A seven-year old girl from a tiny hamlet in Mysore followed her elder brother to drama rehearsals to be held on the occasion of Ganapati festival.

Though those tiny footsteps towards the proscenium have long vanished in the sands of time, the girl was to leave her mark on the national theatre scene.

Theatre personality Bhagirathi has come a long way from that first brush with theatre, both professionally and geographically. Busy with her latest play Kola Kaurir Gan, to be staged in Guwahati this Saturday, the national-award winning actress? commitment to society is reflected in all her works.

Speaking about Kola Kaurir Gan, she says, ?This play is a unique creation, something that happens once in a while, where all the performers are spastic children of Sishu Sarothi.?

?For the past 10 years I have been working with these brilliant performers and this is our fifth endeavour.?

The back-breaking work does not tire her. ?I think it stimulates a movement wherever I stage such questioning plays, as I receive overwhelming response from both the rural and the urban audience,? she reflects. ?If, after a month?s intensive workshop I am able to draw some emotions from these special cast, and if the audience response is positive, then I think I am successful in my mission.?

Immediately after wrapping up her latest children?s play, Bhagirathi will head to Pondicherry, where she, along with other stalwarts of Indian and international theatre, will conduct a five-day intensive theatre workshop.

Bhagirathi?s journey from her village in Karnataka to the Assamese capital has been a long and eventful one, theatre being her permanent companion.

Little Bhagirathi?s tryst with theatre, which began with visits to rehearsals in her village, soon qualified to performances before her family in the drawing room.

?From the drawing room I shifted my base to the courtyard and simultaneously all the women of my village invited me to their house to give solo performances,? she smiles.

By the time she was 10 years old, Bhagirathi began showing her prodigious talent in drama and went on winning gold and silver medals in the state-level drama competitions.

With the whole-hearted support from her family, Bhagirathi got herself enrolled in the prestigious drama institute Ninasam in Karnataka for a one-year diploma in dramatics.

?In Ninasam all aspects of dramatics unfolded and there, for the first time, I got a sense of theatre in its totality,? she says.

?In my village it was like an all women?s group, where most of the time I was entrusted to enact males roles. In Ninasam only I did my first female role.?

In 1986-87 she worked for Ninasam Repertory Company, touring the whole of Karnataka with 130 shows in 10 months.

She joined the National School of Drama (NSD), New Delhi, in 1987. After graduating from NSD with specialisation in acting, Bhagirathi obtained a fellowship from the NSD for a project on solo narrative of female characters of Shakuntala, Gandhari and Mallika.

?NSD polished my skills in dramatics and I was lucky to work with great directors in meaningful roles during my stint in NSD,? she says.

In 1992-93 she joined Tara Art of London as an actress for the production Heer Ranjha.

Following rehearsals in London, the show toured the UK and Japan extensively, giving 56 shows within seven months. After that she continued her journey in theatre in India. In 1993, she got married to the another theatre personality of Assam, Baharul Islam. ?For two years of our marriage we lived in different parts of India. I almost toured the entire nation for my work and Baharul was busy with mobile theatre in Assam,? she says. ?At that time I wanted a permanent place to live where I could devote myself completely to theatre.?

Assam became her first and last choice as her theatrical destination.

After coming to Guwahati, she, along with her husband, a few theatre activists and NSD graduates, took the initiative to start Seagull Theatre Academy in 1990.

Today the members of Seagull work tirelessly in spreading the message of experimental theatre in every part of Assam. Seagull has emerged as one of the prominent theatre troupes in the Northeast. Bhagirathi is now the principal of the academy.

?Language barrier was the first hurdle that I had to face after coming to Guwahati. To be an actress in Assam, I had to learn Assamese and immediately I started learning the grammar and the process is still in progress,? she says in chaste Assamese.

Some of Seagull?s highly acclaimed productions were staged in Bharat Rangmahotsav, organised by the NSD, New Delhi, Prithvi Festival, Mumbai, Sangeet Natak Academy?s festival in Guwahati, Delhi, Hyderabad and many other prestigious theatre festivals.

Though films were not her chosen medium, Bhagirathi?s acting skills could not keep her away from the silver screen.

?Adajya by Santawana Bordoloi is my first film in any language. It was not that I was not interested in working in films, but somehow due to my deep involvement with theatres I could not think of films,? she says.

In her very first film she received the special jury award in acting in the 44th national film in 1997.

Her soul-stirring performances in many highly acclaimed films and some very highly creative tele-films and serials like Kadadidu Niru by Girish Karnad, Kotta by M.S. Sathyu, are still remembered by audiences.

Her resume boasts of having worked in 50 plays in numerous languages, including Kannada, Assamese, Hindi, Urdu and English. Some of her highly acclaimed works are Nala Damayanti, Hamlet, Jatra, Chanakya Vishnugupta, among others.

From Karnataka to Assam, from theatre to films, Bhagirathi in her time has played many parts.