The Young India

Kartikey Sehgal

I had reviewed the ‘20th Pandit Durgalal Festival’ for the magazine ‘Nartanam’. Here are some photographs from the event.

 
The event is presented annually by danseuse Uma Dogra to commemorate the memory of Durgalal, her dance guru. Uma is the founder and Managing Director of ‘Sam Ved Society for Performing Arts’.

 
The three day festival began with a performance of light ghazals by Jagjit Singh. There was much demand for some of his popular ghazals but they served no …

Kartikey Sehgal

(The author attends Krishna Janmashtami Celebrations)

The hostess introduced the dancers and said that it is important to teach dance to young Indian girls. “Indian Classical Dance instills discipline into women. It is important for Indian culture.”

She also spoke about the Bollywood impact on children; implying that we need to move beyond recognising film dance as a substitute for traditional dance.
We saw a classical dance on a song from Lagaan, “Radha Kaise na Jale”; another one on “Kahe Chede Mohe…

Kartikey Sehgal

[Fiction]

I dance to Tango. Only, I don’t know what it is. I had seen it once, in some movie. They raise their skirts, maybe they do. But that’s not the reason I liked Tango. The song had a bitter-sweet quality; like you celebrate the birth of a baby while reminiscing about your lover’s death. While the heart sings for the baby, the mind wishes the olden moments of love.

The dance watchers—who don’t dance—clap for the dancers. Then they are inadvertently drawn …