Incredulous: not willing to believe

Incredible: beyond belief

Suspicious: openly distrustful

Susceptible: easily influenced by something

Sensitivity: an ability to understand what other people need, and be helpful and kind to them

Sentimentality: falsely emotional in a maudlin way

Successive: following one after the other in a series, following each other without interruption

Successful: having the correct or desired result, ending in success

Generally, people start experimenting without perfecting the technique with which they experiment. This is not correct. It is recommended that improvisation should follow perfection of a technique. Otherwise, the experiment can bring no success, or the experiments will meet with failure. For this reason, the author’s guru said, “Before you begin experimenting, you need to perfect the technique with which you experiment.”

She was studying in Queen Mary’s College in Lahore when her mother died. Kumudini’s Principal told that she had to go home as her mother was sick. When Kumudini reached home she saw her mother dead. Kumidini was only 14 years old. She felt helpless and left alone in the world. Her hands hung loose from her body. She was feeling hungry as she had not eaten anything for three days but could not express it to anybody.

People think that one cannot practice discipline if one does not follow the basic assumptions of discipline. According to popular belief discipline and a questioning spirit are contrary to each other. But according to the author, they can coexist in an individual. A truly disciplined person would cultivate a questioning spirit in a disciplined manner.

Unless one is disciplined, a person can’t achieve anything in life. If we have to achieve something, we should understand it thoroughly. To understand something, we should question. Thus, a structured discipline and questioning spirit can co-exist in an individual. Such a person will be highly successful in life.

Arunachal Pradesh: Bardo Cham

Assam: Bihu dance, Jhumur

Manipur: Thang ta, Dol cholam

Mizoram: Cheraw Dance

Nagaland: Chang lo or sua lua

Sikkim: Singhi Chamm

Tripura: Hojagiri

West Bengal: Gambhira, Domni

Chhattisgarh: Raut nach, Panthi

Orissa: Goti Pua

Gujarat: Garba, Padhar, Raas,

Himachal Pradesh: Kinnauri Natti

Karnataka: Yakshagana

Kashmir: Dumhal

Lakshadweep: Lava

Madhya Pradesh: Tertali, Charkula, Jawara,

Maharashtra: Pavri Naach

Pondicherry: Garadi

Punjab: Bhangra, Gidda

Rajasthan: Ghoomor, Kalbelia, Bhavai

Tamil Nadu: Kummi, Kolattam

Kumudini Lakhia in her life account states that her life experiences formed the basis of her work in dance. She has taken cues from her life experiences to present them in her dance. She recollects how in ‘Duvidha’ she has presented the plight of a middle-class woman chained to the traditions of Indian life. In ‘Atah Kim’, Kumudini has depicted the theme of the desire for power which she experienced after her schooling was over. Her work Panch Paras is based on the differentiation between sensitivity and sentimentality. In Panch Paras she explores the realm of our five senses.

Kumudini Lakhia’s life is an inspiring illustration of the emancipation of women. She started learning dance under the influence of her mother. She later joined an Agriculture course. After the completion of the course, she joined Ram Gopal Dance Company as a performer. After achieving a successful career in dance, eventually she got married and settled with her family. She has performed in over 40 countries, but chose to give up her career as a solo performer to start the Kadamb Dance Centre in Ahmedabad, where she trains students in the art of classical Kathak dance. All these incidents show that she was free to make decisions about her life despite being a woman. She established an individual and independent identity in her career and life.

We get to see a sensitive person in the author through the essay. First instance is from her childhood. She says that her lessons took place under trying conditions, but the conditions were more trying for her mother than her. She describes the conditions in these words - She travelled in local, over-crowded trains to dance class with an unwilling child, tired from a whole day at school. She waited a whole hour in the not-so-clean ante-room of my guru’s house and then endured the same journey back. Thought the author was unwilling to attend dance classes but instead of criticizing her mother, she continued to attend her dance classes. Her arguments with her grandmother helped her to differentiate sensitivity and sentimentality.

During her tour with Ram Gopal she feels post war Germany an unbelievably sad place. She finds the sight of hungry children begging for food heart rending.

The significance of reading an autobiography lies in drawing lessons from another life. By reading Kumudini’s autobiography we get a chance to understand some core issues of life. Her training in dance in the initial years teach us the lesson that learning any art form requires discipline, dedication and hard work. We get to know the value of discipline when Kumudini talks of her teachers in Queen Mary's college, Lahore. According to Kumudini, discipline in one's daily routine brings discipline in thinking. This is an eye-opener to all those who hope to excel in life without hard work, dedication and discipline. Kumudini's account of her days with her guru Ram Gopal is inspiring. Her experience teaches us that one needs to perfect the technique before one begins to experiment.

Some genetic scientists opine that talent is determined by the genetic factor. They say that exceptionally talented people are born so, talent cannot be cultivated. It is inherited genetically. But in reality, that is not true. Some other scientists state that environment plays a vital role in shaping talent. They call it meme and not gene. In the essay Kumudini Lakhia underlines the fact that talents are not inherited but perfected with one’s hard work and determination. She was not born with an inherited talent to dance. She was not keen to choose dance as her career. However, when given a chance she perfected in this art form.

Some exceptionally talented people must be born so but not all exceptionally talented people are born so. Kumudini Lakhia proves that talent can be cultivated with hard work.

Kumudini Lakhia learnt classical Bharatanatyam dance from Ram Gopal. In the essay she describes her guru Ram Gopal's influence on her. She remembers him as a strict disciplinarian who had a fetish for perfection of line. He taught her that - before one begins experimenting, one needs to perfect the technique with which one experiments. Kumudini has been influenced by this. She has tried to impart this lesson to her students as well. Kumudini further narrates that touring with Ram Gopal enabled her to discover new things about her own personality. She states that encountering people from different countries gives a person a chance to look at himself/herself in a new light. She realised the importance of context and learned how things change when their placement is changed.

During her childhood the author did not feel comfortable with her mother's passion to make her a dancer. Dance meant discipline and struggle to her. The author tells us that a film ignited interest in her mother to make her a dancer. Seeing the author imitating the dance steps she had seen in the movie, author’s mother believed that she was born to dance, but the author believed that she was born to live. She did not like to dance, and it was forced upon her by her doting mother. The author describes how troublesome it was for her to travel to her dance teacher's house. Overall, the author did not feel anything good about her mother's passion to make her a dancer.

Mist of protection: This phrase is used by the author to signify that she has been a protected child. Her parents always cared for her and kept watch over her. They imposed on her their decisions in all her activities. She found this protection as something like a mist which covered her vision and imagination.

At a crossroads: At a crossroads means a situation where one come across more than one option and find it difficult to decide as to which path to choose. In the essay the phrase is used by the author to portray her situation after completing her matriculation and the agriculture course when she had many opportunities.

It came with strings attached: This phrase means something which includes special demands or limitations. The author has used this phrase for her married life. She said, that she finally had a home, but it came with strings attached as she then had to manage her new home.

Mist of protection: This phrase is used by the author to signify that she has been a protected child. Her parents always cared for her and kept watch over her. They imposed on her their decisions in all her activities. She found this protection as something like a mist which covered her vision and imagination.

At a crossroads: At a crossroads means a situation where one come across more than one option and find it difficult to decide as to which path to choose. In the essay the phrase is used by the author to portray her situation after completing her matriculation and the agriculture course when she had many opportunities.

It came with strings attached: This phrase means something which includes special demands or limitations. The author has used this phrase for her married life. She said, that she finally had a home, but it came with strings attached as she then had to manage her new home.

In Duvidha (conflict), Kumudini examined the plight of a middle-class woman who is chained to the traditions imposed on her by the society. In Atah Kin, Kumudini uses the concept of the desire for power. Ordinary Indian woman is restricted to domestic circles and is forbidden from wearing sleeveless blouses. She must wear her hair in a bun and must cater to her husband. Yet, from a small window she sees the newspaperman waving images of a woman with a bold streak of white in her short hair, who wears sleeveless blouses, and is surrounded by men who listen to her intently. She is widowed but wears colourful saris. Moreover, she commands a country with millions of people. But, the ordinary Indian woman looking out of the window is intrigued by this image, and she experiences conflicting emotions. The character in Duvidha is torn between two lives—she feels an emptiness within her but is not sure what she is hungry for; what kind of life she wants.

Panch Paras is all about the exploration of spiritual life. The author believes that Visiting temples activates the senses, though we often take this for granted. A person sees the grandeur of the architecture and can feel the curve of the stones and the scent of incense, flowers and sandalwood mingled together. One can hear the ringing of the bells and taste the panchamrut. With one’s palms and the soles of one’s feet a person touches different surfaces. Based on this experience the author created a piece called Panch Paras, the five senses, to explore the sensual realm.

There were many lessons of life that Kumudini learnt during her younger days and carried into her adult life. She tells us about an incident when she used to stay in Delhi in a sprawling house allotted to her engineer father. Liaquat Ali (later Prime Minister of Pakistan) lived in their neighbourhood. One day, the author and her brother were caught by Liyaquat’s gardener while picking guavas from the compound. Liaquat Ali did not punish them but gave an open invitation to pick the fruits whenever they wished. The author says that it was one of her first lessons in the games that are played by politicians.

In Queen Mary's college in Lahore, she learnt the value of discipline from her British teachers. She believes that discipline in one's daily routine brings discipline in thinking. When her mother passed away, she learnt the pangs of hunger which she couldn’t differentiate clearly. The nature of such conflict she portrayed in a play titled Duvidha. Kumudini learnt to differentiate between sensitivity and sentimentality. In her adult days she created a piece called Panch Paras, the five senses, to describe this realm. Kumudini narrates that how she learnt a lesson from her Guru Ram Gopal that before one begins to experiment, one needs to perfect the technique with which one experiments. Kumudini could gain more insight into her own personality while touring with Ram Gopal which again helped her in her adult days.