life's a kick

Voice from audience: (shouts) Kailash Kher! Please call this girl on stage once again. The girl referred to, is me. I am back from dancing with The Kailash Kher on stage (see the performance here  and here ), and presently dancing in the aisle, to the dedicated viewership of a packed Siri Fort Auditorium. Minutes ago, Kailash Kher had invited a few girls to come up on stage and 'compete' with him on a Rajasthani folk number, and I was the first one to rush to stage. Barefoot. It is August 11 of 2015, and it is the third time I am dancing with Kailasa on the same stage. The first two times were in the winter of 2011. Four years ago. But the troupe recognises me, and tells me so. The guitarist and percussionist, flanked by my friend Vandana and I Kailash Kher: No no no. I call only once on stage. The girl can continue dancing in the aisle. Please enjoy her dance there. Voice: But we want to see her dance on the stage! Kailash Kher ignores. The voice presses on...

I do not know how I came to love it. What I know is that it is life to me. It’s an escape. It’s a quick route to trance. It’s oxygen when I’m breathless. It’s love when I’m lonely. It’s laughter when I’m torn. Food when I’m famished. Silence in crowd. Stillness in motion. Magic in madness. I could say a hundred things that it is, but not a single thing it is not. It is THAT close to my life. Someone said it’s a silent poetry. So damn right. And so damn incomplete. Try dancing. I don’t know if that happens with you, but I can vouch for myself. See me dancing if you doubt my claim. So, try dancing. It can start from the tap of your thinking feet or the electric spasms in your fingers. Give it a chance, let it flow. Let it flood your veins. Feel it in your gut. Hear the music reverberate in your brain. Experience the gush of energy. Don’t stop it, don’t disturb it. You don’t even need to mould it. Stupid, bold, shy, uncouth, free, loud, slow…just anything. All you have to do, is...