Pappu CAN dance!

Even when I was nothing else, I was always a dancer. Dancing was always something I cherished since countless time. But there were many cranky depressing times when I did not feel very great about knowing how to dance. I would notice other people dancing and conclude that every second person on earth can dance well. Hmm… I am a little wiser now. I have now realized that what if there are better dancers than me. I feel good not in knowing that I am the best dancer in the world but in ruminating that dancing is the best thing I know.
Some of the very early memories I have of dancing are:

I was in Pune, 42 Rastapeth, visiting my grandparents. I fail to remember any other details of my visit or even the house but I retain that one day I was dancing to my own singing in the hall, when tatha (grandfather) quietly came in and saw my solitary performance. He was quite impressed by it and had persuaded my mother to joining me into a dance class. I think it was how I was made to join the Bharthanatyam classes.
My first stage performance if I am not wrong: “Chane ke kheth mein”. Umakka had taught me the steps for the song and I had danced in my mother’s office programme tapping the same steps as Madhuri Dixit had in the film. I was quite happy after getting my first limelight. There were many dance performances from then on. Some bharthanatyam performances my dance teacher used to arrange and many others where I used to choreograph songs, teach them to my friends and synchronize with them.
Third memory is that of my first day in dance class. Appa had come to me one day when I was five and had asked me whether I would like to learn Bharathnatyam. Unaware of the long strange word I had asked him what it was. He told me it is an excellent dance form and I would definitely like it. Those days I was really fascinated by the colourful green masks people wore for mohiniaatam and kathakali. Excited I laid one condition, I would learn it only if I get to wear such masks for dancing. My father agreed and I registered myself for the dance class. I perfectly remember my first day there. I had thought of it as a summer camp thingy, so I had taken green marbles with me to entertain myself, just in case. I had seen boys playing with it and wanted to play too (still want to, though could never understand the game) and somehow had got hold of a handful of them but had not got any time afterwards to play with it. So I had thought of taking it along to the dance class and finally play with it there. I had hidden it in my dupatta which I was supposed to tie around my waist. I had loosely tied the duppatta around my waist, while careully keeping the marbles there. As I reached the class, the first thing my dance teacher did was untie my duppatta as it was very loose (the dupatta is supposed to be tied extremely tightly) and so went my marbles rolling everywhere on the ground. My teacher certainly had not expected it and eyed me suspiciously and being a shy girl at that time I simply blushed. The rest of the session was very boring for me. All through the hour we had to hit the ground hard first with the right leg and then with the left and with hands folded around the waist. This was clearly nowhere as interesting as I had imagined dancing thin-thak dhin-thak thai in green coloured masks. But several months later, I started enjoying it, when we actually started dancing rather than merely thumping our feet on the ground. Even then, I did not consider Bharathnatyam to be the greatest of things, but now, I know its importance and feel proud to identify myself with.