A cultural centre to showcase the country's rural art forms and lifestyle was inaugurated at the urban luxury resort Heritance Madurai by the Rotary International President Elect (2010-11) Ray Klinginsmith here on Tuesday.
Guests would get an opportunity to draw rangoli, weave using a loom, learn to wear a sari, make flower garland, cook ethnic dishes and learn pottery. This centre would replicate the village life of India, one of the very few countries left with a vibrant and prosperous rural community, said S. Thiagarajan, Chief Executive Officer, ETL Infrastructure Services, whose subsidiary, ETL Hospitality, runs the resort.
India's high growth rates were fuelled partly by its high savings rate, which was perhaps next only to Japan. While urban areas had 27 per cent savings rate, rural area had 40 per cent.
Rich history
Addressing the inaugural function, Mr. Klinginsmith said that he was born in a farm and grew up in a rural setting. However, while they had only a 150-year-old history, India could boast of a lineage of more than thousand years.
In Pudukottai soon
Shankar Menon, chairman, Sri Lanka-based Aitken Spence Hotels Management, which is managing the resort, said that this centre was a precursor to a hotel coming up at Pudukottai that would reflect Chettinad culture.
One more resort was likely to come up in Coimbatore.
K.R. Ravindran, Rotary International Director, said that promoting such places was part of the Rotary's work. Srinith De Silva, General Manager, Heritance Madurai, spoke.
