Malvika's Ramblings

After vsiting the CN Tower in Toronto, my Uncle and I went to an arangetram. Whats an arangetram? I didn’t know. Never attended one in India but did get introduced to one here in Toronto. I wondered if I would see any interesting Indian guys in the crowd.

An arangetram is the first formal performance of a Bharatanatyam trainee. It was the arangetram of Reena Mohan, the daughter of my uncle's friend. Well, ok.. I sat down in my seat wondering what was in store for me. As the performance went on, I swayed my head side to side with the taal and music occasionally. After all, I was the true blue Indian in the crowd, just 20 days old in Toronto, and was supposed to be knowledgeable and appreciative of Indian arts more than others! In an interval between performances, some Canadians were doing a good job of understanding the mudras or hand gestures in the row behind me. They identified the ones for suffering, removal of sorrows, crown but got stuck after that. "What this?" the guy wondered. I felt very good educating him and saying that it was the mudra for a flute, the symbol of Lord Krishna. You know, the way you explain saying Krishna, RamA, karmA, niravanA.

The performance was very enjoyable. Every movement of the dancer told a sentence in a story. It was not incomprehensible beautiful dancing. It was like watching a movie, wondering how the story would unfold and her dance, showed little nuances and turns and twists in the conversation between the characters of the plot. For example, in my favourite piece, which was called Idai Vida, the heroine berates her lover for coming home late and says that she can detect signs of infidelity. As the dancer hopped forward and plucked something, looked at with horror and threw it aside to look up and ask 'Whats this?' i could see that she had picked up a long strand of hair from her beau's body and was questioning him about it. Then she asks him to leave and as her eyes follow a path towards the imagined door, you can imagine a young solid man walking towards the door dejected and (perhaps) sorry.

(Photograph of Reena Mohan, taken from her brochure. The photographers are Sanjay Ramachandran and Manpreet Sokhi)

The dancer Reena Mohan is a young girl in her third year of college. She looked very beautiful while performing on stage. I have the prejudice that classical dances that demand flexibility, grace and stamina should only be done by fit petite girls and not sticks or tubs. Reena has already performed onstage many times. However, to be very critical of a fantastic dancer, she was a little raw as she couldn’t hold tough poses very long, like the pose of Nataraja. A bit wobbly there. I remembered the performances of Sonal Mansingh and Birju Maharaj that i saw on two different occasions at NIFT as part of Spic Macay events. I must say that Spic Macay is doing a fantastic job, exposing people to larger than life performances. These performances may be the only time they get to watch a Sonal Mansingh or Birju Maharaj performance because at other times, a evening out means planning a movie or dinner or booty-shaking at a club.

Nothing like Sonal and Birju (Heh heh..). They take you out of yourself so that you feel like you are a taal or ghungroo or some magical element on the stage while they perform. They both explain what they are doing and there is no lack of completeness or involvement in their performance. You must catch it if you get an opportunity.

The arangetram ended with a long series of heartfelt thank-yous, some tears and an enthralled but i-want-to-pee! crowd. As Reena's teacher - Lata Pada was thanked and praised, she went around stage picking up small bits and pieces of broken costume jewellery, scouring the floor and swooping down on detected fragments quite oblivious to the songs being sung about her. I don’t know if that is normal or is it just me!

As I listened to the closing speeches, I thought that endurance, discipline, practice and devotion to an activity does pay off, Here was her father on the stage so proud of Reena. I made a quiet promise to go to the gym regularly. The woman next to me decided to do her sitar lessons regularly. The man next to her checked his watch. And the man next to him thought he would do yoga regularly.

The performance brought back memories of my training in Bharatanatyam. We never really understood what we were doing. I was in class five then. The teacher told us the story we were dancing and emoting to. But not much about introduction, the end and the meaning of the performance we did on stage. I remember her best as a tyrant walking around 40 girls with a stick. We had to squat in aramandi positions and hold it for five full minutes. You stand up and you would get a rap on your calves. You may call it part of the deal - teaching discipline by being hard or you may call it pure tyrrany, its your wish. Like Roald Dahl, when I look back at the bad experiences of childhood, i do it with a chuckle. It seems to be the modern fashion to drag all that into the present under the excuse of the lasting scars of trauma. Read ‘Going Solo’ by Roald Dahl and all about warming the toilet seat for seniors and getting bullied by school teachers. I have to admit though, hell is only nice in retrospect. Well, I have deviated from the main focus of this write-up a lot. But then, if you noticed the blog is called ‘Malvika’s ramblings’!

In Toronto, I can see India as I could not notice it when it was in my face. I can appreciate the culture, the many armed goddesses, gods who get angry and destroy the world, our stories, our recognitions of all kinds of rasas and a mythology that is so all-inclusive of life with jealous lovers, chiding mothers, gopis with crushes on Krishna, philanthropists like Annapoorne - the goddess of grain.

Here is what a full fledged Bharatanatyam performance is actually made up of - the stuffing of it, the content. This is what Reena performed -

Pushpanjali - Thanksgiving to God, teachers and audience.

Gambhir Ganakayaka - Description of Ganesha, the elephant headed god.

Jatiswaram - Non representational complex dance

Dev Kriti - Addressing Goddess Annapoorne and describing her as the giver of grain from her gem-studded vessel and as the consort of Lord Shiva.

Varnam - Dedicated to Lord Krishna. He is the heart-throb of all the milkmaids in Gokul. He is the protector of saint Meerabai who was forced to drink poison by a Big Bad King. He is the protector of Draupadi who was being raped by her brothers in law. He is the protector of a village, which he saved from the rains poured down by an angry Lord Indra. He saved the village people by lifting and holding up a mountain over their heads. He is the good friend of Sudama, his poverty-stricken friend. And he is the charioteer of Arjun in the battlefield, giving him the correct attitude and perspective to perform his duty as a warrior without getting deterred by his emotions and weaknesses.

An interval - Phew!

Shankara Sri Giri - The dance of Lord Shiva

Padam. Idi vadai - Qouting from the brochure "The central figure is a nayika who is disappointed that her lover, Lord Muruga, has not kept his promise to spend the evening with her and returns in the early hours of the morning ith innumerable excuses as to why he could not be with her. She sarcastically berates him saying "Do I need any more proof that you have been unfaithful to me? I can see obvious signs of your dalliance with the other woman, please do not try to convince me otherwise; enough of your sweet words, please leave."

Surdas Bhajan - Krishna stealing butter as a mischievous child and getting caught by his mother.

Tillana - Complex abstract dance

Mangalam - Benediction

It obviously helps if you are an Indian as you already know the background of each of these stories when they are performed. Its just one of those things you like repeated again and again and you revel in being part of something.

Enough of this, I am tired, You are tired, Reena Mohan was beautiful and very talented last night. So long!