Thoughts of an 82-year-old Kathak dancer: Column by Janaki Patrik

My hair has turned white and I've celebrated my 82nd birthday. It's now patently evident that I've been around for a while! So when young Kathak dancers and their parents discover that I've been a Kathak dancer... student, performer, guru, choreographer... for 60 plus years, they sometimes ask me for advice.

I suppose they expect me to tell them to practice tatkar every day for several hours, followed by an orderly regimen of bol parhant and repetitions of chakkurs, tukras, parans, paramelu, kavita torahs etcetera etcetera etcetera .......

But that's not the advice I give. I speak more about longevity in terms of sustaining our lives as creative artists within a supportive community, and of maintaining the "life of the mind" while sharing what we know and appreciating the gifts of others. 

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Article - Guru Purnima-From darkness to light - Bana Shastri Ramanath

Guru Purnima is a special full moon day that is observed once a year. It is also celebrated to honor the birthday of the ancient enlightened Hindu Guru Veda Vyasa who organized and compiled the Vedas and authored the epic Mahabharatam - an encyclopedia of the ever-evolving human drama. As Guru Purnima approaches, I feel moved to express gratitude to my Gurus, guided by faith and a sense of responsibility shaped by my upbringing in traditional Indian culture. People of Indian heritage around the world celebrate Guru Purnima through rituals, worship, gift-giving, and other expressions of respect. When my own students offer their gratitude and appreciation on this day, I cannot ignore the meaning and significance of Guru Purnima.

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Article - The thirty second sentence, How the 30-second loop is dismantling the Performing Arts - Dr. Lata Surendra

We have reduced the vastness of human expression, the agonizing architecture of art and the very rhythm of life to a fleeting thirty-second glance. In the modern cultural landscape, thirty seconds is no longer a mere unit of time, it is a violent trial. It is the maximum boundary of human attention before the thumb twitches, the screen changes, and the psyche shifts. Yet we wonder why a relentless, automated loop of these same thirty seconds leaves us completely reeled. We are caught in a hypnotic vertigo, spun around by a carousel of fragments that mimic depth but offer only a momentary spark. Time it was, when surrender to the aesthetics cradling art was ever so vital. To watch a classical dancer trace the geometry of grief across a stage; to hear a vocalist hold a single, trembling note until it fractured the silence, or to witness a theatrical monologue build its emotional scaffolding over the course of hours - these required a shared covenant of time. It was absolutely 'a transaction' of presence. Today, that covenant is broken. 

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Article - Guru and Sishya: The sacred bond then and now - Vazhuvoor Saravanan

A Modern Dilemma

A boy known to me was deeply inclined to learn the Veena. After consistent prayers, he found his Guru near Adyar, Chennai. Both considered themselves lucky - the Guru found a devoted disciple, and the sishya a knowledgeable teacher.

However, despite the boy's sincerity and perfect attendance, he soon experienced disheartening neglect. His Guru frequently took long breaks for personal commitments, leaving the student in tears. On one occasion, the boy confirmed his class by phone a day before and again an hour in advance, only to travel to the teacher's house and be turned away at the door by the Guru's husband, who stated she was suffering from a headache and resting. The young boy was shattered - not by the tiring public commute, but by the callous treatment and lack of concern. Today, this mutual loss of respect and devotion between teacher and student has become all too common. 

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Debadhara Festival built round Debaprasad style of Odissi - Taalam: column by Leela Venkataraman

The three-day festival at Habitat's Stein auditorium in Delhi, featuring Odissi of the Debaprasad school, was a joint effort by Debadhara run by Binayak Panda and Tridhara, the institution under older brother and guru Gajendra Panda, at Bhubaneswar of Odisha. With the dance tribe in general facing daunting financial limitations in arranging events involving the larger circle of dance practitioners, the brothers must be credited for managing grants by the Ministry of Culture and other Corporate Sectors enabling the sponsoring of such a festival, involving dancers from forms outside Odissi too.

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Tribute - The Pinnacle of Kathak - Pandit Kundan Lal Gangani - Dr Chitra Sharma

Pandit Kundan Lal Gangani was one of the most eminent exponents of the Jaipur Gharana, whose creative vision shaped the very form in which this illustrious tradition is known today. Drawing upon the priceless legacy inherited from his forefathers, he enriched and expanded the art of Kathak through his profound knowledge, imagination, and experience, creating a legacy that has itself become a part of history. 

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Obit / Tribute - Teejan Bai: Folk Theatre artist from the Pardhi Margins to the Throne of the Mahabharata - Dr Navina Jafa

The stage did not tremble when Teejan Bai stepped on it; it remembered how to tremble.

Teejan Bai, the great teller of the Pandavas, died on 5 July 2026 at the age of 70. She was born into the Pardhi community, a denotified tribe in Chhattisgarh that had been unjustly branded as criminal and pushed to the margins, and was told early that women in her world were not meant to speak for gods. She did not learn to obey. She learned to sing the Mahabharata aloud, on her own feet, and in her own voice. 

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