Polar Bears

Rock-Climbing at Badami...

When generations pass...

What is it we inherit? Is it simply material wealth...or the skills and knowledge of centuries past, the adaptations to a variety of circumstances, or memories of a time gone by?It seems that the past has no relevance for the future we are embarking upon. This, of course, is another debate for another time. However, there is one aspect of our past that we often neglect: Beauty. A vast majority of us just barely manage to appreciate beauty in traditional music, dance, and art. How about the beauty in the art of craft-work! The beauty of watching a craftsman shape and design a bell using just a flame and a tube of glass. Watching him create a work of art using nothing more than simple intruments and a whole lot of imagination. Yet, the imagination and skill used is one that has been accumulated and perfected by a thousand such craftsmen before him, and to which he will infuse a bit of his own personality before passing it on to the thousands to follow. Many a time, we behold such magic, performed by artisans of distant lands, on encounters during our travels. But, how many of us make traditional art, craft, music and dance part of our daily lives?We conveniently ridicule and look down upon these things, and gladly rush to buy factory manufactured stuff. Maintains our economic status, and keeps us in tune with the times, you see. Nevermind that we're killing an entire breed of arts and craftsmen...the messengers from the past and into the future...