What happens when a folk puppeteer from a desert meets a storyteller from a river valley civilization? What happens when a traditional folk music group performs at Karaoke bar? Is there a common thread? The Blue yonder discovered the fortunate events that occurred through cross cultural exchange. It has always been about connections anyway.

Dayalji from Rajasthan adopted Puppetry from his ancestors, and seems to be going down at least for the next few generations. Puppetry in North India has been associated with stories of Ramayana, Mahabhartha, Mughals and Rajputs. During the Panchayati Raj elections in Rajasthan puppetry was employed as an educative tool to create awareness or to communicate to communities. He set up Kalakar Vikas Samiti through a fellowship programme. Since then his work revolves around- puppet making, Nukkad Natak, Kachhigodhi traditional folk dance.

Recently Dayali met Arun, the storyteller, the chief researcher and interpreter, the backbone of The Blue Yonder and Nila foundation. They met on the banks of River Nila. Some reflections after they met.  

“Dayalji was not a regular traveler, he was an artist after all. There was an instant connection when we met. He didn’t know Malayalam, neither was my Hindi very great, but I had the most intriguing conversations with him.”

“On his study tour of River Nila, he asked the most important questions, and noted down everything I said. It was more like a check on what we were doing. Since we come from similar backgrounds, he could contextualize relevant issues pertaining to responsible tourism. The pace at which he asked questions and his curiosity was an indicator that he will make a fabulous storyteller. It was easy to get the hang of storytelling when he heard me narrate stories and experiences about my community,” Arun thinks in retrospect.

The most prominent similarity is the term 'folk culture' which reflects the oral tradition and culture of local communities. “An artist from Rajasthan will sing songs with utmost pride 'Padaaro maree desh, kesariya baalam.....'  likewise our local community artists who will sing 'pallivalu bhadra vattakom, kayyilenthum thamburatti.”

The fundamental guiding principles are the same for both communities. Only in peripheral areas one can find difference because of land, water, history, politics and language of respective communities. A responsible tour company can contribute a lot in such cross cultural exchange by playing facilitator and create avenues for such opportunities to develop.

“Simplicity amidst local communities, 'big' dreams, rooted in reality are qualities that do change geographically. It’s easier to find similarities than differences, despite cultural, social and political differences. There is a different sense of passion and energy attached to folk culture, each influenced by independent history and response to external environment. In Nila, it was so easy to relate to the music artists though I never understood the language. Being back in Rajasthan, I can easily contextualize the role of responsible tourism in my village, in context to my experience in Nila. I hope to adapt to new concepts like these for the benefit and welfare of my community,” admits Dayalji.

Dayalji is now the interface between Responsible Travellers and local communities in Rajasthan.

Likewise, Vayali, a traditional folk music group from Thrissur District in North Kerala were invited by the Government of Karnataka t Bangalore for a performance. So just for the spirit of travelling with their music, they were in Bangalore, with their Bamboo instruments and percussion drums. They wanted to jam in the evening with a closed group. We thought it might be worthwhile to let Bangalore get a taste of Vayali music, after all Bangalore, being the cosmopolitan city it is, has not seen too much of this kind of music.

The problems were: Space, Space and Space for free! After being rejected by at least eight places, OPUS surprisingly got back to us with eagerness, willing to cancel one of their pre planned programmes to get Vayalion stage. OPUS is a popular karaoke bar which also hosts a range of live performances ranging from jazz, rock, fusion and regional music.

15th of March 2008, Vayali performed in the dimly lit OPUS and set the place on fire with their music. All in three hours the city bred, party going urbanites were dancing to the tunes of the Vayali. It might’ve been gibberish, but sometimes everything doesn’t need to be understood. A connection can also be felt.

A crescendo - from haunting songs humming from bamboo instruments and flutes to the wild percussion instruments - from people wondering if they were at the wrong venue to experiencing the music at a subliminal level. Vayali looked happily tired by the end of three hours while the audience revealed amazement at this unexpected and unpredictable experience at their usual hangout, OPUS.

So was it a culture shock or a cross cultural exchange?

It was the first time that it had happened in Opus. It was interesting to observe the regulars to stop their routines and respond to Vayali. It was more than background music that night. one member of the audience came to us and said, "Just watching these guys perform made us feel clean. So much energy and spirit. This was so real.” 

For Vayali it is mandatory to enjoy themselves while performing. Like one of them said, “Today we are going to be ourselves and make sure that people can be themselves ;).” After the performance, another performer said, “We felt like we were back home performing in our village. The audience never made us feel like outsiders.”

11,470 rupees came back in an empty hat we passed around for collection. Vayali will use this money to build capacities within the group. From a dying river valley all the way to Silicon Valley, there was still room for exchange.