I wanted to say this that the highest
salutation should go to the teachers who
are here today and who also teaches
about life without them I won’t be here
today
I have learnt under 4 5 gurus eminent
gurus of classical dance the second
thing I want to say is that I am deeply
honored to be here because finally I
think classical dance has been given the
status of being a part of society and
all of you are coming to know about what
is classical dance and how a dancer
survives because this is one of the
worst profession financially even now in
India but there are other satisfactions
even we don’t make any millions of
dollars when I visited with my husband
Turkey Azerbaijan Syria Jordan this kind
of countries in Turkey after our
performance our duet performance the
ambassador and the premier of Turkey had
attended the show and he said coming to
me that your art form transcends
politics economics finance and even
social barriers and that’s so true
because we are talking about
communication and communications is a
must but to reach out to people to touch
their heart and dance or music or
painting don’t differentiate between who
you are what you are whether you are
rich or poor whether from any religion
fast great you are the same person
a little after independence when changes
were happening all over India I became
aware of myself only in 1961 living in a
house surrounded by mustard fields and
barren lands no electricity no TV no tap
water only to buy
and the place was known as Krishna Nagar
which now many of you know as the very
sophisticated colony of subterranean
lair so we were very small we were six
children and my father who was the only
earning member used to cycle every day
14 kilometer one way to state trading
corporation where he had got a job after
he left his job the journalists in Agra
and he used to cycle every day and while
coming back buy the groceries and
everything for home for the six children
I am the youngest and then we used to
eat at night after my mother will cook
the food we walk to the school five
kilometres every day no lunch no money
in the pocket but there was a culture at
home my mother kept us busy kept us busy
with painting drawing singing when I
look back I don’t feel that I struggled
but it was very very hard life after I
remember that from school only which was
not a public school my father could not
afford but luckily all the sisters and
brothers are very good in studies so I
set a target that I will go to
l’addition around college though I was
from a Bengali speaking school I didn’t
know how to speak a word of English so I
was an authority in class 10 only on
Bengali literature but I was so
embarrassed to stock in English but I
didn’t know I didn’t know I just thought
I have to go to LSR that’s the best
college so I passed the test and he went
to LSR and there I was three years of
graduation and three years two years of
post graduation we were I was alone no
friend I couldn’t open my mouth to utter
a word total introvert that’s my family
incidentally my brother sisters and in
Agra with I am the lap of my mother so
after that and you can imagine how LSR
is a very sophisticated place
very good-looking girls I was the
ugliest with too oily Platts and Asadi
and everybody making fun of me even the
Bengali community made fun of me like
they used to say like something very you
know it’s sort of I don’t want to
remember but incidentally after so many
years in 2009 I was awarded the Golden
Jubilee Award of ELISA as the most
prominent alumna and also when I started
my column career designing invited to
present one of my creation to the
muhammad’ president on San Souci the
Nobel laureate who is also incidentally
from Lady Shri Ram College so I got over
my shyness by starting reading English
thrillers so once I started I couldn’t
stop then I went up to our thermal
aerosols and it’s insects PR everything
finished and then even now I read a lot
so dance what happened I was doing my
MPhil and from childhood I wanted to
learn dance but there was no chance of
learning because there was absolutely my
father could not afford to send me
somewhere to learn classical dance so
then I told my father okay give me two
years of time if I can’t become a dancer
then I will sit for is because I had
topped in aiming I was a good student
I mean paruppu JISC of all things so so
my father said okay so I just simply got
down from the bus one day doing M film
went to through Benny and enrolled
myself in kukuli I didn’t know what is
Kuchipudi that time just seemed to be a
very rare dance style
so my first guru told one gave one look
at me and said you can’t be a dancer you
are 21 years old in the south people
start from the age of six and you are
hopeless you are not even good-looking
you are not even you don’t have a
personality so I just said okay guru ji
I will practice so I started my practice
so he could not get rid of me
after two years he told me okay you give
a performance that performance became a
hit and then he suggested that if since
you are so serious you go and learn from
guru ji Rama Rao that he is the most
authentic which you put
guru
tell me I went and met my future husband
very shy could speak a word of Hindi I
felt smarter than him you know coming
from LSR I was thinking now I am more
smarter than this gentleman at least
look so I told him guru ji why don’t you
perform because you are young you are
only 29 30 so he said who will dance
with me because I am alone and he didn’t
know a word of Hindi so I said okay I am
we will do it so there in started the
duets and he was so conservative that
when we got the first trip to London he
said I am NOT going without marrying so
I gave it a big thought because it was a
very big day because I wanted to marry a
very rich man you know after all the
struggle of childhood I wanted somebody
with a car driver every luxury and you
know somebody who will say you are
good-looking and all that and we gave 35
years we performed together after 35
years of performances and 30 40 Awards
we thought we have done we are now
settled and in the meantime my son Veda
breath was born when I was 14 so
everything I have done is late what I’m
trying to tell all of you is that there
is no time limit for doing anything you
like because life is very very short
okay this was one of our good
photographs which was in many magazines
and we are now in many you can say we
are part of history of Indian classical
dance and he said that people are
appreciating your saris and blouses why
don’t you make some to sell so I said
sell I want to buy things now I want to
have money to buy go to the mall buy
everything you don’t have a big car but
now you are telling me to sell how to
sell I don’t know I don’t have any idea
about fabric I don’t have any idea how
to work with people but there came my
designs which I designed myself
I changed the concept of column carry
which is hand painting by vegetable dye
and I applied the same theory of dance
to this to have excellence to have a
finishing to have a beginning to have a
middle to have an end so the product
I never took them to anywhere I never
told any dancer friend to buy them
because they will think now she is so
poor that she wants to sell her saris to
us so I kept away from dancers though I
knew everybody but I now everybody is
wearing my addresses but I went to from
door-to-door and I went to the I
remember I went to the Canadian embassy
to sell my blouses to a lady who had
called me that she wants my glasses so I
was thinking standing in the security
door what am I doing here I am a senator
that kind of me awardee
I mean I may get but mostly any day and
I’m sitting here with a bag of blouses
then I thought okay this is another
beginning this is another work which I
should do with full I mean I’m a loner I
don’t know anything I sold four blouses
that day then after that it went
smoothly crafts council came to me they
launched me in Kolkata Jaipur online
they displayed my things and it smoothly
settled down so I am very much open to I
am like a kid actually in my mind though
I am 63 now so at the age of 16 I was
really thinking of a nice retirement and
I opened this business now I have a very
personal relationship with all my
customers it’s not a big business for me
for artists the priorities are very
different we know we are poorly paid but
we are happy with it because that
devotion is there that devotion is not
religious people think dancers are
classical dancers are always praying to
some God and saying Oh Krishna come and
rescue me o Indra come and know this
devotion is to my dedication to the
stage that type of hurt to the people
that I communicate when in Cuba somebody
comes in tears and tells me that I wish
I could dance with you that’s the price
I get award I get when in Russia people
call us living legends that’s now what
we get
it’s cannot be always compared to money
money but I I want money I mean I want
to be comfortable and I could see my
career graph like this then a second
hand Fiat then a second hand Maruti then
a new mutt is that a new Swift
then an a star so I was developing you
know and I once I went to buy a Mahindra
if Suvi and then I consoled myself
saying no no I don’t have a parking
place so it’s okay okay I didn’t have
the money to buy that but it’s okay I am
happy I am happy in doing what I want I
I want all of you to think that you have
a heart and a brain think with both the
things not with one thing then you will
suffer in life so after that I have to
innovate so at the age of 62 my son told
me mom wore and he’s an MD from my car
and he’s very critical of us so he said
what you and father are doing is okay
but it does not reach out to younger
generation nobody is interested it’s so
episodic like you wear the same costume
you have the same live orchestra they
sing the same songs you does the same I
don’t see anybody coming I can’t call my
friends I mean they won’t be interested
so I thought okay I will make a new
dance company so I made Russia United
and we do why not why not use classical
dance and make it very very highly
professional so that people get
connected all of you know Rama and
Mahabharat stories so why not tell a
story in such a way that it’s powerful
and you know I innovated invented myself
again in a different way I am NOT going
into the personal struggles that I went
through but it was a long struggle when
after doing the duets for 35 years I
decided I will go into a multi style
composer production and I will make it
so professional that internationally
when we do some scenes from Mahabharata
these are all the posters of my
performance that I will present the
dialogue sometimes in English if it is
necessary like if I am performing in
Egypt I will not talk about only
religion I will talk about peace harmony
district it is how you present it is how
you tell the story it is not that many
people have good stories but then hotel
so I have birth not them Kuchipudi and
Chow Chow is martial art kind of dance
which is very good for demonic
characters but it not them very precise
and geometric and Kuchipudi has dance
Rama so I wanted to read
myself because I am NOT young anymore I
am sick going to be 64 next month how
can I act like a 25 year old were madly
in love with Krishna I mean I can teach
my students can learn from my experience
but should I live state just because I
am old or so I shifted to character
roles character roles of Dronacharya
Krishna manly roles because after 50
doesn’t matter whether you are acting
like a man or a woman I mean you are not
in your finer elements you know because
you are what you are and you have to
accept that so but I can use my
knowledge and I have observed my husband
the fantastic male dancer of the country
I he has dancing with me for 35 years I
can easily copy him you know because I
know how he stands how he poses so one
example I would like to give you because
I think you will enjoy the communicative
power of dance that is I did a
production on carnival I don’t know how
many people know who is karna
Mahabharata okay most of you know karna
has a very warrior prince but who sided
with the Kauravas and he is when he
comes to the final fight with Arjuna his
chariot will is stuck in the earth and
he can’t take it out because it’s a
curse
so he tells Arjuna that mirtha compare
Apollo please give me one second
one minute I will just check out that
film you see the body language changes
even if you are a woman you can do
gender change in classical dance you
can’t do it in any other field so that’s
a look I will take out this wheel and
then I will fight with you you are a
carrier you are the greatest warrior
help me give me one moment and then he
tries to you know take it out take it
out it doesn’t come out so Krishna who
is the cleverest and he is the whole
thing knows this is the opportunity to
kill him but Arjuna hesitates because he
does not want to kill an unarmed man so
then Krishna says to Arjuna so I put the
dialogues in English because garner says
do justice you are a warrior you know
the
is not just to kill me like this so then
krishna says dharma justice
you are speaking about justice
where was your justice when you defeated
jewish tara in the evil game of dice
where was your justice karna when you
dragged draupadi to the core of shahe
holding her hair and disrobing her and
to elevate our jun to kill karna he says
where was your justice when all of you
mercilessly killed the boy a women lu in
an unjust war wall so why are you
talking about justice and then he tells
Chris Arjuna kill him right now this is
the moment for you don’t spare shiro her
a suit oppressor
killed is suta patre right now so this
is what is innovation because from a
woman you become a man and how you
justify how you set your goal that all I
live to you but at the same time don’t
believe in generation gap
your parents know as much as you know
only thing they are more experienced my
son is my friend we talk about
everything because I have never forced
him to do anything that he does not like
so enjoy life I read from somewhere that
one British actor famous actor said that
you know enjoy life do crazy things
love precious moments of life don’t let it go thank you
salutation should go to the teachers who
are here today and who also teaches
about life without them I won’t be here
today
I have learnt under 4 5 gurus eminent
gurus of classical dance the second
thing I want to say is that I am deeply
honored to be here because finally I
think classical dance has been given the
status of being a part of society and
all of you are coming to know about what
is classical dance and how a dancer
survives because this is one of the
worst profession financially even now in
India but there are other satisfactions
even we don’t make any millions of
dollars when I visited with my husband
Turkey Azerbaijan Syria Jordan this kind
of countries in Turkey after our
performance our duet performance the
ambassador and the premier of Turkey had
attended the show and he said coming to
me that your art form transcends
politics economics finance and even
social barriers and that’s so true
because we are talking about
communication and communications is a
must but to reach out to people to touch
their heart and dance or music or
painting don’t differentiate between who
you are what you are whether you are
rich or poor whether from any religion
fast great you are the same person
a little after independence when changes
were happening all over India I became
aware of myself only in 1961 living in a
house surrounded by mustard fields and
barren lands no electricity no TV no tap
water only to buy
and the place was known as Krishna Nagar
which now many of you know as the very
sophisticated colony of subterranean
lair so we were very small we were six
children and my father who was the only
earning member used to cycle every day
14 kilometer one way to state trading
corporation where he had got a job after
he left his job the journalists in Agra
and he used to cycle every day and while
coming back buy the groceries and
everything for home for the six children
I am the youngest and then we used to
eat at night after my mother will cook
the food we walk to the school five
kilometres every day no lunch no money
in the pocket but there was a culture at
home my mother kept us busy kept us busy
with painting drawing singing when I
look back I don’t feel that I struggled
but it was very very hard life after I
remember that from school only which was
not a public school my father could not
afford but luckily all the sisters and
brothers are very good in studies so I
set a target that I will go to
l’addition around college though I was
from a Bengali speaking school I didn’t
know how to speak a word of English so I
was an authority in class 10 only on
Bengali literature but I was so
embarrassed to stock in English but I
didn’t know I didn’t know I just thought
I have to go to LSR that’s the best
college so I passed the test and he went
to LSR and there I was three years of
graduation and three years two years of
post graduation we were I was alone no
friend I couldn’t open my mouth to utter
a word total introvert that’s my family
incidentally my brother sisters and in
Agra with I am the lap of my mother so
after that and you can imagine how LSR
is a very sophisticated place
very good-looking girls I was the
ugliest with too oily Platts and Asadi
and everybody making fun of me even the
Bengali community made fun of me like
they used to say like something very you
know it’s sort of I don’t want to
remember but incidentally after so many
years in 2009 I was awarded the Golden
Jubilee Award of ELISA as the most
prominent alumna and also when I started
my column career designing invited to
present one of my creation to the
muhammad’ president on San Souci the
Nobel laureate who is also incidentally
from Lady Shri Ram College so I got over
my shyness by starting reading English
thrillers so once I started I couldn’t
stop then I went up to our thermal
aerosols and it’s insects PR everything
finished and then even now I read a lot
so dance what happened I was doing my
MPhil and from childhood I wanted to
learn dance but there was no chance of
learning because there was absolutely my
father could not afford to send me
somewhere to learn classical dance so
then I told my father okay give me two
years of time if I can’t become a dancer
then I will sit for is because I had
topped in aiming I was a good student
I mean paruppu JISC of all things so so
my father said okay so I just simply got
down from the bus one day doing M film
went to through Benny and enrolled
myself in kukuli I didn’t know what is
Kuchipudi that time just seemed to be a
very rare dance style
so my first guru told one gave one look
at me and said you can’t be a dancer you
are 21 years old in the south people
start from the age of six and you are
hopeless you are not even good-looking
you are not even you don’t have a
personality so I just said okay guru ji
I will practice so I started my practice
so he could not get rid of me
after two years he told me okay you give
a performance that performance became a
hit and then he suggested that if since
you are so serious you go and learn from
guru ji Rama Rao that he is the most
authentic which you put
guru
tell me I went and met my future husband
very shy could speak a word of Hindi I
felt smarter than him you know coming
from LSR I was thinking now I am more
smarter than this gentleman at least
look so I told him guru ji why don’t you
perform because you are young you are
only 29 30 so he said who will dance
with me because I am alone and he didn’t
know a word of Hindi so I said okay I am
we will do it so there in started the
duets and he was so conservative that
when we got the first trip to London he
said I am NOT going without marrying so
I gave it a big thought because it was a
very big day because I wanted to marry a
very rich man you know after all the
struggle of childhood I wanted somebody
with a car driver every luxury and you
know somebody who will say you are
good-looking and all that and we gave 35
years we performed together after 35
years of performances and 30 40 Awards
we thought we have done we are now
settled and in the meantime my son Veda
breath was born when I was 14 so
everything I have done is late what I’m
trying to tell all of you is that there
is no time limit for doing anything you
like because life is very very short
okay this was one of our good
photographs which was in many magazines
and we are now in many you can say we
are part of history of Indian classical
dance and he said that people are
appreciating your saris and blouses why
don’t you make some to sell so I said
sell I want to buy things now I want to
have money to buy go to the mall buy
everything you don’t have a big car but
now you are telling me to sell how to
sell I don’t know I don’t have any idea
about fabric I don’t have any idea how
to work with people but there came my
designs which I designed myself
I changed the concept of column carry
which is hand painting by vegetable dye
and I applied the same theory of dance
to this to have excellence to have a
finishing to have a beginning to have a
middle to have an end so the product
I never took them to anywhere I never
told any dancer friend to buy them
because they will think now she is so
poor that she wants to sell her saris to
us so I kept away from dancers though I
knew everybody but I now everybody is
wearing my addresses but I went to from
door-to-door and I went to the I
remember I went to the Canadian embassy
to sell my blouses to a lady who had
called me that she wants my glasses so I
was thinking standing in the security
door what am I doing here I am a senator
that kind of me awardee
I mean I may get but mostly any day and
I’m sitting here with a bag of blouses
then I thought okay this is another
beginning this is another work which I
should do with full I mean I’m a loner I
don’t know anything I sold four blouses
that day then after that it went
smoothly crafts council came to me they
launched me in Kolkata Jaipur online
they displayed my things and it smoothly
settled down so I am very much open to I
am like a kid actually in my mind though
I am 63 now so at the age of 16 I was
really thinking of a nice retirement and
I opened this business now I have a very
personal relationship with all my
customers it’s not a big business for me
for artists the priorities are very
different we know we are poorly paid but
we are happy with it because that
devotion is there that devotion is not
religious people think dancers are
classical dancers are always praying to
some God and saying Oh Krishna come and
rescue me o Indra come and know this
devotion is to my dedication to the
stage that type of hurt to the people
that I communicate when in Cuba somebody
comes in tears and tells me that I wish
I could dance with you that’s the price
I get award I get when in Russia people
call us living legends that’s now what
we get
it’s cannot be always compared to money
money but I I want money I mean I want
to be comfortable and I could see my
career graph like this then a second
hand Fiat then a second hand Maruti then
a new mutt is that a new Swift
then an a star so I was developing you
know and I once I went to buy a Mahindra
if Suvi and then I consoled myself
saying no no I don’t have a parking
place so it’s okay okay I didn’t have
the money to buy that but it’s okay I am
happy I am happy in doing what I want I
I want all of you to think that you have
a heart and a brain think with both the
things not with one thing then you will
suffer in life so after that I have to
innovate so at the age of 62 my son told
me mom wore and he’s an MD from my car
and he’s very critical of us so he said
what you and father are doing is okay
but it does not reach out to younger
generation nobody is interested it’s so
episodic like you wear the same costume
you have the same live orchestra they
sing the same songs you does the same I
don’t see anybody coming I can’t call my
friends I mean they won’t be interested
so I thought okay I will make a new
dance company so I made Russia United
and we do why not why not use classical
dance and make it very very highly
professional so that people get
connected all of you know Rama and
Mahabharat stories so why not tell a
story in such a way that it’s powerful
and you know I innovated invented myself
again in a different way I am NOT going
into the personal struggles that I went
through but it was a long struggle when
after doing the duets for 35 years I
decided I will go into a multi style
composer production and I will make it
so professional that internationally
when we do some scenes from Mahabharata
these are all the posters of my
performance that I will present the
dialogue sometimes in English if it is
necessary like if I am performing in
Egypt I will not talk about only
religion I will talk about peace harmony
district it is how you present it is how
you tell the story it is not that many
people have good stories but then hotel
so I have birth not them Kuchipudi and
Chow Chow is martial art kind of dance
which is very good for demonic
characters but it not them very precise
and geometric and Kuchipudi has dance
Rama so I wanted to read
myself because I am NOT young anymore I
am sick going to be 64 next month how
can I act like a 25 year old were madly
in love with Krishna I mean I can teach
my students can learn from my experience
but should I live state just because I
am old or so I shifted to character
roles character roles of Dronacharya
Krishna manly roles because after 50
doesn’t matter whether you are acting
like a man or a woman I mean you are not
in your finer elements you know because
you are what you are and you have to
accept that so but I can use my
knowledge and I have observed my husband
the fantastic male dancer of the country
I he has dancing with me for 35 years I
can easily copy him you know because I
know how he stands how he poses so one
example I would like to give you because
I think you will enjoy the communicative
power of dance that is I did a
production on carnival I don’t know how
many people know who is karna
Mahabharata okay most of you know karna
has a very warrior prince but who sided
with the Kauravas and he is when he
comes to the final fight with Arjuna his
chariot will is stuck in the earth and
he can’t take it out because it’s a
curse
so he tells Arjuna that mirtha compare
Apollo please give me one second
one minute I will just check out that
film you see the body language changes
even if you are a woman you can do
gender change in classical dance you
can’t do it in any other field so that’s
a look I will take out this wheel and
then I will fight with you you are a
carrier you are the greatest warrior
help me give me one moment and then he
tries to you know take it out take it
out it doesn’t come out so Krishna who
is the cleverest and he is the whole
thing knows this is the opportunity to
kill him but Arjuna hesitates because he
does not want to kill an unarmed man so
then Krishna says to Arjuna so I put the
dialogues in English because garner says
do justice you are a warrior you know
the
is not just to kill me like this so then
krishna says dharma justice
you are speaking about justice
where was your justice when you defeated
jewish tara in the evil game of dice
where was your justice karna when you
dragged draupadi to the core of shahe
holding her hair and disrobing her and
to elevate our jun to kill karna he says
where was your justice when all of you
mercilessly killed the boy a women lu in
an unjust war wall so why are you
talking about justice and then he tells
Chris Arjuna kill him right now this is
the moment for you don’t spare shiro her
a suit oppressor
killed is suta patre right now so this
is what is innovation because from a
woman you become a man and how you
justify how you set your goal that all I
live to you but at the same time don’t
believe in generation gap
your parents know as much as you know
only thing they are more experienced my
son is my friend we talk about
everything because I have never forced
him to do anything that he does not like
so enjoy life I read from somewhere that
one British actor famous actor said that
you know enjoy life do crazy things
love precious moments of life don’t let it go thank you
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