Calligraphy
When is the last time that you took a pen to jot down something? (Apart from your examinations, of course!) Hard to remember? The phrase “Pen down your thoughts” has an almost redefined meaning nowadays. That’s because we are in an age of technological revolution where everything around us has gone tech savvy. The beauty of writing is slowly diminishing – not rapidly, but tardily. The means of communication through writing, such as postal letters, telegram and telegraph, have also lost their charm and are heading towards a closure. Is this really fair? Although e-mails and e-communication makes everything quicker, they cannot even get close to the emotional satisfaction that is got by penning our thoughts on paper. That’s why personal diaries are still a close favorite of many.
The art of writing has been in existence since mankind started communicating. Writing, in the beginning of times, consisted of just patterns scribbled here and there. But as people refined, so did their style of writing and communicating.
The word Calligraphy originatedfrom two Greek words (kallos meaning beauty and graphe meaning writing). Calligraphy is a stylish way of writing requiring a brush or pen and ink. The Chinese are connoisseurs in calligraphy and the East Asian calligraphy originated in China. The calligraphic arts of China can be traced back to years as early as 4000 BC. Apart from Mainland China, Nepal, Tibet, Persia and Western Asia were also cognoscente of the calligraphic art. Calligraphy reached the height of its fame and cachet during the 8thcentury. The different styles of calligraphic writing include regular script, semi – cursive or running script and cursive or grass script. Calligraphic writing is almost always aesthetically pleasing thus bringing with it a sense of calm and peace. Joan Stanley Baker, the author of “Japanese Art”, quoted
“Calligraphy is sheer life experienced through energy in motion that is registered as traces on silk or paper, with time and rhythm in shifting space its main ingredients.”
Thus Calligraphy is viewed as an art that is used to portray our emotions filling us with a tranquility that no amount of online surfing can bring. Sadly though, writing is losing its edge – one of the regretful consequences of innovation. We have to agnise that conserving our traditional arts is just as crucial as preserving our culture and cultural heritage spots. Let us put forth a conscious effort to keep our traditional arts persisting for as long as we can.
