Adavus and Malayalam Mutterings

Hi everyone!

I'm currently not in the best place to blog but I'll try and condense this!

Today training started! The steps themselves were not rocket science but I had to do everything 100 times and it had to be completely perfect. After what felt like a lifetime it was over and breakfast time but then I was left to practice and rest for 2 hours! So there has been a lot of dance today. Went to Aunty's lunch as per usual and a professor from a famous university here was also round. He is an expert in Kathakali and also from Kerala and so most of the afternoon I was surrounded by Malayalam chat. After lunch and some more rest and chai we went to Gariahat campus agains to watch some young classes taught by my teacher's students. Alas we were early and I had to practice again this time not only in front of my teacher but in front of one of the male teachers that was there!

Studying dance here is a very humbling experience because coming from England as a Grade 1 Bharatanatyam student of 2 years passing with 95% I was still a beginner but a confident one and surrounded by a class that felt like family. But here I am at the bottom of the pile, with technique that forever needs correcting, stances that need to be lower, legs that need to be higher. I think for a lot of people it could push you away from dance but I find it humbling and inspiring because I am forced to realise how vast this dance style is. Watching young women practice who have only been learning for 6 years but dance like professionals is inspiring and it makes you realise how hard they work.

Also I have a cold. I have a bloody cold in India of all places.

So now let's talk a little more about linguistics. I'm using a mix of Hindi and English at the moment but actually most Bengalis here are more comfortable conversing in English than Hindi. My teacher's driver doesn't speak English and only speaks in Hindi to me which is great for my Hindi. My teacher's cook only speaks in Bangla to me and it's a lot of fun trying to figure out what she's saying. I am slowly picking up more Bangla because it is around me all the time and now I am even thinking things in Bangla. So things are good in the language department! Now to find someone to teach me to read and write Bangla!

That's all for today! 

Idli and Mohiniyattam

Hey everyone!
Ok so today was a very good day compared to yesterday!

I woke up feeling relatively groggy and sick like yesterday but not quite as bad, had breakfast etc. (Indian milk is weird) and then my teacher came and I said I felt just about up to dancing and so she said she just wanted to see a little of what I had learnt in England and that proper training could begin tomorrow. I probably danced for maybe 20-30 minutes, some of the steps were actually different to what I had learnt and so she made me go over them the way she teaches them. I also danced one piece I know very well to live singing from my teacher and one of her senior students... SO WEIRD. I'm totally not used to live singing!

I felt awful again and had to stop dancing, but after a lie down, some tea and biscuits and plenty of water I felt better again and asked to accompany my teacher to her next class. So we went to the Gariahat campus to a Bharatanatyam class of senior students. It was so inspirational to see them all dance and it was like a live performance in front of me! I recognised a couple of songs from my growing interest in Carnatic music too!

We went back to the teacher's house for lunch and she had had her cook make me idli sambar because I'd said I had never tried it. It's famous in south India and was actually quite nice. Two guests came to the house along with a senior student and another dancer both of whom I had done a workshop with in Reading, I saw the senior student when I first arrived and it was great to see the other dancer again. Lunch time was spent listening avidly to very lively Bengali discussions, and at one point there was a short Malayalam conversation too. I am slowly starting to understand bits of Bengali. Ami ashi means something like I'm going now or goodbye. It's not haan for yes here as it is in Hindi/Urdu but hae. Jol is water and so on.

After lunch I again asked to accompany my teacher to another class this time Mohiniyattam. A classical dance form from Kerala, South India where my teacher is from. Again senior students. I have to say I am totally in love with Mohiniyattam now. It was so beautiful to watch!

I'm now back in my room, there is a kids class going on next door that I'll go and watch in a bit. My teacher has said I can sleep at her house tonight and luckily there are lots of people there. So I have been instructed to bring pj's and my mosquito net etc. etc. I also managed to ask the driver today to get me some more mineral water with my rupees, all in Hindi and voila I have some water! woop woop :P

So generally far more positive today! Here are some pictures from outside  my teacher's house...

The Trouble With Water.

Hey everyone!
Ok so this blog is going to get a little more real so brace yourselves.

It's day 2 in India and last night the problems started. Yesterday all I had access to was filtered water which though not tap water apparently still wasn't good enough for my stomach apparently. After cancelling my class, some Indian medicine and finally some bottled water, I'm feeling much better. I am however completely alone in the evenings and so I am going to enquire about staying somewhere with people because it's so lonely here in the evenings.

I am trying to adapt and later I'm going to attempt a shower. I need to try and get into a routine and start my training. Hopefully soon I'll meet some more young people and be able to go and explore the city with them. At the moment it's difficult but I am trying to tell myself that I can stick this out and once dance training starts I'll start enjoying it here.

I spent most of my day sleeping, resting and reading, trying to get better as soon as possible. Hopefully I'll be back to health tomorrow and be able to dance, and hopefully I'll get somewhere with moving to somewhere with people.

Alas for now I shall leave you with some photos from outside where I'm currently staying and sorry this wasn't the most positive blog post!

Airports and Arrivals

Hey everyone!
Yes I am finally safely in Kolkata! So the 7/8 hour flight from Heathrow to Delhi wasn't too bad. They actually had a great selection of Hindi films, sadly not the best Bengali selection. Food was served twice and I actually thought it was very nice. So the flight went faster than I expected and contrary to Air India's reputation on the international flight I couldn't fault them. I then got my bags and found my way to where I needed to be for the connecting flight to Kolkata, and had a 4 hour wait. A few annoying things about Delhi airport though. Firstly all toilets have toilet attendants who ask for a tip, now as a foreigner coming to the country I am unlikely to have small amounts of rupees to tip with and so after disappointing one toilet attendant, in my politest Hindi, I refrained from using the toilet again until on the plane. Another thing is that there are many shops before the security screening and I spent Rs. 30 (roughly 30p) on a bottle of water only to end up throwing half of it away assuming I couldn't take it through. The vending machines also don't take anything larger than a Rs.50 note which meant I couldn't get a drink, luckily though all terminals and gates have water fountains like they have in primary schools in England, dotted all around so they're really useful.

Anyway I arrived and was met at the airport by my dance teacher in England's Father and the driver from the dance school. The hour or so drive through Kolkata was actually taken up mainly with my franticly trying to let you all know I was ok and in true Bengali style some random but poignant political debate. Perhaps it is after years of watching Bollywood movies that the traffic and driving here didn't phase me. I was also told that seatbelts are only worn in the front seats in India because the cars drive so slowly due to crazy amounts of congestion that they're not needed. Car horns of course pretty much have conversations of their own on the streets here. It's a never ending car horn frenzy. I'm staying in South Kolkata so not the centre, so the shops and streets, from what I've seen so far, aren't as colourful as perhaps they would be in the centre. None the less there is an endless array of saris and salwaar kameez's to make up for it. Contrary to the many stories you hear the smell of India didn't hit me like a wall, it just smelt like Southall back in England. The heat did hit me though. It's just coming up to winter here and it's still 30 degrees Celsius.

I'm staying in a room attached to two of the main classrooms of the school. There is also a small kitchen, a bathroom and a toilet. I spent most of today sleeping and resting and getting things sorted a little. I had lunch at my teacher's house, South Indian food I believe and she is bringing me dinner in a little while. I am hoping to venture out to get some bottled water soon, when I can find someone to come with me!

For now I shall leave you with some photos of my room :)

In the beginning...

Hey everyone!
So this blog is primarily for friends and family to keep up to date with my travels, I figured it made sense to tell you all what my actual plan is for those who don't know.

After almost 6 years of studying Kathak under Anuradha Chaturvedi and over 2 years studying Bharatanatyam under Ananya Chatterjee, I have decided to take my dance training further and go to India to study at the same schools my Gurus here learnt at. I leave on Sunday and am planning to stay for 7 months.

I'm going to Kolkata first and I plan to stay about 5 months. Kolkata is the capital city of the state of West Bengal and is India's third largest city. I'm going to study Bharatanatyam at Kalamandalam Kolkata, the school is a branch of an older institution in Kerala. I shall be studying under the guidance of Smt. Thankamani Kutty, a renowned and highly respected exponent of Bharatanatyam and Mohiniyattam.

The last 2 months of my India trip I am planning to spend in Lucknow, the capital city of the state of Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is known for having been the cultural capital of the Nawabs. I'm going to study at Kathak Academy Lucknow under the guidance of Guru Anuj Mishra, the son of Pt. Arjun Mishra, a renowned exponent of Kathak.

So where am I living for 7 months? Well Kalamandalam Kolkata have recently finished building a brand new student accomodation block, so I am staying there in Kolkata. In Lucknow I am staying at my teacher's house, as many foreign students before me have done. What's the language situation? If you know me you'll know languages are a major passion of mine. The language of Kolkata is Bengali, a language I have totally fallen in love with. I have managed to learn a few phrases, you know the simple stuff; hello, how are you?, pleased to meet you! and of course can you lower the price? But generally speaking I am hoping to pick up as much Bengali as possible when in Kolkata. The languages of Lucknow are Hindi and Urdu. Both languages are the same at a colloquial spoken level. Lucknow is in fact supposed to be where you can hear the purest Hindi and Urdu spoken. Having grown up with Bollywood and an Urdu-speaking Grandfather I can actually speak a fair bit of Hindi and Urdu, enough to get by. The hope is of course to improve my Hindi/Urdu when in India. India is a country with over 25 main languages so naturally there are languages that act as lingua francas and these happen to generally be Hindi and English luckily for me!

Along this amazing journey I'm hoping to be able to travel a little. Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh are all neighbouring countries of India and are not too hard to reach, so I might be able to visit them in amongst training. I'd also like to get to Amritsar to go to the Golden Temple and since I'll be passing through Delhi twice to fly I feel I should make the effort to take in at least some of the city!

So there isn't a lot more I can say now. Next time I write to you all I should hopefully be in Kolkata, India!

Until then!