CHAPTER 5 TOUR OF USA IN 1968 A dynamic shift in India’s foreign policy occurred with the advent of Indira Gandhi, who took over the reins of the government in January 1966.1 India had by then been through two wars – the war that India was not successful in winning – the Sino – Indian War of October 19622 and the Indo – Pak War of 1965,3 which India won. The first war was during the time of India’s first Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru while the second war took place during the tenure of India’s third Prime Minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri. As mentioned in Chapter 2, during Nehru’s tenure, soft power was emphasized on, as with the legacy of poverty, left behind by the British, India was not really in a position to invest in hard power, and Nehru sought to develop relations between India and other nations essentially through various treaties of friendship. "Where Nehru had articulated India's national interests in high-flown phrases of world peace and cooperation, Indira stressed security, territory, and prestige…In contrast to her father's alleged "moralism," Indira Gandhi's actions are described as 'pragmatic".4 Given 1 https://www.pmindia.gov.in/en/former_pm/smt-indira-gandhi/ (Accessed: 15-03-2019) 2 Joseph R. Stauffer, "Sino-Indian Border Dispute—1962," Naval War College Review 19, no. 9 (1967): 81-117, accessed March 15, 2019, url: http://www.jstor.org/stable/44640979 3 The Indo – Pak War of 1965, url: http://www.indiandefencereview.com/spotlights/indo-pak-war-of-1965/ 4 Arthur G. Rubinoff, “India's Search for Power: Indira Gandhi's Foreign Policy, 1966-1982. by Surjit Mansingh,” The Journal of Asian Studies 44, no. 3 (1985): 643-44, accessed March 15, 2019, url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2056319 this shift in outlook and policy, Uday Shankar, whose troupe had received the patronage of the Government of India till date on numerous occasions during Nehru’s tenure, now no more enjoyed the same support. The focus of the Indian Government had now shifted to increasing its hard power essentially in terms of its defense capability. What during the pre-Sino Indian war had been a question of Guns or Grains, during the war, and post that, almost seemed to become guns at the cost of grains.5 In such a scenario, performing arts naturally took a back seat in India’s policy considerations. Therefore, unlike the previous tour of Canada and Europe in 1962, which had been sponsored by the Government of India, this time round in 1968, it was only Sol Hurok who sponsored Uday Shankar’s trip to USA with his troupe in 1968. Ill-health suffered by Shankar in December of 1966, could not keep the showman in Shankar subdued for long. After a year’s rest, towards the beginning of 1968, he sent for all his troupe members again. He had already started preparations for what would turn out to be his last tour of USA in 1968. With his troupe gathered around him, he told them that he would take them across America with shows from the East Coast to the West Coast. He had already toured there seven times. This would be his eighth tour. Recollects Sunanda Bose, God willing, he said he also hoped to take them to Europe someday. After all, it was the seat Western culture and unless they saw it for themselves, they would not be able to imagine it. This time, the rehearsals were held at Indrapuri studios. Rehearsals used to be held from 11 am in the morning to 5 pm in the evening, with a break for an hour for lunch. The troupe rehearsed for almost 4 months. Apart from the troupe members who were there with Shankar, for Prakriti Ananda, Shikha Mukherjee joined. Seven other girls from The Uday 5 P. Terhal. "Guns or Grain: Macro-Economic Costs of Indian Defence, 1960-70," Economic and Political Weekly 16, no. 49 (1981): 1995-2004, accessed on March 15, 2019, url: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4370452 Shankar Cultural Centre also joined the tour. They included Anupama Das, Polly Sanyal, Shikha Mitra, Shefali Ghosh, Anju Nath and Jana Gupta Bhaya. This was perhaps the youngest group of dancers that Uday Shankar had ever toured with. They rehearsed for four months by way of preparation for the tour. Sunday was the only day of rest. Although the rehearsals were held during peak summer in Kolkata, Shankar always arrived punctually at the rehearsals. Because the troupe members were many more than in previous years, it meant more rehearsals. Given the perfectionist that Shankar was, he could never settle for anything else, no matter how much time it took to attain. If anyone failed to execute any movement correctly, he would immediately stop the dance and ask where and why the dancer faced a problem. If the dancer failed to answer, Bose was given the responsibility of correcting their movements. This perfection was not only limited to the dancers, even the musicians had to rehearse regularly for Shankar did not approve the musicians following notation sheets while playing on stage. As a result, after four months of continuous rehearsals, the musicians too would play both, the musical interlude at the beginning of the show, as well as during the show without referring to any written notations. Another aspect of Shankar’s showmanship was reflected in the way the dances and the music were coordinated on stage. A black net used to cover the entire stage, running parallel to the front curtain and the back screen dividing the stage in two parts. The musicians used to be seated in the section, behind the black net. During the music piece played at the beginning of the performance, the lights would be focused on the musicians. After that and during the rest of the performance, the light would be restricted to the front portion of the stage where the dancers were performing. The musicians would play along more or less in the dark except for the slight light that may have filtered through from the front part of the stage. Hence it was necessary for the musicians to know the music by heart too. Like Samanya Kshati, which despite being recorded was performed to live music during the tour of 1962, so too was the case with Prakriti Ananda during our tour of 1968. The music for Prakriti Ananda was recorded in 1968, before the trip to USA by HMV (presently Sa Re Ga Ma) Record Company at their recording studio in Dum Dum. The dancers in the troupe had also lent their voices to the group songs. This recording was sold in long-playing format during the troupe’s performances in USA. Image 57: The troupe members at the studio during the music recording of Prakriti Ananda in 1968, before the tour of USA at the HMV studio in Dum Dum. While professional singers sang the solo characters, the dancers lent voice to the group songs. Courtesy, private collection of Shanti Bose Image 58: The cover of the record brought out by HMV for Prakriti – Ananda. Courtesy, private collection of Shanti Bose Image 59: Outside Indrapuri Studio after the rehearsal in preparation for the 1968 tour. Among the interviewees for the thesis, from left to right, Polly Guha is the second person in the second row, Shanti Bose is the second person sitting in the front row, Dhurjati Sen is the third person from the left sitting in the front row, Jharna Dutta nee Basak is the third person in the second row from the right, while Sunanda Bose nee Sengupta, is the second person in the second row from the right. Courtesy, private collection of Shanti Bose During this tour of 1968, the programme used to begin with a music piece based on an evening melody – Raag Mohan-Kosh. The musicians apart from Shankar’s music director Kamalesh Maitra, included Barun Dutta, Kishore Ghosh, Vishnu Das Sadhukhan and Ramesh Chandra. This was followed by the dance Deva Dasis – a dance based on Bharatnatyam. The second dance item was Madia – a tribal dance from Central India. After this came Kartikeya. During the tour of 1968, Bose performed this item, which had been a favourite of Shankar’s – dressed in the maestro’s own costume. Laiharoba – based on Manipuri, was the next item that was performed. The item that followed Laiharobe was Astra Puja. There would then be an interval of 10 minutes. Image 60: Sunanda Sengupta, Dhurjati Sen and Srimati Dutta in the folk dance Madia. Courtesy, private collection of Shanti Bose Image 61: The participants for the 1968 tour of USA. The interviewees seen here: Top row, extreme left, Shanti Bose, top row extreme right, Dhurjati Sen; second row extreme left, Polly Guha, then Jharna Basak, second row, second from right is Sunanda Bose. Courtesy, private collection of Shanti Bose Image 62: Sunanda Bose nee Sengupta dressed in a Manipuri costume for the item on Nila Kamala dala shyam. Courtesy, private collection of Shanti Bose The main ballet of the programme – Prakriti Ananda was performed in the second half after the break. With an innate understanding of his audience, Shankar re-evaluated the length of Prakriti Ananda for an all-American audience. As a result, many songs were replaced with music so that the theme of the story could be universally understood without having to resort to lyrics in any particular language. The main storyline as written by Rabindranath Tagore however remained intact. Image 63: The cover page of the Souvenir of 1968.