Arangetram

When my friend Ajay asked me to accompany him to the Arangetram performance of one of his lady friends, I was not very sure if I would enjoy such a program. But on second thoughts, I reflected that it would be a welcome change; I've only been watching movies, going to restaurants and occasionally visiting clubs lately. So on a Saturday evening at 4, Ajay, I and Mridul left for an Arangetram performance at the Yashwantrao Chauhan Hall in Kothrud. For the uninitiated, Arangetram is a graduation performance for students of the BharatNatyam dance; one may start teaching BharatNatyam only after delivering an Arangetram successfully. We reached the venue at 5:20 p.m. (with 10 minutes to spare for the event to commence). At the entrance were two smiling ladies who welcomed us with a fresh rose and a sweet each. We walked across the corridor and moved straight into the hall to ensure we got our seats.
We waited for about 20 minutes in the packed to capacity, dimly lit standard- 'Natyagraha' (Drama hall) styled architecture, listening to classical singing and accompaniment in the background. As we chatted amongst ourselves, the maroon colored curtains with vertical golden linings opened up and it took me a moment to realize that the background music was actually a live performance by artists who were to provide accompaniment throughout the Arangetram. The stage backdrop was dark blue in color and at both sides of the stage, dark blue rectangular boards were placed one behind another in increasing order of width- it gave the stage a neat trough like appearance. It was a well decorated stage - artificial banana trees were set up on both sides with two -three little diyas placed along the length of each of their trunks. Two singers( a man and a lady) and a live accompaniment comprising a violin, a mridang and a flute player were seated on a raised wooden platform on the left side of the stage (left side for the audience.) On the right side a Ganesha idol was placed on the topmost step of what looked like a three step wooden stand. The stage was decorated with a combination of marigold other flowers in pretty garland like patterns. After a brief introduction by two MoC’s (Master of Ceremonies), the three Arangetram performers came on stage and offered flowers and prayers to Lord Ganesha. Following this, all three performed a dance sequence, probably to seek the blessings of Lord Ganesha. During the dance, I couldn't help notice the elaborate dressing and make- up of the dancers. They had worn bright colored sarees (combinations of orange and white or maroon and orange. Interestingly, the portion of their sarees just below the waist had folds giving a look akin to a bunch of keys hanging along a key-ring, the portion just above the feet had larger folds and seemed like a hand-held fan. Their faces had elaborate make-up; a crown of white and orange flowers adorned their head and almost all of them had waist long hair (wigs, I presume). Decorative ornaments adorned the sides of their heads and extended across their ears, some jewelry covered the line along which their hair was split in the middle. Ghungroos were worn on both ankles; their feet and hands were daubed in red paint. All the dancers wore bangles, red colored bangles between two bordering white bangles at the ends, on each hand.
Following the first dance offered to Lord Ganesha, the two MoC's (Master of Ceremonies) introduced the next dance. I don't quite remember the theme of this dance but contrary to my expectation, all the 3 dancers always performed together (I was initially under the impression that Arangetram was an individual performance.) The dance depicted the sequences which covered the friendship among three ‘sakhis’(a woman's close female friend, a bosom friend.) After this was a dance in which one dancer played the role of Goddess Parvati performing tapasya(penance) in order to be forgiven by Lord Shiv. A second dancer was pleading Parvathi to stop the tapasya and that Lord Shiv had forgiven her now. During the dance, each dancer kept switching the role of Goddess Parvathi and the pacifier turn by turn, so much so that by the end I could not make out who was playing who! Next was a dance sequence in which sakhis were to help Subhadra deck up for Lord Krishna's visit. The 'sakhis' helped her with make-up and also told her about dos and don'ts for her important meeting with Lord Krishna. (If the Lord liked her, then he would marry her you see) Then, we were presented with a gossip sequence in which all three of them gossiped using varied facial expressions and dance steps. I could not grasp a lot of what was being portrayed in the gossip sequence and was relieved when they took a break to felicitate the dance teacher and parents of the Arangetram performers; this took about half an hour. In the meantime the dancers changed into bright white colored sarees and gave a final power packed performance which involved careful coordination among all three participants. I could not make much sense of what they were trying to convey but their moves and expressions were certainly commendable. With this final performance, the curtains were pulled across without so much of a hint or a warning- the show had come to an end. I’m sure that all of them (Gayatri, Rutuja and Nimisha) had passed their Arangetram with flying colors and would now be permitted to teach interested people the beautiful BharatNatyam dance of Indian culture. So the next time someone invites you over to an Arangetram, or for that matter any play or cultural program do grab it with both hands- you will definitely feel connected to our deep cultural roots.