A Boy Who Came to Our Dance Class

A boy entered our Bharatnatyam class along with his mother and his sister. Being carefree, he ran around, jumped, and relaxed while his sister learned the dance moves diligently. Classical dance never appealed to the boy, I felt. “Dancing is daunting to me, Mom,” I heard him once. Every time he came, he passed the time by either looking at us or playing with himself. For him, playing is fun. Gazing at some of his sister’s elegant dance moves, he sometimes felt like joining the class. However, I imagined his flickering mind might never allow him to pursue it:

“I want to join Bharatnatyam class,” says TrueVoice.

“Join and do what: Make a fool of yourself,” criticizes MindVoice 1.

“Karate was too tough, Swimming was too scary, Chess was too slow, Caramboard was too fast were your earlier excuses to pursue those,” reminded MindVoice 2.

“Love to hear your beautiful excuses,” ridiculed MindVoice 1.

Mindvoices always pulled him back to join our class, while a few months passed. Now, his sister is working even harder for her upcoming stage performance. On the auspicious occasion of Krishna Janmashtami, his sister performed a dance piece with a group of girls depicting the Leelas of Lord Krishna. People loved the perfect synchronized moves of the dancers. Quiet thrilled by the performance, the boy felt like learning this art form.

“Really, I want to learn Bharatnatyam, Ma” we heard him pleading after our performance.  

“Sorry, I won’t believe you,” said Ma.

“Trust me, I won’t give up this time.”

“Undoubtedly, this is an emotional response, as was your previous uncompleted pursuits.”

“Very true, but I have been contemplating learning this beautiful art form since the day Didi joined.”

“Well, I have never noticed you sticking to something for months at a stretch. Xmas, 25th December onwards you may start going to class,” said Ma doubtfully.

Years flowed by in his training and presently, he owns a dance academy and he often travels to share the love and the beauty he discovered in this art.

“Zenith of happiness lies in the journey of learning an art form of your choice” 

#abecedarian.

Thank you.

Pic credits