The Grown up Deeksha

Deeksha has grown up now and she is in her high school !!!! Time runs so fast..... :)

I still remember. It was June 15th, 1997.
When Deeksha was born, she weighed 2 kilos and 500 grams. She was born one month earlier than tha scheduled date. A couple of days later, she caught up with Jaundice (this is the case with quite a few newborn children nowadays). The doctor spoke to us and told that the intensity of Jaundice was bit high. In that context, we were asked to put Deeksha in the incubator with artificial yellow light. We used make Deeksha sleep one hour with her facing the light (did she get that instinct of facing the arclight on stage with this ?? :) ) and one hour in the ulta position where the light used to fall on her back. By this way, they wanted to activate the liver functioning. At this point of time, doctor told us that the jaundice level was at 8 (not sure what was the measuring unit). She said that if it reaches 12, then the blood transfusion has to be done. For this, everyday, they used to take her blood for testing. That got us into a bit of worry and confusion. Somehow, she was able to come out of Jaundice. At this point of time, doctor said that she was worried about the parity of lungs since Deeksha was born one month early. But, the lungs were normal.

Back home, we started seeing Deeksha slowly responding to the sounds, voices. We got a cradle done specially for her from Chennapattana, the place known for colorful wooden toys. We got a walker again made from Chennapattana for her. This was one of those colorful traditional triangular wooden walker with 3 wheels (that walker has already crossed 7 children !!! :))

Deeksha slowly started crawling around, trying to converse with us. We were finding it extremely difficult to understand what she was trying to say... :) One fine day, she started walking with support and we were quite happy about it.

Above all, she had a ear for music !!! We used to put music in the night before she went for sleep... surprisingly, even today, she has the habit of putting on the music and sleep !!

She was 6 years and she started developing the sense of rhythm. We observed that and decided to put her to learn dance. I wanted her to learn a different format of dance and hence put her under Vyjayanthi Kashi for Kuchipudi. Most children learn Bharatanatyam. But I wanted Kuchipudi as that was more story oriented and Abhinaya oriented. This had the combination of theatre, music and dance. Deeksha liked the form instantly. It was very nice to see her going through the learning sessions. She must have been around 3 feet and we got her a small uniform stitched for the dance class. It was very interesting to see her dancing to the rhythm.
In the school also, she started participating in the extra curriculums. Every dance event, every music event, till date, she is part of that in her school since her LKG days. From the time she was dancing with colorful umbrellas when she was in her 1st or 2nd standard, to now, where she performs her solos, it's been a wonderful journey for her. Academically also, she has been on A and A+ which I am not really bothered. What I believe is that the children have to grow in the external world and not in the world of bookish education.

She wants to do her fine arts or journalism when she completes her 10th standard. I want her to see the practical world more than the imaginary world which we all provide to our children. She do not want to become an engineer or a doctor as she do not like science and mathematics.

I still have kept the option open for her. I am not forcing her to do what I like (But, for sure, I have spoken to her about how studying fine arts or journalism would enrich her life and exepriences). She want to continue her dancing and she wants to be in the field of arts. There remains the target as of now... :) :)

Deeksha Danced......

Finally, it happened.....

Deeksha's performance started at 7:30 PM and went till 8 PM.

I was standing on the side-wings.... It was quite a strange feeling. So far, I used to be there on stage and if I am at the side-wings, then it would be with make-up waiting for my next scene to come.... But this time, I was there to encourage Deeksha and pat on her back. It was quite a nice feeling.

Quite a few of them turned up. Myself and Bhargavi are very thankful to them .....

Srikanth Raghavan (my boss), Ravi Ivaturi, Sunil Koshy, Nagaraj, Latha (my friends) and Tejaswini (their daughter), and it was also nice to see that my friends Raama, Raaghu, Puneetha, Lakshmi, Deepa, Vinay, turned up at the auditorium to watch Deeksha and Raama was telling me that Deeksha is very graceful... he could not believe that it was Deeksha. He was seeing her after few years !!

Ravi, who could not bring his daughter (down with fever) who herself is an upcoming dancer, made sure that he was there at the venue to watch the performance. It was quite nice to see him come all the way from HRBR Layout.

Even though I was bit tensed up, I kept encouraging her and was telling her standing on the side-wing before the performance on how to utilize the expanse of the stage during her movements and to my disbelief, she literlly did that !!! She was dancing all over the stage with every nook and corner and made sure that her presence on stage was felt everywhere by everyone.

I was told that not many kuchupudi dancers are there and that too performing Kuchupudi at the age of 12 is a hard task.

Myself and Bhargavi must thank Vyjayanthi, Deeksha's Guru. It is she who literlly took Deeksha into her folds and nurtured her and still nurturing her like the mother birds feed the food for the young ones.... It is really quite emotional to see this bondage. This is the Guru-Shishya parampara.

Two more people I must mention here are Yael Tal and Prateeksha. Yael Tal, a student from Isreal, who is here in India to learn Kuchupudi dance, helped Deeksha massively along with Vyjayanthi's training. She was a second Guru to Deeksha. Prateeksha, Vyjayanthi's daughter and student, made sure that Deeksha looked graceful in her make-up and that was one of the highlighting point for me being an artiste.

Deeksha was honored with a basket of fruits, a certificate and cash of Rs.750. by Ananya Academy's Dr. Raghavendra. It will remain a lifetime memory for Deeksha.

Raama was so happy seeing her performance, he straightaway gifted Rs.500 to Deeksha. Other 600 came from others and my cousin was so happy that he lifted her like a child and showered his affection. These gestures definitely shows how much of encouragement Deeksha is getting.

I think we should get used to these kind of post-performance reactions in the future and Deeksha has begun her crawling in the field of classical dance. We are quite optimistic that she would reach the heights which Vyjayanthi has gracefully reached and of course, that's Vyjayanthi's dream as well. Lots of effort required for almost a decade to reach that level.

Deeksha - Performance on 4th July 09

The D-Day is arriving..... 4th July, this Saturday, Deeksha is performing for 30 minutes at Seva Sadana on 14th Cross, Malleshwaram. Those of you for whom I do not have the mail ID, please treat this as a personal invitation from myself and Bhargavi.

We are quite excited and tensed about Deeksha going on stage without any support from either her teacher or me and Bhargavi and being there for 30 minutes !!! This is something we are facing for the first time. I think we should get used to this kind of excitement as she will be doing lots of events like this.

Deeksha - Performing on July 4th

Deeksha is starting her daily rehearsals from today. The rehearsals would be from 6 PM to 9 PM.....

July 4th is her performance and Bhargavi and myself are tensed up. As I said, she and her teacher Vyjayanthi Kashi are cool about the performance...

It's strange that me, being on stage for the last 20 years, still feel nervous about these performances.

Deeksha would be on stage for 30 minutes all alone !!! that's what is creating a little bit pounding inside our hearts.... Ananya, a cultural trust for music and performing arts, is organizing this dance series called Chiguru where they provide platform for young budding talents across Bangalore. Deeksha has been selected out of the huge list of students for this performance.... Happy for her.....

Deeksha & A Lifetime Opportunity

Punching the lines sitting at Chancery Hotel in a workshop.

Come July 4th, Saturday, at Seva Sadan in Malleshwara, it would be a milestone in Deeksha's life in Dance. There is a dance festival being organized by one of the most prestigious organization in music and dance, Ananya, on 4th July. They happened to get in touch with Vyjayanthi Kashi, Deeksha's Guru and asked her to suggest her student's name who can perform in this festival. Vyjayanthi suggested Deeksha's name and I have already sent Deeksha's profile and photos to Ananya. So, she will be performing Kuchipudi classical dance on 4th July. She will have 30 minutes to exhibit her talent. This is her first solo performance ever and myself and Bhargavi are bit tensed up as there is a lot of expectation from her teacher and also the RASIKAs of dance from her since she is Vyjayanthi's desciple. But Vyjanathi is confident about Deeksha and assured us that Deeksha will be able perform to people's expectation. Deeksha has a long way to go.

Deeksha

The little cutie pie for me and Bhargavi.....

Very often Bhargavi complains that Deeksha is totally like me, unpredictable, eccentric.... I am happy for that.

Deeksha is 11 years now (or 12 years???. This dirty mathematics kills me in this). Passionately learning Kuchipudi for last 5 years (or 6 years??) with Vyjayanthi Kashi. Considered as one of the best students for Vyjayanthi, it's not the case in terms of academics. Even at school, Deeksha is known more for extra curriculum than studies. Any school event, for dance and music, Deeksha is always the first candidate. Of course, what's there in the bookish education? Just marks....

Deeksha wants to be an RJ (people must be thinking what the heck is this when everyone wants to become a doctor or an engineer?). She wants to be a dancer, she wants to be an artiste. Of course, there is an element of crime from my side that since she was 6 years, I kept on telling that being in these professions is fun and especially being a journalist / RJ / Artiste, you are paid for what you love, unlike us who are paid for what we are not passionate about. She is a keen listener for music and observes every aspect of a song like me (hurray.... finally my efforts are paying off.....). She is a chatter box like me (grrrrrrrrrr..........). She is getting stressed out with CBSE syllabus and is looking out for something simple so that she can focus on her dance, music and other visual arts. Still trying to find out a way for her.

Is it not a crime from the parents that they force their children to get into professions which they could not get in? Now, where does that lead me to?