This Sunday morning when i went to my dance class in R.T.Nagar my dearest loveliest kids of Bharathanatyam all dressed beautifully in Maroon & white churidhar gleaming with so much of love were waiting for us.
My heart filled with Joy on seeing them & at the same time sank as life was going to take a new turn, for me & them.
These children are very special to me & close to my heart because they are highly sincere ,humble ,innocent & loving.Though they are very young ( between 7 years to 14 years) they are matured & carry themselves in a dignified manner. They are disciplined & restrained, they give utmost respect to the teachers & exude purity - an essential quality for a true learner.
I have seen this from way back in 1989 when i first started teaching in R.T.Nagar.
I loved going there spending 6 to 7 hours teaching three batches of students.
It was a blissful world.Everybody sang, recited ,danced & there was no time limit.
The juniors would look at the seniors & be so inspired & the seniors took special care
to see that they bring the best & there was great chemistry between all levels of students & myself.
Throughout my travel (from Basavanagudi to R.T.Nagar) in the autorickshaw i used to sing all the Bharathanatyam songs, recite jathis & prepare for the classes.My mind would constantly be working on how BEST i could motivate these students to dance with love with joy & devised various innovative techniques to make them connect with Bharathanatyam,with carnatic music, with poetry & above all with their inner joyful selves.I used to look forward to go these classes & loved my time with the students. In all these 22 years of my teaching life in R.T.Nagar, I loved all my students.
22 years of my connection , my love ... was going to take a new turn.
Several hundreds imbibed the beautiful art of Bharathanatyam & it is heartening that some of them today have taken dance as a profession.
We wanted our senior dancers to experience our approach of inspired teaching & to have a sustenance but we only could offer modest salary to teach in the R.T.Nagar class.
My first faculty Umalakshmi did such a brilliant work that the kids instantly loved her.She stood out for her sparkling eyes & loving kindness .She not only took responsibility of classes but also danced as an active member of performing unit & even earned her way up to become the rehearsal conductor of Abhinava Dance Company.
In course of time, senior students from my class in R.T.Nagar moved away due to various reasons of marriage, family, higher education etc & so i had to call the remaining ones to continue through private classes at our Gandhi bazar studio.
While my heart was yearning to be with the children the sessions were very well managed by two faculty members.
I was able to go see my love ( children) only once a month & sometimes once in two months.
But whenever i did, i came home with great joy & pride & would not stop describing the classes to Rajendra. I had fallen in love with the children.
A deep pain gushes in my inner being when i realise that my love will now only be a past.
I need some time to contain my emotions to express further...
...................
With time , our senior students actually become our spiritual daughters & we experience all the pains & pleasures that a parent experiences.When they do well ...we celebrate ,when they suffer we tear ourselves to see how best we can be of help.We feel very good when we see them happy & well settled.
But life offers challenges in such ways that we have to take conscious steps to transcend them.
Still life can be quite complex.There have been many situations where we have taken special paths to make things better for the students.
But what happens when ,
We have to make a choice between our own personal interest & the well being of a dear student.
One of our senior faculty member ( our spiritual daughter) had taken a break for one year from dance was looking for opportunities to get back to dance & we wanted to hand hold her into the next phase.
Then came the most beautiful idea & i knew this would be the best for all.
I was going to hand over the Bharathanatyam school completely to her just like mothers who pass on their precious ancestral jewellery to their daughters.
The person well deserved this for ,she was ready to take on any challenge & revealed upmost love & respect for Art, for us & specially for inspired teaching for the students.
It was painful to convince some children as were heartbroken but i must surrender to the Magnanimity of all the parents who silently accepted this change & supported us & in turn supported their new director.
On the beautiful morning of June 12th 2011. the Bharathanatyam class which was started 22 years ago was ably handed over with all love & affection with a traditional Puja to Lord Almighty & amidst the presence of all the kids & parents.
While i announced the name of this Parallel institution i could feel the heat rise within me .
The new director was beaming with so much of gratitude ( she was always sweet & grateful)
Some parents cried while others greeted with joy but seeing all the children ,my love for them simply could not allow me to stay normal . I quickly left the hall. Some very young ones came up & innocently said "happy journey maaaaaaam..."
I thanked them & told myself ...this indeed was ONE JOURNEY FOR ME.
I sat in the car & rolled the windows up before my face could reveal my surging emotions.
I questioned my own sentiments of my deep attachment to this long term associated class & the Children. Sacrificing personal interests for the well being of our dear ones made us touch another dimension of ourselves & we are very grateful to God for this experience.
We have the utmost satisfaction that our spiritual daughter with all her talents & dedication will take great care of the young students & create a good establishment for herself & for quality Art.
God bless her & her newly formed institution.
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