Day one of Indian Rhythm and Arts Association’s Gulaal was wonderful. We went essentially for Alarmel Valli’s performance, but were blown away by the second part of the evening – Nandita Das’s Between […]
Experiences on Stage III
Performing in Chidambaram is an experience that any dancer would cherish. Mythologically, it is the place where Lord Shiva came and danced the Ananda Tandava, at the request of the […]
Book-Reading – A Different One
An acquaintance who is part of the Teach for India programme asked whether I would be willing to come to a small government school in Chandannagar and talk about my […]
The Special Green Tile
In the hall where I teach at Sanskriti Cultural Centre, there’s one Special Green Tile. It’s different from the other tiles. For me, all it does is mark the centre […]
Raising Children
Every so often, I realise just how difficult it is to bring children up. Of course, there are all the financial aspects of parenting, and the tension of finding a […]
Getting into the mood
Before any performance, my dance teacher encourages us not to talk about anything unrelated to dance and the programme ahead of us. She asks us to be silent, thinking about […]
Southern Adventures
Travelling with two friends in the south of India was the experience of a lifetime! Our plan was essentially to go to Pondicherry, but friends convinced us to go to […]
Trains in India
I remember when two friends of ours were coming to India from France, and wanted to travel across the north. We warned them that reserving tickets on trains here is […]
After the Burggarten
I wrote, some time ago, about how we hunted for, and eventually found the city garden – https://www.varshaseshan.com/blog/burggarten-bitte/. In English, somehow, people we spoke to called it the ‘Rose Garden’ rather […]
Power Cut
I remember going to a creperie in Grenoble a few years ago – an important part of my French experience. I was in a large group of Indians for once, […]
The Golden Rule
During our exchange programme with a school in France, my sister formulated for me The Golden Rule. If you don’t know a word in French, pronounce the English word that […]
A Train to Vienna
Why do people like us? Why do random people whom we will probably never meet again come up to us and do things for us? I wonder if we look […]
Experiences on Stage II
I remember the first time I performed with the Senior Girls – the Big Girls at Satara. We were doing a dance drama to recorded music. That’s always a challenge […]
Dress Rehearsal?
Last evening was the first show of our cultural programme at Sanskriti. Everyone in charge treated it as a kind of exalted dress rehearsal. Everything was practised – giving gifts […]
The Circus Boy
I did two more book-readings yesterday – The Circus Boy and The Old Yellow Scooter. The reactions were completely different! Children never stop surprising me. The first reading (The Dictionary) was […]
Performing tomorrow and on Saturday!
I teach dance at a school run by the Army Wives’ Welfare Association (AWWA) – and they have their annual cultural programme tomorrow. Beginning with a Ganesh Vandana, there are […]
Why I Write for Children
My first reading at St. Mary’s school yesterday told me, yet again, why I love writing for children. The number of questions they asked me and the way they interacted […]
Book-Reading in MY School!
Once upon a time (in 1995, to tell the truth), my wonderful school-librarian encouraged us to write and illustrate books of our own. A friend and I sat and wrote […]
Treasure Hunt
All my friends ask me where The Story-Catcher is available, all the time. I know how easily it’s available online, and I tell everyone to buy it online. But I’ve wanted […]
Cyber Café
I remember the year we created email accounts (which, of course, we used more often than not to send forwards). There was a cyber café at the gate, and we […]
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