Gururdevo bhava!

Today, we organized a surprise b'day party for my dance teacher. It was a quite a pleasant affair :). I went in late, 'coz I was making that greeting card till 5 PM (Yes yes ... hand-made cards aren't extinct yet! :D).

We had pooled in money and gifted her a tala-meter, an instrument that plays the taala when you plug it in. Dead useful, and a gentle reminder that the students of Sankari Natyasthal (that's the name of the dance institution by the way :)), Kukatpally are a thoughtful lot :D.

Not to be immodest, it was my idea to get the tala-meter. I'd remembered that she'd mentioned it in the Thanjavur Natyanjali trip. The lady who was the vocal backup could not make it then , and my teacher had mentioned off-handedly that the tala-meter would be really useful and all that. Luckily, I remembered the right thing at the right time. And given her amazing vocals, its the perfect gift for the talented lady that she is.

Again, I might be guilty of boasting, but I have to say this. I connect with only very few dancers. And everyone knows that unless you connect with what's going on, you cannot be a part of it.

I must re-iterate here that I am not the world's greatest dancer, indeed that honour belongs to the Lord of Dance, Nataraja only, but I think I can safely say that I'm not bad. In fact, I could go so far as to say that I'm a good dancer. And my teacher is I think the best of the dancers ever - the best as far as I've seen.

I've always maintained (if and when I get an audience ie :D) that dance is all about connecting ... connecting with the Transcendental...connecting with your audience ... with your students. When you do that, you (this is only my theory by the way!) bond with energy around you I think, and that you pass on to your audience/students. That's how sometimes you sit mesmerized through an artist's rendition. That's my explanation anyway.

The point is, with my teacher, its like that. Her name's Mrs. Y. Vijaya Valli Priya by the way. Like all relationships, this ain't perfect either. We've our shares of lows and highs, but at the end of the day, when she sings and choreographs and then I have the honour of performing the most intricate movements to the most divine of songs, all is forgotten and forgiven.

And that's the way it ought to be. Happy B'day ma'am! :)

PS : We've Guru Pournami celebrations this next Sat (19-07-08) ... will surely write a post of that.

PPS : Not that anyone's gonna comment/look forward to me posts (Hmph. Sulks.) more to chronicle the event for remembering later I guess :). Chalo ... tataxxx.