Are Indians forgetting their culture?
I don't know if am suitable to answer. However let me give a try, I can tell you minor example.I was born and brought up in a very remote area of Uttarakhand. When we had ceremonies and function we use to use these leaf plates for eating.Today, same village use these plastic platesIt was not the story of just my village but thousand other parts of India had different virson of these plates.Pam leaf platesBanana leaf platesToday, nobody use them. Even people in my village think, “we have developed and became modern”.Everybody has moved up and use plastic. Plastic plates, plastic bag, glass, spoon everything plastic.Now let me tell you while Indians found it so uncool some westerner have adopted it. They considered it very cool beacuse these leaf plates are so eco friendly.While India Is Getting Over Its Traditional Leaf Plate, The World Seems To Be Catching OnInterestingly, a few people in Germany got really inspired by this age-old Indian traditional trend and started manufacturing plates and bowls made out of leaves and leaf-based compounds. This company, called Leaf Republic , is currently being run by a small group of people that consists of a team of engineers and designers to create products that are as aesthetically pleasing as they are eco-friendly.Leaf PlateThese days I see a lot of debate on plastic. We are desperate to find some innovative ways to reduce plastic but we forgot these simple traditions which had a robust answer.I know plastic problem is very serious and can't be eradicated completely but at least a small intiative at our personal level can bring a huge change, if 1 billion Indians are willing to change even .01%I request everybody to start giving some importance of such positive news instead of some TRP hungry media, useless debates and negative reports.Thanks
What makes Pachelbel's ‘Canon in D Major’ so special?
I used to play this so much at weddings we started calling it the “Taco bell” canon. And then we called it the “Taco hell”. And then the “Burrito from Purgatory”. Yes we were college students and we played a *lot* of weddings. It is the premier #1 walk-in music of all time.But the truth is, I love the piece and I always have. I loved it so much that I copied it out from the library when I first heard it in the early 1980’s. My mom, the ‘cellist, however… (the cello part is the boring part).This is one of those pieces that musicians don’t like (and often hate, with a passion), but which audiences love. Others include Glenn Miller “In the Mood” (members of the band thought for sure it was a turkey, ‘shows you what I know’ one said, after the fact), “Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade”, and Ravel’s “Bolero” (of which Ravel said: “I have only composed one masterpiece, and that was ‘Bolero’. Unfortunately, it is not music.”).I think that what makes it so special is that it is simple. Simple is hard to do well. All musicians love Bach, but Bach is NOT simple (not usually). With the Pachelbel the audience gets it immediately, and the variations by the violins (the original version is 3 violins, harpsichord, bass - and I played violin at the time, no wonder I fell in love with it) gradually increase in complexity (more notes per measure) and then it’s still not over, you get new variations that take it a new fun direction. It’s a wonder of simplicity and effortless variation. It has an elegance, charm and gracefulness that’s hard to match (for another example, try Les Baricades mistérieuses by François Couperin). It’s not in your face: “look at how amazing a composer I am!!”. It’s just a wonderful, great piece of music.Do not be ashamed to love this piece. It is a wonderful piece. This from a musician and a composer who has been playing it and listening to it for 35 years and still loves it.