16/01/2023
A Kanakasabha lustrous as ever !
To Vaidehi Rele Lal
There is always a magic when artistic hearts converge ... I just loved the warm exchanges over steaming cups of tea, the youthful enthusiasm and the concern of the young Nalandites welcoming rustling silks and dancing jhumkas... endorsing the temple that is the 'Kanaka sabha' of Mumbai that every Mumbaikar can be proud of ; endorsing Diksha as a cycle laced through ingrained technique drawn through a methodical scientific approach to dance !
I was happy to see the freedom accorded to you as a choreographer of 'Sva- Abhivyakti ' Your young blossoming mind that has breathed in art and artists when in the womb itself . I espied the love and passion - that is you, the dancer and the ecstasy within you- as a choreographer dancing into your own choreography . I could sense the absolute bliss in you as you watched your created soul- child gather wings to fly into receiving hearts! You stole my heart ❤️
The growth always happens thus dear! The light lighting up light and the dance enhancing the dance! With each new venture as you bring to life that which has urged a pen to etch lines, you come closer to the inner you .. and one day you will realise that you do not even need to highlight the effort because you are the dance ,you are the dancer ,you are the chord and the notes in it , you are the word and the thoughts flowing through it .. you are blissful and free , ecstatic in a revelation that You are''.
I carried back with me the two lines your Grandmother said at the start of the evening. With light shrouding her lovingly as a halo... Her voice reached out:
' I was at the ICU ..and I thought of Nalanda .. every brick that I had watched being placed , and I thought ..I want to dance ...... I know Vaidehi and Uma will carry it forward ! "
You know Vaidehi It was not as if we were all there . at all ! I t was the soliloquy of a soul , draped in the light and talking to light ! I saw every legend in her , i saw gathered in her all epochs and all the dancers and all the dance, the musicians and music gone before , flowing In the continuity that is Life as- Art !
The dance flows on kanna but yes the dancer lives on in the dancing steps of every dancer that follows ...
Against the bumper to bumper traffic, I was flowing with the thoughts of one who gave all she could to the dance ,gathered all that she could, shared all that she could and knowing how much more she could !!!!
That soliloquy had her dance alone!
Still but moving , timeless at the still point of time .. In the untainted abhushan of the lotus of knowledge she draped her soul with , she remained the resplendent golden Lotus -
An immortal poem unto herself !
She was and remains and will remain the dance in - Nalanda- the 'Kanaka sabha - luminous as ever' because she has faith as her ongoing Sruthi and the promising song that is you and your mom to dance her dance - as her very soul and her Deepak to ensure that it lights up the art in every seeking heart !
May you fulfill every dream in the endless dreams she has cemented in every brick of Nalanda .. In their vibration is always the fastidious resonance of one who always remains the eternal Mohini obsessive in her quest for perfection
Luv always ❤️
Latakka