By Raju Kumar
BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh is known as the Tiger State. Tigers live in the forests around Bhopal too, and a sighting along a road can set the whole city talking. But one day, tigers were seen dancing to the beat of drums on a street in the heart of Bhopal. What had got into them?
Stop for a moment and look closely, and you realise these are people dressed as tigers. One has a tiger’s open jaws painted across his belly; another has black stripes running down his arms. These were performers of Pulikali, a folk art from Kerala, who took to the streets of Bhopal ahead of Kerala Fest. It takes hours to paint the performers’ bodies and draw the stripes. As they sway their hips, the tiger faces painted on their bellies begin to dance too. Watching them move, you see why the faces are painted there.
This is often how we first encounter another culture. Something familiar appears in a form we have never seen before, and we find ourselves thinking, ‘I had no idea people did that.’ The same curiosity can stir when we hear a song in an unfamiliar language or taste a dish for the first time. These small encounters can show us sides of life in our own country that we rarely come across in our daily routines.
In 2024, Bhopal’s United Malayali Association held its first Kerala Fest to mark its 40th anniversary. The festival featured traditions such as Kalaripayattu and Theyyam. Encouraged by local support, the association broadened the scope of the festival in its third edition, giving people in Bhopal a chance to discover more of Kerala’s traditions.
Any discussion of cultural exchange in Bhopal also brings to mind Bharat Bhavan. Opened in 1982, the arts centre was conceived as a shared space for painting, poetry, music and theatre. Festivals that showcase the arts of different states carry that idea forward. We often know a state by a couple of things it is famous for. Reading its poetry or seeing a play from there adds something to that familiar picture. We begin to hear a wider range of voices and learn how people there make sense of their own lives.
In other cities, too, communities that have settled away from their home states create such opportunities. The Poush Mela organised by the Bengali community in Delhi’s Chittaranjan Park is one example. For families living far from home, these gatherings offer the pleasure of speaking their own language, hearing familiar songs and rediscovering the tastes of childhood. Younger generations get to see for themselves the traditions they have heard about from their elders. For other residents, it is a chance to get to know a side of their neighbours’ lives that rarely comes up in everyday encounters.
Enjoying a dish can lead to a conversation about when it is made at home and what memories it brings back. Hearing a poem translated from an unfamiliar language, we may recognise something we have heard in our own homes. A custom can seem odd at first. Talk to someone who observes it, and we begin to understand what it means to them. Perhaps this is where we learn to be more open to others. We hear about their experiences before forming an opinion about their ways of doing things.
At these festivals, people from different communities come together, bringing their languages, food and traditions. What surprises us on a first encounter may have been familiar to someone else since childhood. Talking with them helps us understand a little more about how people in our own country live. In that sense, these festivals become symbols of national integration. (IPA Service)
