The Childhood Love That Became Nilimma's Life
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COLUMN Dance: The childhood love that became Nilimma’s life The travails of the partition, and her mother’s determination to give her daughter a chance to partake of the divinity in dance, started CULTURATI the US-based Kuchipudi dancer on a life-long journey in dance ARSHIYA SETHI he has been recorded by made her eyes moist up. The family with the National Heritage great difficulty moved to Delhi and ten Foundation as part of of them lived in one room in old Delhi. Dr Sethi has been their documentation of Her mother loved poetry and despite writing on the arts the cultural wealth of the the fact that everything around them scene in India and united States of America still spoke of loss, her mother would the world for three and has been a member for six years of send Nilimma and her sister Rashma, decades. She has a theS Maryland State Arts Council. She walking, all the way to Bengali Market, doctorate on the link teaches a popular course at George chaperoned by the old family retainer, between dance and Washington University on “Gender in to learn dance from the renowned politics, with the Indian Dance” and was awarded the Life Kathak dancer Uma Sharma’s uncle. Sattriya dance form of time Pola Nireneka Award for Dance Their forays in dance were met with Assam as a case study. by Washington Performing Arts in patriarchal disapproval for every time 2015. And yet, Nilimma Devi’s dance life they were “asked to dance in family set- began with the pain and sadness of the tings, my grandfather would leave the partition of India. room immediately and only re-enter Her father was the Trade Commis- very late. I think it was just my mother’s sioner and Director if Industries in determination to see us dance, an activ- Peshawar credited to have started the ity that she described as divine that saw Blankets and fruit canning industry us continue,” admits Devi. there, in response to the needs for the This early training in Kathak stood British forces during World War II. the sisters in good stead for when their When he felt that things were rough- father became the first trade commis- ing up in 1947 he sent his wife and two sioner of independent India, posted young daughters to the home of this to the first Embassy that India set up, mother-in-law in Ferozepur, and soon which was in Afghanistan, the two went underground himself, to save his sisters would perform every year on life. Independence Day. Their fare consisted With so many rendered homeless of what they had learnt in Kathak class after partition, their home in Ferozepur and a patriotic song choreographed by became a ‘serai’ of sorts, with cousins, their aunt who had learnt some dance Nilimma has been second cousins, cousins of cousins and at Lady Irwin College, taught by none creative simply to complete strangers living together, in an other than Zohra Sehgal and her sister attempt to deal with the trauma of parti- Uzra Mumtaz. “We became some kind communicate the tion and rebuild their lives. “I remember of child celebrities” reminisces Devi in subtle ‘rasa’, ‘atman’ all of us children would get together and her home in Silver Springs, Maryland. perform the Ramlila to keep ourselves In fact, the well known film production ideas to US audience amused. That is my earliest memory house of the Shoreys made a documen- of my performance life”. That year tary film “Jashn-e- Istaqlal” — the “Cel- more attuned, Ferozepur saw terrible floods and an ebration of Independence” which has to body attitude acute shortage of food. Nilimma Devi an excerpt of the two little girls as they recalls the dropping of food packages danced on India Day in Kabul. This was than philosophical by airplanes. She also recalls the terrible shown repeatedly then as part of the thought hunger she felt, a memory that still newsreel that came before a film show! TEHELKA / 31 AUGUST 2017 58 WWW.TEHELKA.COM DANCE father’s career Devi next and dramatic presentations of ‘Bhama moved to Bangalore where Kalapam’ and ‘Ardhanarishwara’, the she learnt some Bharatnaty- hallmark of advanced training. From am from the Chhaya sisters, the traditional master Setu Bhagwatulu and then to Hyderabad. she learnt ‘Gola Kalapam’ and the im- It was here at the age of portance of the dialogic treatment in sixteen that serious training Kuchipudi. From the Andhra Natakam under Dr. Nataraj Ram- veteran “who despite being a hand- akrishnan commenced. “He some and macho man, performed the taught me Bharatanatyam feminine roles with aplomb, I learnt the and not Andhra Natyam, but power of the look” exclaimed Nilimma it was different from what I Devi excitedly as if reliving the thrill of had learnt from the Chhaya being a student. “Abhinaya intensives sisters. He himself was a with Kalanidhi Narayanan gave me the non Brahmin and so was an analytical tools including the word im- exemplar of non Brahmin agery and psyche of the text in a poem, artistry. Perhaps it was for in order to make it visual”. this reason that he was so Working with prominent American welcoming of my desire to choreographers like Daniel Burkholder learn and so ready to explain on the ecological project, “My Ocean is things to me,” said Devi. Never Blue”, triggered Nilimma’s desire On one visit home from Kabul they In one such conversation, he to provoke questions. Current socio- returned to their old haunt- the dance explained that the Kautavams he had political events became the context for class in Bengali market and though a penchant for teaching, were very what is, a newly emergent Kuchipudi. the old teacher had passed on, Uma old compositions of the repertoire She said that her fidelity to the form Sharma and her sister Rama were pre- set in rare and old talas. “The Vinayak is unabated: “The lyrical beauty of this paring to put up a show of folk dances. Kautavam was arranged in the Vinayak dance is going to last forever. What They were invited to join in and with tala, a cycle of which went into 72 beats. I am doing is simply to bring out its their father’s permission performed Today regrettably I find that people power in terms of meaning as a mod- a Rajasthani dance and a dance from have simplified it into an eight beat Adi ern communication to people of all the Kulu region. But as the memories of tala cycle but that is not how the right backgrounds. Kuchipudi is a vehicle for their grandfather’s disapproval were emphasis comes,” explains Nilimma change...people are yearning for trans- still fresh, they gave their name not Devi bemoaning the intra-generational formation in ideas as well as reality.” as Nilimma and Rashma Sapra but as loss of cultural knowledge. In the ensuing years she has danced Nilimma and Rashma Devi. “My sister At Nataraj Ramakrishnan’s Devi at some of the most prestigious venues went on to become a doctor but I re- had the privilege of learning from the in India and in the USA and has per- tained this name for my dance career” Rajanartaki or court dancer of the erst- formed both, traditional repertoires explains Nilimma Devi with a mysteri- while princely state of Bobbili. “She had as well as modern works, including ous twinkle in her eyes. a beautiful voice, but a harsh tongue. “Walking the Sky” based on the poetry In much of her young life, Nilimma However, unlike others I showed her of the feminist mystic poet Mahadevi Devi moved as her father’s career utmost respect and she shared her art Akka, “Mandala: A Voyage Within” took her. Poor health led him to a generously with me. She also told me based on the poetry in Pali written by job in Kanpur where she continued stories of her life, including the fact that a Buddhist nun, “The Gossamer of the dance training at the local Gandharva she caught the eye of the king when Soul”, based on the poetry of Kabir, Mahavidyalaya. “My most enduring merely twelve years old” recalled Nil- and the twin works- “From the Diary memory of Kanpur is dancing the role imma of a time few know about. of Sita” and “Sita the Gentle Warrior”, of Yashodhara, in a production on Bud- Her training in the repertoire which relook at Sita’s quiet strength dha. I did a good job, and the poet of the of Kuchipudi happened under the and feminist resistance. In the entirety work, wrote me a note that advised me thorough tutelage of Sumathy Kaushal, off her work, Nilimma Devi has served never to sit on my laurels and imme- Jagannath Sharmah and Vedantam as a bridge between the land of her diately strive to move ahead. That has Prahlad Sharma. From these masters childhood and training and the land, remained my motto throughout my Nilimma Devi learnt rare and exciting thousands of miles away, that she now life” explains Devi still very active, still Tarangams that conclude with the plate calls home. dancing and planning ahead. dance, a defining item of Kuchipudi. Following the trajectory of her She also learnt the masterly poetic [email protected] TEHELKA / 31 AUGUST 2017 59 WWW.TEHELKA.COM.