Bee fest raises eco concerns

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The Americans are trying to pollinate artificially, spending as much as $50 per flower; the Chinese are flooding our markets with honey that has high doses of antibiotics; and, the Indians like most other people across the globe are refusing to wake up to the scary truth that the honeybee pollinating for free is slowly vanishing.

World-renowned designer-curator Rajeev Sethi in a freewheeling chat with DC explained his pet project being done for The Hyatt in Chennai, ‘Pollinator1’.

It’s a three-day bee festival starting Thursday and will have many celebrities and wise tribals—competent and curious people—discussing the humble bee. “Everybody knows about tigers. But bees are very critical and much more basic for our environment.

Every city in countries like France is celebrating the presence of bees, but nobody is concerned about bees here”, Sethi said. “In Tamil Nadu, the excessive use of fertilizer in the farmlands has affected the bees”.

Complimenting Hyatt Regency, where he has set up Asia’s largest collection of art on the honeybee, Sethi said it was most heartening that the hotel was focusing so much of attention to environment and ecology. “Not many corporates are doing this, which is sad”.

Talking about the bee art displays at Hyatt, he said, “We have brought together the scientists, artists and tribals to talk about bees.

I have collected several antique pieces and abandoned woodwork from various places in Tamil Nadu in the last one year to design the mandapa in Hyatt that depicts the importance of bees.”

The concerned curator said the Union culture ministry should bring under its wings all the traditional sectors such as the khadi and handloom boards, sericulture, and so on, “to create an art revolution that empowers the common man”.

Regretting that traditional culture forms are devalued in the country, Sethi said, “The new knowledge economy is about creating content.

But our traditional knowledge in creative and culture forms does not have protection. Any big firm can poach them and get the IPR (Intellectual Property Rights)”.