The Young India

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…

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…