KATHMANDU: “There is enormous strength and energy in traditional art and culture that I would like to steal that energy,” expressed veteran Indian artist/poet Jatin Das at an interaction session, organised by BP Koirala India-Nepal Foundation in association with Nepal Art Council on May 24 at Malla Hotel, Lainchaur. Das focused on the need to preserve and appreciate traditional art and cultural heritage at the event. He pointed to the need to preserve and appreciate nature first, before conserving anything, as without nature nothing would exist in the world. He shared, “Before preserving art, we should do plantation, protect our water bodies and preserve our forest. Environment is more important than Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Nature, art and craft are related and coexist in parallel way.” The artist also showcased random pictures of his paintings, murals, architectures of India, and traditional fans from his collection. Meanwhile, he talked about people’s need of the sense of belonging for the art and culture where everybody and everything is on sale at present. He added, “Art and culture are moral fabrics of society that bind people together. We should have sense of belonging for our art and crafts as they posses sense of historicity. This has to be preserved, if art is not preserved then we are destroyed. The sense of belonging starts from the family, then society and so on.” He also focused on the need of cleaning traditional stone taps of the Valley. For the last 10 years he has “not exhibited my work, as I decided to travel around my country. Now I have decided to travel neighbouring countries and I started my journey from Nepal”. This is his first visit to Nepal and Das said, “I am happy here and I don’t mind dust. Nepal is very rich culturally. Nepal and India have many similar cultures and are my source of inspiration. I will visit Nepal again. The cultural heritage that Nepal has is beautiful, and Nepali people should preserve these heritages.” Seventy-four-year-old Das is the recipient of Padma Bhushan 2012, India’s highest civilian award. One of the participants of the event, traditional artist Lok Chitrakar, expressed, “Today’s talk was fruitful and he (Das) talked about preserving our traditional art and culture as it is the base of any civilisation.”