Why Handmade?

Because we have become machine-made.

All civilizations are polarised entities. But unlike civilizations of the past, in this civilization the polarization is near complete. We, have killed the handmade, almost.

Why not machine-made?

While the machine is efficient, it is unnatural, it provokes easy life. The hand, is natural and hard working. While the machine kills nature, kills jobs, the hand protects nature, generates work and generates welfare. While the machine makes wealth for a few, the hand distributes it. Yet, the machine has dominated over the hand almost completely, causing enormous stress, both for the society and for nature. It’s a dangerous situation. Social scientists agree that, if an immediate and rather drastic remedial measure is not undertaken, human civilization may not survive even. It is in this explosive situation that the symposium is organised.

The symposium

It is an assembly of likeminded people. We have chosen a simple task. To give a notice to the society, demanding a better deal for the handmade. For the handmade to get a better deal, we know, the production process needs to be changed. We shall change it!

A little after the symposium we are going to lead a long march. We shall march cross an acutely impoverished, but richly hand-making, countryside on the Deccan plateau, in India, travelling on bicycles, meeting hard working people and celebrating the handmade. We shall then tell the world how beautiful is the process of making things with our own hand.

Handing spirituality back to people

Apart from strong political, economic and social significance, making things with our own hand has a deep spiritual significance. While working the hand one is closer to god. The bhakti tradition in India, for example, had held firmly to the working hand. We shall reshape the god with the help of the handmade.

A journey to light up the dark nation

The long march that we are doing is going to follow a route that was undertaken by a sixteenth century dalit saint poet Manteswamy. The saint had defined the journey of his as, a journey to light up the dark nation. How profound! During that journey, down south, he had mobilized the working people, belonging to different sectors of the handmade, into saint-poet- activists. Manteswamy did not consider himself either a Hindu or a Muslim. He did not consider himself either a Shaivite or a Vishnavite. He was all inclusive. We shall follow his footsteps.

The bicycle

Bicycle is a metaphor for a good machine. A machine that is in sync with the handworking people. By peddling over it, we want to send a message that we are not anti-machine and that we simply want a balanced civilization.

How to join in

You can register yourself as a delegate for the symposium, happening on the Sixth of Jan, 2018. You can register yourself for the cycle jatha, set to begin in Feb 2018. You can donate a little money. You can start a Gram Seva Sangh in your town. You can do many things. But above all, remember, you need to deconstruct your own life style first. You need to make it a simpler, a little harder.
The machine has made all of us a little too soft.

Registrations Open!

Date
Sat, 6th Jan 2018
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Venue
Loyola Auditorium, St. Joseph Institute of Management,
Primrose Road, Ashok Nagar, Off M G Road,
Bangalore- 560 025
https://goo.gl/maps/b5fLjY3VYRP2
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Contact
9980043911
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email
gramsevasanghindia@gmail.com
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For Registering fill this form
https://goo.gl/LrXPC9