Project Sanskriti shows rural life to the world Interact tourists to rural areas

Tirupati: Project Sanskriti was envisaged with the aim of promoting and empowering villages in the state, along with giving tourists an opportunity to interact with rural folk and gain a rare insight into the life and culture of the place. To achieve this objective, a community run tourism model has been seen as the way forward.

Accordingly, Madhavamala, Srikalahasti and Venkatagiri in Chittoor and Nellore distrcts have been identified.

As part of promoting these locations to domestic as well as international tourists, Mariona and Lluc from Catalonia (Spain) visited Srikalahasti on Friday for a tour by Grass Route, to get a first-hand experience of the traditions culture and art forms this place had to offer. They started their day by being welcomed in the traditional way at one of the cluster committee members’ houses, introduction of the place, registration of tourists, briefing the tourists about the itinerary planned for the day followed by a sumptuous breakfast at the artisans home.

This was followed by a hands-on Kalamkari activity which was held at the artisan Harinath’s home. He is an award winning Kalamkari artisan having more than 20 years of experience in this field, who explained to them the various stages of Kalamkari which was followed by a hands-on activity of doing Kalamkari the traditional way using traditional materials. They ended their experience by a visit to Srikalahasti temple to have a darshan where they were told about the history and significance of the temple.