THE HEAD is HELD HIGH: Sheema Kermani. Picture by Pabitra Das

Her favourite sweet shop in Karachi is special because?the Bangladeshi owner makes rasogollas, though not half as good as Calcutta?s?. One of her most well-received performances in Pakistan is based on a poem from Tagore?s Geetanjali. She has never quite got over the amazement of seeing a ?crowd packed into a space as big as a stadium and all enjoying classical music? in Calcutta.

For Pakistani dancer-activist Sheema Kermani, Calcutta has always been a place of ?perpetual fascination?. She is in town with two members of her group, Tehrik-e-Niswan, to perform at the Pakistan Cultural Nite, being organised by Pakistan India People?s Forum for Peace and Democracy later this week.

As the only dancer during Zia-ul-Haq?s martial law regime to protest discriminatory policies against women, Sheema has worked tirelessly for over 20 years to establish classical dance as a respectable medium of art.

Tehrik-e-Niswan Cultural Action Group, she explains, means a movement for women. ?And that is what I work at,? she adds.

Her last visit to Calcutta was on an invitation to the Nandikar Theatre Festival, where her troupe performed Ek hazaar aur ek thhi raatein, based on Arabian Nights stories . ?But we subverted each tale, giving it a feminist angle. We used various art forms, through which the protagonist and story-teller spins yarns to bring about a positive change in the chauvinist sultan,? Sheema says.

A peace player, actively associated with the Forum since 1995, Sheema reacts strongly to the political turmoil in the sub-continent through her form of fusion arts. Her performance here will have a movement-score performance on Tagore?s Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high.

?Tagore wrote about how we had been broken down by narrow domestic walls, much like the current state in the India-Pakistan scenario. And just like he wanted our land to awake in a spirit of freedom, we wish our countries forget their petty enmities and surge ahead with strong ties of friendship,? explains Sheema. ?For, in the end, it is the mind and heart that matter most.?

And it?s the soul of Calcutta that she can?t ever get enough of. ?The people here have an amazing sense of life, the basis of which lies in culture and art,? says she.

?I remember a performance by Yamini Krishnamurthy and Parveen Sultana at Netaji Indoor Stadium. Ordinary people filled the stadium, but they were all extra-ordinary in one way ? all were deeply involved in the music,? Sheema recalls. Such a scene, she thinks, is unthinkable in Delhi. ?Even pavement booksellers are a class of their own. They have read the books they sell, can gauge your preferences and advise you on a better buy,? Sheema exclaims.

Now on her first trip to Santiniketan and Durgapur with Shama and Minha, her students from Pakistan, Sheema will be back in the city on November 19.