Meet the ladies behind Gudiya Sambhrama

Two years later, as the team behind one of the city’s and probably South India’s most innovative and energetic temple festival starts planning their third, we finally catch up with them to discover this tale in the making…

The meeting
“Vijaya and I have known each other for almost 30 years now and we’ve been continuously connected through various events all through our life. We were both members of the Chinmaya Yuva Kendra and so worked together as volunteers on many occasions,” opens Supriya as we sit down in conversation at Vijayalakshmi’s urban desi home in Basavanagudi.

“Rekha and I were in the same dance class, both mentored by the late Padmini Rao and kept in touch even after we grew up and got married,” Vijayalakshmi adds.

The three ladies grew up in traditional households in Bangalore’s pété — households that ensured Indian arts and value systems were imparted to them and they hence hope to be mediums in imparting the same teachings and values to the generations to come.

The need for the festival
“The need for such a festival was felt when we began noticing the ever-growing chasm between children and their culture. Young people across the city and many parts of our country were slowly distancing themselves from ‘the Indian way’ because of a comprehensible lack of connect,” Vijayalakshmi explains

“The more they felt alienated from themselves and who they really are, the more they chose to imbibe concepts that are not necessarily theirs — in rebellion or out of sheer lack of knowledge,” Vijaya continues.

“Though, one couldn’t blame them. Thanks to years and years of brainwashing by the British, Hindus across the country have learnt new ways of demeaning and underplaying their culture, as something inferior. Keeping this in mind, Vijaya and her husband began an organisation called Heritage that aimed at imparting Indian knowledge systems to a generation that seemed to be in more need of it than ever before,” adds Supriya.

“With that organisational system in place already, we just had to re-invent ourselves and that didn’t take too long. One must realise that temples were the centre of communities for ages and then somewhere along the way, communities were alienated from them and a huge differentiation was drawn. Suddenly, temples became places of worship much like churches and mosques and people only went there to make bargains with the presiding deity. We wanted to make a small effort in changing the way people think. We wanted a temple to be the centre of a community again and that’s where Gudiya Sambhrama began,” Vijaya reminisces.

How it all came together
Using their organisational skills learnt at Heritage workshops, the team got down to realising their idea around two years ago. “We are positive thinkers and so we began by making a list of all the temples we know we could use. We decided what to do and left the financial aspect for the last. We’re happy we did it that way, because when we did approach the muzrai board — they loved our idea and loved how well it was thought out,” Vijayalakshmi tells us.

“It was smooth sailing after that, and though I came into the team last, we’ve had our ups and downs — but have generally sailed through most of it,” Rekha explains.

“The festival saw us cover 22 temples and seven main stages at the first festival in 2010 and the 2011 edition saw us increase that to 22 temples and nine main stages. We have continued to contribute to the upkeep of these temples and also hope to increase interest in Indian arts, music and dance through these festivals,” Rekha continues.

“As dancers ourselves, we’ve seen how prolific temple and sabha- based culture is in cities like Chennai and elsewhere and felt the need for something like that for Bangalore. We’d love to make this a state-wide festival soon, but can only dream of something on that scale for now,” Supriya adds.

“We’ve been continually supported by a lot of government organisations, the Department of Kannada and Culture for example and the muzrai board, that’s been renamed Hindu Dharmika Datti Elakhé; and a lot of the local government bodies and corporators — but we’re still terribly short of funds and often need to reach into our own pockets for expenditures. We are open to funding and would like members of the general public to come forward and donate in any way — volunteer, fund or even spread the word, anything is welcome,” Vijayalakshmi concludes.

Done with the interview, we sit around munching on what I assume are murukkus, till I am corrected and told that they are in fact thénkols — an Iyengari staple. With such intricate knowledge of things home related and the world outside — these three women are out to take over Bangalore’s cultural scene. And the motivation behind all their activities? “Their adorable and extremely cooperative husbands,” they say in chorus.