An evening !

An evening solely dedicated to one of my biggest passions- dance; made even more special by an exceptional performance.

Having arrived quite early, I spent an hour observing my fellow audience who had come to watch a Bharatanatyam recital by Shobhana(a popular cine-actress and renowned dancer). Around 80% of the crowd were elderly folks; either groups of ladies or couples. Everyone had the same interest in their eyes; one of viewing a show that catered to their interests along with a chance to view the celebrity star live on stage. Restless children with their mothers, uninterested(but helpless) spouses with their partners and a handful like me(with smug "I-am-here-only-because-I-love-art" looks) formed rest of the crowd.

Shobhana, along with her talented orchestra presented us with an overwhelming experience of ragas, devotion, rhythm, mudras and beauty. The grace and poise with which she carried herself throughout the recital was amazing. What is as important a factor as the "nritha" and "natya" is the "bhavam", i.e., the expressions that an artist conveys. When she presented "SitaKalyanam", or to be more specific, the scene wherein Sita's suitors attempt to lift Lord Shiva's bow, to get her hand in marriage, the sheer ease with which she portrayed their vanity colored by a shade of humor, the naturality with which she brought about all those emotions without losing that grace of classical dance ever, just took my breath away. I could see that the entire crowd felt the same at that moment, by the vigor of applause she received shortly afterwards.

All in all, a wonderful evening that left me refreshed and with a resolve to keep the dancer in me alive forever...

Daddy's girl !

Second-time watch of a malayalam movie "Notebook" very recently got me thinking about a topic that has been debated, observed and analyzed forever:- a parent-child relationship.

To make the context clear, this movie has a particular scene in which a girl in her teens is facing her best friend's father's anguish over his daughter's fatal abortion attempt. She retorts back with a statement that silences everyone- "My friend was always scared of her dad; if at all, she could ever open up to you, she would have been with us today."

Being a rebellious daughter that I have been all my life, this line caught my interest. It indirectly conveyed the fact that for all the love and care that father gave his girl, she died because of some flaw in their relationship. What went wrong ?

To Daddies and Mommies:-

Today's Indian metropolitan society boasts of excessive freedom that kids get at home, an open communication that exists between parents and children, lack of discrimination for girls etc etc etc.. And definitely, parents in any part of the world loves their children irrevocably. So, why this discrepancy ?

A major problem, I believe is the reluctance that certain parents posess in accepting their kids for who they are. Given, your child has not seen world as you have or has the same level of maturity; but they need to know lot of things. Rather, they need to be educated by you. When you fail to do so, they choose other methods to know about the same; most of them doing irreparable damage. The movie bit I wrote about is just one tragic example.

Do not try to protect your child from the social malpractices and anti-social elements by keeping them in the dark; instil awareness in them; help them understand what awaits them when they start to face the world, away from your shadow. Do not lead them to believe that they are alone in case of a crisis; convince them you are there to help them with anything and everything.

Understand your child as you would, a friend. Both of you mght not necessarily have the same line of thought, not even close for that matter. But do not just dismiss his/her thoughts and ideas, tagging them as childish/immature. It is natural to be protective of your child, but be aware of the limitations. It would just increase the gap between you and your child- worst, they might never even look back as they move ahead in life.

Next, acknowledge the ever-changing society and its openness. Ten years ago, a dad would have been happiest if his daughter got married to someone of his choice. Today, he would be more than happy if she decides to share her life with a guy and not a girl !

P.S:- I have nothing against gay marriages or any other social norms.