Balasaraswati-like grace and artistic poise, a divine danseuse you are, Nilanjana. The expression in the eye betrays a rare talent. Worth nurturing. And to top it all, you are passing on your genius gene to your students who are blossoming into the fairest flowers full of the fragrance of India's hoary heritage. Thus your life kindles life in kindred souls coming after you to receive the torch you pass on to them in quite the manner you had once received it in turn from your mentors in this art form. This is the 'Guru-shishya parampara', the preceptor-pupil succession linkage that keeps an ancient tradition vibrant and living even as it keeps evolving through the passage of time.
The river flows on, here rushing downward in swelling surge, there meandering along plateau passes, dancing with dainty steps down a slope or past pebbled floors, a rivulet here joining in, a tributary to feed the mains, but the river ever moving onward, gliding unto the oceanic end. Even alike is dance that encapsulates the history of a nation in rhythmic terms within the span of a short hour, breathing life into events dead and gone for the audience to behold as in the moment those distant deeds, those trials and tribulations, those hopes and aspirations of a civilisation blossoming into being. Where the gods and the humans meet, where delight and despair assume alternate living space as the forces of good and evil engage in a titanic tussle to set the course for evolving humanity, where the dialectics of life in primal terms seek resolution in open confrontation between the divine and the devilish, there Nilanjana, lies your domain in depiction of the drama in delightful dancing terms.
And how beautifully you execute the choreography for the troupe that the goddesses come to life in their essential strength even as they are depicted in the scriptural texts. No words are enough to express my admiration, my absolute adoration of this ecstasy in form and flow that seeks utterance in your conducted operas. May Mother ever bless you and your divine children !
Written by Sugata Bose
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