A dream come true
Shantha and V. P. Dhananjayan's passion for dance led to the establishment of an institution for art-integrated education. V. R. DEVIKA speaks to the couple about their beliefs, ideals and goals.
Giving back to art what they have received... Shantha and V. P. Dhananjayan.
KALADARPANAM, an association of artistes of Kerala, recently chose V. P. Dhananjayan for the Kalasreshta title. ``I treasure it most because it is given to me by artistes,'' says Dhananjayan smiling. ``Any title won by either of us is for both of us,'' says Shantha adding, ``We are both past 60 but we feel like we are just beginning our career all over again.''
Sixty is an age to celebrate a marriage again to each other and to begin to retire to a life of leisure and contentment. ``No, Dhananjayan is not made of ordinary metal,'' says Shantha, ``he has embarked on a very difficult project against all advice but hats off to him; he is reaping the initial fruits.''
``It is an uphill task and a long way to go,'' says Dhananjayan, sitting back as he asks me seriously: ``Don't you think people have a duty to give back something of their passion to the earth they come from?'' Should people who have made it good in the cities and in foreign countries go back to their rural areas and try and work it out there?'' ``If we constantly neglect our villages where people have no access to quality education, no aspiration but to move to the cities, don't you think our next generation will be a pitiable lot?''
We are talking about Bhaaskara, an institution for art-integrated education that he has founded on a hillock in his hometown Payyannur. The centre is envisioned as an institution of education where students will learn to care for nature. They have already planted 7,500 trees all around the hillock, which was barren when Bhaaskara bought it. The hillock looks out on valleys on all four sides and every morning and evening there is glorious sunrise and sunset.
Dhananjayan is totally animated when he talks about Bhaaskara. His smile and demeanour do not reveal the uphill struggle he has had with Shantha in the past 33 years. As a dancing couple, they faced enormous opposition in the years after coming out of their alma mater Kalakshetra and starting their own institution Bharatha Kalanjali. Successful as Bharathanatyam dancers, they have established an institution that has brought out quite a few remarkable disciples who are carrying on their work all over the world.
``It is destiny that made me a dancer,'' says Dhananjayan. ``I had absolutely no knowledge of or exposure to dance in my early days. I had, of course, seen the occasional Kathakali performances in the village. My father happened to be in the same railway compartment in which Guru Chandu Panikar was travelling to Kerala in search of a boy to be trained in Kalakshetra as per Rukmini Devi Arundale's wishes. He had already selected Balagopal from my village Payyannur. But my father requested him to take me along too, to be sent back if Rukmini Devi disapproved. She readily accepted me and also gave me a scholarship to study at Kalakshetra. The rigors of Kalakshetra prepared me to face life as a dancer.
``Guru Chandu Panikkar taught Kathakali and Sharda Hoffman taught Bharathanatyam. The training was with painstaking precision and hard work was expected of all of us. We were taking part in history, which was being created. Bharathanatyam was changing its style forever and was being made accessible to everyone. The dance dramas produced at Kalakshetra taught us set designing, discipline and administrative acumen.''
Kalakshetra also gave him his life partner. ``I met Shantha when she was a girl of 10. I remember it very vividly. She was the first girl I chanced to look at in the Theosophical Society gardens while Balagopal and I were being led by Guru Chandu Panikkar to meet Rukmini Devi. I took to her immediately. Later Shantha and I were paired as Rama and Sita in the production `Sita Swayamvaram.'
``Shantha was a deeply reserved girl and extremely disciplined. She was interested only in her dance. She would not talk to me much or reveal her interest in me.''
Shantha laughs and says, ``At the age of twelve, I decided I would marry Dhananjayan. I knew it would happen no matter what and there was nothing to tell him.''
``I had made my feelings very clear to her by the time she was eighteen. But she did not reveal anything to me. I actually thought she would not consider marrying a man from a lower economic background than her,'' says Dhananjayan.
Shantha left Kalakshetra after her post graduation and took up a job in Malaysia. When her parents began to look around for a bridegroom for her, she revealed her love for Dhananjayan and came back to marry him.
``We married each other primarily because we were very much in love,'' the couple say. ``It was only later that we found how complementary were to each other even in our dancing career. Whatever one lacks, the other has and we live like one soul in two bodies.''
``As a dancer and colleague I have the greatest regard for her. Among all the dancers of Kalakshetra, she stood out as the most sincere and hard working. I feel there is no one who can equal her precision, perfect sense of rhythm and true artistry in every sense of the word.''
But Shantha was aghast when Dhananjayan, after turning 60 decided to start all over again and thought of going back to Payyannur to start a school with a difference there. While people of his age would be relaxing in a retired life, Dhananjayan thought nothing of putting all his life savings into the Bhaaskara Trust to give the rural children a chance with quality education and aesthetics.
``Through Bhaaskara, we want to revive and strengthen some of the human values we are losing now. To us work is worship. We want to give back to the art what we have gained and to rural India. We know that it is not just knowledge and information based education that will be required in the future since information is available for downloading. We know that values and consideration for nature and animals and human beings will be the premium.''
An offshoot of the Banyan tree from the Adyar Theosophical Society has been planted at the centre of Bhaaskara's sprawling 30-acre campus. There are 36 varieties of medicinal herbs growing here and the ambience is unbelievable with clean air, water, greenery and great scenery all around.
``To give children beauty of mind and spirit and the discipline of the body and respect for rural India and patriotism is the next phase of work in our life,'' say the Dhananjayans.
Thousands braved heavy rain on a Sunday afternoon to witness the Dhananjayans' dance at Bhaaskara recently. People from villages in the valleys below had climbed up with little children in arms to be there.
``This is the fulfilment of our dream. It gives us more satisfaction than dancing in the best of halls in the cities.''
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