LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh is one of the biggest markets of traditional crafts and Lucknow is the goldmine of craftsmanship, chairman of
Mahindra Group
Anand
Mahindra said.
Addressing a virtual audience during Sanatkada Festival on Saturday, Mahindra said there should be a synergy between
craftsmen
and designers for promotion of traditional craft.
Referring to the relationship between the corporate sector and art, he said: “Culture and
art
are parts of any community. There needs to be more robust engagement and continuing dialogue between craftsmen and different design sensibilities for promotion and commercialisation. If we bridge the gap between the two sectors with real dialogue, globally and internationally, we can achieve better results.”
Remembering his mother, late Indira Mahindra, in whose memory the Sanatkada festival is hosted, Mahindra said her stories make him feel connected to Lucknow.
“I have grown up listening to stories of the time she spent in the city and as a professor of history at IT College. In one such anecdote, she told me how she and her two close friends,
Bina Rai and Asha Mathur, impulsively decided to leave Lucknow and travel to Bombay to achieve their dream of entering
Bollywood
. Whenever she told me this story I would feel in awe of how strong my mother and her friends were that they didn’t feel any oppression or suppression in those days as women,” he said.
“She always said though she didn’t come from a
rich family
, but her riches came from living in Lucknow,” Mahindra added.