One day she forgot to Dance..
One day she forgot to dance…
Kalyani aunty, a versatile
dancer a soloist, academically an Engineer. She was trained at Shriram Bhartiya
Kala Kendra in Delhi for many years. She has taught Bharatanatyam to selected
and limited students who really want to explore their Bhāva (Sanskrit: bhāva,
'state, condition') also can be explained as the emotion or mood conveyed by a
performer. Responsible wife of a busy husband and mother of two handsome boys,
yet kept herself busy to make her dance move along with her growing age. Each
time my friend nandini meet my aunt she shuddered by her looks which were
brilliant and sharp, just nothing could have escaped by her eye sight and being
a dancer she had a wide and gleaming eyes which was making each one of us
respect her more.
One beautiful rainy day me and
my friend nandini visited kalyani aunty‘s house as nandini was eagerly looking
out for a dance teacher close to her house which was a strict line agreement
set by her father. After a small demonstration on Krishna Nee Begane Baro
composed in raga yaman kalyani set in Chapu talam a famous classical song in
kannada language, my friend was selected to be her disciple which was a real
blessing for her to learn dance in many modes.
Days passed, it was interesting
to know that one of her handsome son and my second cousin Arvii was in love
with my friend Nandini…she too was aware of this, later they were found sitting
on same bench during their degree course. I was then a mediator for my cousin
Arvii who was very much fond of Nandini’s dance steps and singing ability. Our
college group titled her after K.S.Chithra as she was that serene and beautiful
in singing and with great effort she managed to get a pat on her back from
Kalyani aunty too, soon she became her favourite student with her kind and
composed nature.
In middle of joy and happiness
kalyani aunty started forgetting things, we were unable to understand the
reason for her abnormal behavior, doctor said Memory Loss (Short- and
Long-Term). The chaos of the house was "where she kept what" and "when" was a big
discussion in the house and while teaching dance she also gave wrong "bhava" on a
right steps and mudras which was slowly spotted by nandini and myself, but out
of fear none of us was able to correct kalyani aunty which was then discussed
with her two boys and busy father. Now, nandini understood kalyani aunty more
than anyone of us and she reached her home little soon leaving her office and
studies so that she could nurse my aunt and re-arrange the position of books,
ghungroos, the shruthi box before the students arrive and make aunty feel
better and relaxed with less stress.
Within few months nandini was one of the finest responsible
member of the house and helped my aunt to recover. She never let my aunt know
about her illness, rather each time when my aunt asked nandini “Why am I doing
this, Why am I asking my boys who are they and where have you been
repetitively, to this sweetly nandini could explain my aunt, “teacher you are
very much normal, infact your boys are not able to explain the reason of their
late home visit's and that made you question them again and again...so it is fine
teacher.
Her boys and her husband just ignored her and the pattern
questions, but nandini made a point to elaborate and explain very much in detail, like
"who visited her house and from where he or she belongs too", and after hearing the
entire huge explanation kalyani aunty like a child would say nandini you need
not explain me so much as I can understand quick, I rather know everything I was
just checking your memory, we all giggled on her punching comedy…
Soon came the throbbing day,
while taking class kalyani aunty forgot to dance, she stood still when the
music was on, she asked why so much noise and crowd in her house anyone passed
away? We were in distress to hear this. She started enthralling us by humming
old songs, her other way to show discomfort with the crowd, she took many names
we never heard before, the class was silent and continued by nandini to divert
aunty’s mind and discontinued soon when she realized that kalyani teacher could
never teach dance again, it was very painful for nandini, the family and all
the students’. I could sense something serious within the circle, I soon took
my aunt to her room and asked her to sleep for some time with a dosage of
sedative and told my cousin arvii to drop nandini home. She was emotionally
very sensitive, was unable to handle the situation then and left the place soon
as she may cry loud. None of us could bear this.
As days passed kalyani aunty forgot to dance…
A post dedicated to Smt. Kalyani A Pai, versatile dancer.
Comments
Post a Comment