Picture Perfect!

 

This is my favourite picture from our first cultural event at IIM - Bangalore | Pehel 2024. The song was India Wale and the pose was the 'Shahrukh Khan pose'... the last song in our flashmob.

Why is it my favourite? 

Each face here is a different story of blissful abandon and happiness etched for eternity on this canvas!

Just take a look! 

It feels like the entire dance just paused for this moment to come true ...... for some of us to close our eyes and just be one with the moment, some of us to smile widely and open our arms to embrace the whole world as a one, some of us channelled our inner superstar and just felt like one! 

Moments like these are a dancer's dream - when everyone is one with the music and ..... we make an imperfectly perfect picture! 

Every dream has it's day

My Bharatnatyam guru gave me this salangai (anklets) on Vijayadashami in 1995. I was to do my Arangetrum ( first Bharatnatyam stage performance) soon after..... unfortunately, we had to move cities suddenly and getting to that stage again with another teacher and school never happened.

In college, I broke my right knee ACL and subsequent surgery and recovery made sitting in Araimandi (half squat position needed for Bharatnatyam) impossible for a while and extremely difficult since. Dance was not going to stop for me... I paused the classical dances and started learning Western forms... became a Zumba instructor, and found my passion in teaching dance fitness.

All through these 3 decades... my salangai has been with me, wrapped in a yellow cloth, waiting patiently for me to break the barriers of my mind. I had been waiting for my Arangetrum someday... then I was waiting for a classical performance someday... then I was waiting for my knee to fully heal someday... then I was waiting for something... not sure what... to adorn it.

Last weekend I performed on stage... it was neither a full classical dance nor was it my Arangetrum nor is my knee pain free in Araimandi..... but my salangai accompanied me to the stage.