countries in the world where we are still connected with our past, as we stride forward to meet the challenges of the Third Millennium. It is a fact that creativity is in our very blood and we have created history by developing a computer, which is so inexpensive that it can find its way into every village and in most homes in the next few years.