Arriving at the vast and sophisticated Charles de Gaulle airport at 7.30 am, I was looking forward to a comfortable day's rest, but the 8 degrees cold that greeted me and the revolt against the French government's retirement reforms, told me I could expect otherwise. I reached my room at 4 in the evening, after a gruelling day between cabs, metros, buses, when I could hardly find any !

Wine and Caviar in Paris

What followed in the days to come was a pleasure as it always is. France is a country I am familiar with, the sights and sounds are known to me, as is the language. The joy of meeting up with friends, of gearing up for the performances.

My first performance was at the Centre Soleil d'Or in Paris. I had a gathering that comprised of as many Indians as the French. Indians who've been living in France for decades, and interestingly retain their cultural roots in terms of clothing, language etc. Like the Krishnans, who've made Paris their home for the last 40 years. It made me feel good to meet them, as they looked like they lived in the heart of Madras-pattu sari, impeccable Tamil, and true connoisseurs too !

What I cherish the most about the French public is their apt attention during the shows. This undoubtedly makes for better concentration and performance output on the part of the artiste too. To communicate and reach out better to the audience, I always precede my performances with a brief on the fundamentals of Bharatanatyam in French and a small explanation about every item I perform. This, I note every year, has a very positive and telling impact on the public. Almost unerringly, the audience seeks me out to tell me how much better they understood what I performed thanks to the explanations in their own language. Ultimately the aim of the artiste is to communicate and they relished better what they saw, through what they heard.

Friends and Fans

It is also interesting to understand the way the Europeans receive and perceive our art. I had a university professor who thanked me for an "unforgettable evening" as she put it. Much as she appreciated my dance, my "pedagogical" explanations, she also put Indian art on a different pedestal, saying this had a spiritual import beyond explanation. Moreover she viewed Bharatanatyam as being very "earthy" and "closely linked to the environment", with movements that are borne of the ground, the utilisation of the sacred space on which the dancer performs, the affinity with the spectator. Comparing it with Western dance, without belittling it, wherein most of the movements are on the tip of the feet, in Bharatanatyam, she lauded the basic pose itself, the aramandi of Bharatanatyam, enrooted on the ground, and all the movements drawing forth from this source.

Different perspectives, kaleidoscopic views. In another performance, I had a nurse who thanked me immensely and said that my dance had given a new dimension to her life. When I asked her how, she said, one item in particular which I had performed - Nava Rasa, had had a deep bearing on her. She worked with pyschologically afflicted people in a hospital and spent entire days living this agony along with them. Nava Rasa and the gamut of emotions, had in a way quelled her upheaval and she said she could deal better with her situation as it had shown her the variety and contrasts that exist within the human being and as being an integral part of life.

With music buff Herve, a Physics teacher from Grenoble

In Burgundy, a spectator, amongst the usual compliments, wished to see my hands and then exclaimed, "But you have short nails!". Her surprise arose from the fact that while on stage, the continuity and fluidity of movements gave her to believe I had very long fingers with artificial nails to give them the extra length!

While I travelled from Paris to the east and then down south, leaving the rush and din of the megapolis, to calmer, laid back towns, the breathtaking and lush green pastoral beauty of French country side, never fails to captivate me - dotted with hills, flowers, cows, and the "watch out for deer" sign.

The same mood continued while in the sprawling mansion of my host in the south, Sergio - adorned with pillars, carvings and artefacts from India. I had no reason whatsoever to miss India, it sought me out every where! Between cherry plucking and lime blossom gathering with my host's adorable six year old son Matheo, I got ready for my programme. The sun streamed on us relentlessly, as we got set for the late afternoon programme. I had spectators from nearby busy hubs like Marseille and Avignon. Avid audience, some who dabbled in Kathak, some who had visited India, some others with the usual curious questions. But most happy to meet me was Firthaus, from Tiruvallikeni in Madras, since ten years a restauranteur in Avignon. He held the mike for me through the performance and at the end, told me how touched he was by the Khandita Nayika I had portrayed in a padam. He then revealed beaming, to my surprise that he had studied Bharatanatyam in Kalakshetra for a number of years! This experience for him was a sort of homecoming, he confessed.

Whether it was little children who watched me enraptured and wished to feel my costumes, adults eager to know what the colour on the hands was, connoisseurs who sincerely savoured the presentations, it was always an enriching experience. I was particularly touched by a person who came to Paris, all the way from Grenoble (situated towards southern France), just to meet me. He had acquired my Carnatic music CDs and since then wished to meet me in person. Braving the strikes, the chaos with train services and the rest, Hervé, a physics teacher by profession but a true music buff met me over lunch and reinstated in my mind the fact that art can and does reach out beyond, colour, race and frontiers more powerfully than any other medium.

I returned to Paris to finish my final programme and while winding up my sojourn, I had an interview with Europe's popular Tamil channel TTN. The interviewer urged me to demonstrate some Suruti, which I readily did. And on the notes of Suruti raga, I traditionally concluded my tour! Leaving behind fond memories of friends and fans, pizza and french fries - my staple diet there, I returned home to Bombay after a month to the unsurpassed aroma of sambar, rasam, floods and the rest !!

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