KALAGRAM – the Artisans’ Hub!

Stretched across the vast area of 17 acres exists Kalagram-the village dedicated to the endeavor of the government to boost the culture of the region, in the lovely city of Chandigarh. The place is located on the Chandigarh-Kalka highway, and opposite to the Durga Nursery, at Manimajra.

The history of the ‘Kalagram’ dates back to April, 1998 when the Chandigarh Administration decided to allot a total of about 17 acres of land to the North Zone Cultural Center (NZCC), with the aim of setting up an artisan-village to promote the artisans and craftsmen. It was felt that unless financial support was given to these masters of our rich culture and tradition, the art forms would die a natural death and would be erased from the face of the earth. The project also aimed at identification of such art forms, which required urgent attention, and thereafter preservation of the same and further propagation. This highly ambitious proposal was thus conceptualized and initiated by the government, with the setting up of the now famous ‘Kalagram’.

The job of giving life to the project in terms of constructions was given to the Chandigarh Housing Board, a governmental body. The plan included many important and inevitable buildings that were form part of the village- the Administrative Block, Dormitories, Public Toilets, Ticket stalls, Open-Air-Theatre, to name a few. It was to be grand scale project and in more ways than one, was perhaps the pioneer project of this nature in the state and to a large extent, even the country. This had along with this, a host of problems and difficulties, which the administration had to handle through the various phases of construction.

The aim of the Project
The main aim of the entire project was to instill in the localities, an awareness about their rich cultural heritage. It was but obvious that the arts and crafts and other folk traditions of the region had witnessed a downward fall in the recent years and the need was felt to bring up these art forms in an organized manner. Thus arose the need for a ‘Kalagram’ setup, which has since, raised many an eyebrow for its unique identity and purpose for which it has been built. A whole lot of educational programs are conducted here on regular basis with the aim of targeting the general public and school children.

The place has definitely made a great difference to these target people and the art forms it has been trying to protect has surely been encouraged much better now.
The village also creates a unique ambience through which the craftsmen are able to directly deal with the common man who is interested to buy his work. By this, they are not only able to make the artists more approachable to the common man thus promoting the art from, but are also able to remove the middlemen between the artist and the buyer, who generally ends up taking up a major share of profit.

This has often been identified as the root cause for the sad state of affairs with regard to the financial status of some of these artists. It has also been found that once the customer is able to see for himself the painstaking efforts and artistic talent it takes to finish an art form, he appreciates the value of the piece much better and does not even mind paying an extra penny to own the same.

The Value of Kalagram
The main reason why the village has earned its name is of course the immense recreational value it has assumed so fast. It is a fact that majority of the people flock to this place for having a good time. In this city, which has a large number of both tourists, as well as locals who spend lots of time outdoors, there would not be a better outlet. Though the competition is high being in a beautiful city, the village rates very high in terms of its recreational value.

The village has many more qualities that make it a favorite destination. One of these and perhaps as important, as any is the plenty of restaurants that are available here. There are also other recreational facilities that exist here which have made this place a hot spot for all the tourists visiting Chandigarh. It is not going to be far when the project, which did make a deep hole in the state exchequer, will turn around and be a perennial good harvest for the government.

The Expected Future…
Well, now that the place has lived up to the expectations of the people and the government, Kalagram has to take on many more on its shoulders. It has almost become the unwritten rule that the center has to take on the responsibility for all the art forms perishing now. This has brought in a requirement for the organization to grow at a fast pace to keep up with the changing times.

After having seen from experience the benefits of having a village like Kalagram, the country surely has many lessons to learn. In a nation like India, which has always been proud of its rich and varied culture, the problem of culture dot has threatened the extinction of many famous forms of art. The Kalagram model has indeed worked well and has been a typical win-win situation for the country. In that case, is this not the way ahead for the remaining part of the country? It is a well and widely known fact that almost the entire country faces the threat of cultural invasion from the west and a literal extinction of most of the beautiful and inspirational traditional art forms in the bargain.

It would in the interest of the nation that we learn the lessons taught by this little ‘Kalagram’ and replicate similar ventures across the country, to prevent the art forms from being just an entry in some history textbooks! We, like most of you, hope that the place lives up to its name-Kalagram, meaning the Village Of Art!