Chetna Jalan (centre) with her group in performance. Picture by Aranya Sen

Kathak is breaking free, evolving and adapting to the needs of the times. For Chetna Jalan has, after several decades of experience, discovered a way to make it express something more than the tales of Radha and Krishna and the Puranas.

Every Saturday, starting April 22 at 6.30 pm, Padatik Little Theatre will be hosting this splendid new kathak-based interpretation of the poetry of Shakti Chattopadhyay, Shankho Ghosh, the writing of Sangeeta Bandopadhyay and some original compositions as well.

Chetna has practised yoga alongside kathak since childhood, but her later exposure to contemporary dance, traditional western dance exercises, mime and rope work gave her a whole new perspective. The kathak body movements, mudras and bols are used, but the choreography explores all possibilities of the performance space.

A score composed by Baloo Dutta blending western and Indian classical tunes effectively bonds the readings in Bengali and Hindi (translated by Basant Rungta of Srijan). Dancers Souvik, Ritusri, Tanusree, Surasree, Anirban, Payel, Subhas and Chetna herself wear innovative attires like the Japanese Togo used for Noh and Kabuki.

If in Abani Bari Aachho masks are used to convey the feeling that the inward knocking is universal, in Rakho Tomar Uddhata Paa Jalan she gets her students to do some rope-walking.

The dancers trained under Deb Kumar Paul to learn how best to conquer vertical space. ?In some manuscripts with Srijan, Shakti Chattopadhyay mentions being inspired by the sight of fishing nets just before they hit the water, when they are still suspended in air. So I thought dancers on ropes would convey that feeling of suspension,? explains Chetna.

Durga, an original composition by Chetna and Ronnie Sambik Ghose has Chetna in the lead. Her Durga is not the mythic goddess, but the ?final Shakti who rises to demolish the evil from our society?. Every woman, according to Chetna, becomes Durga the moment she realises the power within her. Pain was the hardest text to translate into movement, feels Chetna, though it is one of the nine emotions oft depicted in traditional Indian dance.

Chetna is confident she can use this new form of dance theatre to convey any kind of text or music. And she maintains that all other traditional Indian dance forms can and should be experimented with.

?People only need to open their minds and let the boundaries go. No art form should be treated as sacred museum pieces; they should throb with the life that is around it. In a world where values are changing, ideologies shattering kathak needed to grow,? says Chetna.

Sebanti Sarkar

Beyond 22 yards

Gautam Bhimani (hand raised) with Sunil Gavaskar and other commentators

A ?peg at the Keg? turned his life around. As Gautam Bhimani sat atop the bar stool of the Keg and Maiden pub, inches away from the boundary line at the Harare Sports Club, he could see cricket ?beyond the 22 yards? on his very first TV assignment. Beyond the flannels, beyond the gallery, beyond the box. Little did he realise then that his off-field antics ? from the chopper chassis to Maori manners ? would not only make for good television but also for an anecdotal book.

Reverse Sweep ? subtitled Confessions of a Cricket Junkie ? is an out-of-the-box slice of willow watch where Gautam takes the readers on a whirlwind tour to everywhere from the rocking Chikki?s Discotheque in Antigua to a scary shark pool in downtown Melbourne. ?In many ways it is more of a travelogue than a hardcore cricket book,? says the son of Kishore and Rita Bhimani.

?There would be so many people coming up and asking me about those funny pieces I did for ESPN, I felt it was my moral responsibility to give everyone the real picture,? says Gautam.

So, there is the hilarious ball-by-ball account of how Wasim Akram bowled at him in the Gabba indoor nets and ended up having Gautam?s ?spare ribs? for lunch.

?I couldn?t even get hold of a chest guard since my only saviour Anil Kumble hadn?t arrived with his kit,? he recalls. ?The biggest mistake I made was hit Wasim for a cover drive, which would have definitely been a boundary. He immediately took those extra steps and the next thing I heard was people shouting for ?ice? and ?water? ? for me.?

He never played the game and never aspired to be a cricketer, but Gautam calls himself the ?biggest cricket fanatic? in the world. ?I am lucky enough to be where 10 million other people would want to be,? he smiles. As he writes in his book: ?Sweet dreams are made of these: With Sunny (Sunil Gavaskar) by day and Deano (Dean Jones) by night.?

There are, of course, incidents in his colourful cricketing life, which he has chosen to sweep out of Reverse Sweep. ?I have tried to bring as much on the table as readers would like to read about,? Gautam says. So, the most personal moments are kept aside, only to be recalled amongst friends and family.

?Like there was this major dilemma about what I should call Sunil Gavaskar in the commentary box, having always referred to him as Sunny Uncle? The two of us decided upon Sunny Bhai which almost cost me my job since my boss thought I was calling the legend Sunny boy!?

The Rupa publication (priced at Rs 295) was launched by Sunny Bhai in end-March at the Taj Palace in Delhi, with several Team India members including captain Rahul Dravid in attendance.

Rahul, one suspects, would rather miss the Calcutta launch of Reverse Sweep slated for Monday evening at the Royal Calcutta Turf Club, by a certain Mr Sourav Ganguly. ?It?s quite a coincidence that Sourav was my classmate at St Xavier?s, and my broadcasting career started with his captaincy stint,? says Gautam.

Pratim D. Gupta