The importance of the Indian Oral Heritage Project

In 2021, the Summer Project was very unique. We asked volunteers to record oral traditions from their own families, in an Indian language. 

It could be a recipe, an oft-quoted proverb, a family tradition, a simple business or trade practice, or a simple wellness or food practice. (In my family, it was, no water after guava and watermelon). 

We might take these small things for granted (and we do), until someone writes about it on LinkedIn / Facebook and we hear a hundred people comment - What a lovely idea! 

Yes, they are lovely ideas and just because they come to us free, we do not have to undervalue them. 

 

Why Now? 

Indian traditions have remained largely unchanged - not for decades, or even centuries, but millenia. The shapes of our cooking vessels, the saree, dhoti, jewellery designs, the festivals and their dates.. the everyday life, has remained, more or less the same. Some knowledge has been lost, of course, but a vast majority has been retained. 

But since the 1970, the rate of this loss is staggering. There are many factors that have contributed to this: 

A. For the first time, young people moved away from homes to work. Until then, even the educated Indians picked jobs near their houses. The idea of moving away from home for education or work was rather alien. 

B. Within three generations, flying the nest is normalised.But more importantly, with this, comes the non-inheritance of culture and shared stories. As family units become smaller, the pool of cultural content available to us shrinks even more. 

C. The third factor contributing to this is the loss of Indic languages. Very  few children in metros speak an Indian language fluently, much less read it. Most people in my generation are at least-trilingual, if not more. While the transferring jobs cut people away from their own homes, they did make them polyglots, bcs being quick learners, we Indians quickly learnt the language of wherever we lived. 

Till even a decade ago, a short drive from the city would take me to a place of continued cultural inheritance - the fields, the houses whose structures remain the same, the simple everyday cures for simple everyday problems, an adhesive, high-context culture. 

But over the last decade, even this rural fabric has eroded a fair bit (due to internet, perhaps?), and my understanding is that things we take for granted, we will have to start preserving. The belief was only cemented further by the Linked In wisdom posts and the proliferation of self-help and wellness programs in metros. 

 How do we do this? 

Very simple. Think of anything - A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G that is endemic to your house. These are some tips, but they are indicative, not exhaustive: 

A. A proverb 

B. Recipe 

C. Story told often at home (folk tale) 

D. Stories you might have heard from your parents/ grandparents/ relatives 

E. A business practice or life advice that is usually followed 

F. A wellness practice that is always followed 

G. Food practices or rules 

H. Anything related to crafts, special skills that you have seen in your family. 

There is always something. 

Here's a trivia: Ram Charan is a global Advisor to the top CEOs of the world. One of his bestselling books is - What the CEO wants you to know. The book starts with customer service lessons he learnt from his family's shoe store in Gujarat during his growing years. 

There must be lakhs of children whose parents run mom and pop stores in India. How many of them have understood the value of what they saw in their growing years? 

Be one of those who did. Recognise what is of value around you. And cherish it. Amplify it. Bring it to the world. 

Image: An old Chandamama image of a young man in a village.