thane two roads diverted in the wood and i took the less traveled by and that has made all the difference said robert frost this is also true about wellknown folk art scholar prakash khandge who is reader at lok kala academy mumbai university khandge has recently has added a feather in his cap as he has been selected as the council member of the prestigious sangeet natak academy probably he is the first folk arts scholar to get this honour after considering your contribution every state selects a representative maharashtras chief minister has recommended my name and i am going to represent maharashtra in this committee he informed khandge has toiled hard to give a scientific foundation to traditional performing folk arts and introduced a new curriculum of folk arts at university level he developed a study of folk arts as experimental science that has helped to get recognition to traditional folk artists speaking to thane plus khandge unfolded his course of life that led him to this honour he said for centuries traditional folk artists are performing in temple courtyards or as a religious ritual but nobody thought about its scientific study audience witnessed this as a ritual and urban viewers observed it with curiosity when i started studying folk arts in detail i found maharashtras cultural heritage in it every folk form has its own history and anthological and social values so i tried to establish folk arts as a new branch of knowledge when at the age of 105 rajarambapu kadam gave a vibrant performance of gondhal in paris the audience was held spellbound similarly outstanding folk artists like dadu indurikars tamasha and vithabai narayangaonkars lawani mesmerised audience i explored these arts with scientific approach and tried to differentiate purity impurity and adulteration in these folk forms khandge went down his memory lane when he narrated about his introduction to folk arts i am born and brought up in pimpalgaon a small place in nagar district my father and grandfather were kirtankars and i have deep impressions of their kirtan performance i remember rural rituals like kakad arti abhang singing and pothi vachan of harivijay pandavpratap navnath and others i used to sing dance and play pakhavaj in the dindi palkhi and i remember participating in pandharpurvari on foot when i was just nine years in class 4 i shifted to mumbai i used to live in the workers area of lalbaug where people used to perform balya dance gajanritya talwar dandpatte zimma phugdya and other folk forms according to season i have enjoyed owis and devotional lyrics and at the same time lawani jagran and other folk forms i completed a course in chemical engineering and worked as a laboratory assistant in hindustan lever for some years for 12 years i have worked as senior subeditor in leading marathi papers wrote columns and wrote research papers on popular folk art knandobache jagran khandge has worked with the research team of indian national theater and