Interview with Debjani Chaliha /Minakshi Basu, winner of the Rabindra Purashkar given by Sangeet Natak Akademi on the occasion of the 150^th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore, in 2012

  Debjani Chaliha was born at Shivsagar in Assam, on 10^th May, 1934.

I have known Debjani Chaliha since I was a child. She is a very dear friend of my mother’s. I had a list of questions related to ‘dance’ ‘gender’ and ‘empowerment’   that I wanted her to respond to, but after posing the initial question, what unfolded was a fascinating story, an oral autobiography, which made the interview format quite superfluous. This winding oral narrative, so integral to women as story tellers when script was not available to them,  when people sat around fires at night,  as they still do in African villages today, to hear that story that would give meaning to their lives and their lived existence. Debjani’s narrative, reaching far back into the past in her childhood, constructs her personal narrative from a little girl in a family of seven siblings, to her transformation into renowned artist. However,  in the process, it also provides fascinating glimpses of Assamese high cultural life in the early and middle decades of the 20^th century,  where often, as in the case of Debjani’s own maternal grandfather, a deep veneration for Rabindranath Tagore  existed, so much so that Rabindranath was an active influence on the development of Debjani Chaliha’s own aesthetic philosophy. There are vivid images of Kolkata in the 1950’s, of Dada Uday Shankar Ji and his wide affection for aspiring dancers, the Youth Festival that Nehru started in 1959 at Delhi, to encourage young talent. This interview which took place over three days, created a continuum between us, both women, mothers and daughters, who had taken  professional life seriously.

My question: Minakshi Mashi, how do you view women dancers with the idea of empowerment? Of course, there are many categories and classes of women performers, but if you had to judge the contribution of a classical woman dancer, how would you link the two?

This is how she responded:

I was first introduced to dance, the way little girls are often introduced to singing and dancing. We lived in the interior of Assam—in a tea garden. The name of the tea garden was Karangani Tea Estate. Tea Gardens at that time were very secluded. My father’s house (joint family) was at Shivsagar, which was 31 miles away, but because transportation was not that developed in those times, it seemed leagues away. These tea gardens were worlds of their own, cut off almost from the rest of the world.

I was introduced to singing and dancing by my mother. She had studied at Diocesan school in Kolkata, in the early 1920’s, and knew  how to sing, as well as play the violin and sitar. The first songs that she taught me were  ‘doordeshi shei rakhal chhele’ and ‘padprante rakho’ (Rabindranath’s songs) I had a spontaneous attraction for dance. In those days there weren’t other modes of entertainment. This is how we kept ourselves happy (thorugh song and dance).  Whenever guests arrived, my mother would say, ‘Aijani, will you please dance?’ So I was brought up in a culture in which song and dance were highly appreciated.

In my father’s house at Shivsagar, which was a joint family, conditions favorable to the development of the arts, prevailed. Song and dance were natural contexts of family life. We used to perform plays and song and dance recitals.

In the tea estates there were bihu dances and the santhal labourers originally from Bihar and the Chotonagpur areas, would dance; however, we did not participate in those dances.

At age 6-7, we came to Kolkata. That was around 1941. Rabindranath had just passed away.  Shortly after,  we soon went to Shantiniketan for a visit. At that point, I did not know any other language, other than Assamese.

I loved Shantiniketan. I told my parents that I wanted to study there. Song, dance and studies were part of the integrated academic programme at Shantiniketan. There were Manipuri dance classes. I attended some of these classes. Perhaps my very early initiation into Manipuri dance at Shantiniketan, directed my later choice to become a Manipuri dancer.

I came away from Shantiniketan when I was nine. I was then enrolled at Bani Vidya Bithi, a regular school where I also learnt  singing and dancing.  Manipuri, Bharat Natyam and Kathak, were all taught at this school, and one had to learn everything. This continued till I was in class 10. There was no specialization at that time.

Then when I studied for my intermediate degree at Ashutosh College, I became friends with Bhanu Singh. She was the daughter of famous nrittyaguru Brajabashi Singh. I used to go with her to her house. I took dance lessons with her father. We used to call him Master Mashay. I found out that I had a flair for Manipuri dancing and it became my intimate thing, thereafter. I started developing a very close relationship with this dance form. I went to many recitals and conferences with them.

Eventually I was admitted to Presidency College for the B.A. degree. However, I left shortly after and joined Lady Keane College in Shillong. I studied Philosophy. I thought it would answer many questions that Life awoke in me.  I was not doing dance seriously at all, then.

Then I came to Kolkata to study for the M.A. I was a student of Philosophy at the University of Calcutta. I resumed dance classes with MasterMashai, Brajabasi Singh. At that time, there used to be an Inter University Youth Festival, held at Delhi, every year. Nehru had started this from 1954. I started studying the M.A. from 1955. Nehru had started this festival, as a way of empowering the youth of the country.

I represented the University of Calcutta.

I gave a solo performance. Held in the Talkatora gardens.  

Guwahati University was represented by a Manipuri girl, who gave a solo performance in Manipuri dance.  It was a revelation.  As I watched her perform, I realized that whatever I had learnt till then was not the authentic thing. She demonstrated for me, what dance really could be like.  I wanted to learn the real thing, but was 21 years old only, and did not know how or where I could do that.

By that time I was already engaged to be married. My husband to be was on Probation in the Allied IAS Services, and I had two years (1956—1958), in which to do whatever I wanted to do.

Uday Shankar lived opposite my parental home on Golf Club Road, in Film Services (name of quarters). I used to be fascinated by his dance.  He was very affectionate towards me; he was extremely approachable and allowed me to go and watch his dance rehearsals.

The Academy of Dance, Drama and Music was established by the government of West Bengal in 1954. Uday Shankar was made the Dean for the Faculty of Dance.  Classes were held at Jorasanko. I used to go there by bus.

The Academy offered classes in Kathak, Bharat Natyam, Kathakali and Manipuri. It also offered classes in Dada Uday Shankar’s own style of dancing.

I asked her, whether Uday Shankar’s style was an amalgamation of classical Indian dance traditions. She said, ‘innovative’ not ‘amalgamated’. She continued:

It was an innovative style of dancing. There was no precedence for it in Indian traditions. He was not previously trained in any classical form of Indian dance. He accidentally arrived into the field of dance.

While studying painting in England/London with William Rothenstein, Uday Shankar came to know that the famous Russian dancer, Anna Pavlova, was looking for someone to play the role of Krishna to her Radha. Uday Shankar volunteered to dance.

Rothenstein told  him to take a month off from classes, go to the British Museum and study ancient Indian Art and iconography to form some idea of Indian dance or movement aesthetics.

After having done this, Uday  Shankar evolved his own innovative form, and danced with Anna Pavlova, who played Radha in her own distinctive way and within her own stylistics. Their joint presentation was a huge hit.

After this performance, Rothenstein told him to go back to India and study dance seriously. Uday Shankar came back to India and followed Rothenstein’s advice seriously. He travelled to the original centers of the different classical dance schools. He even observed beggars, who often do Radha/Krishna items. He developed the concept of the shadow in dance. He worked with Ramayana themes and the life of Buddha.

He also observed folk rituals and dance rituals in villages. This is how his art evolved.

Uday Shankar left no stone unturned in order to reach the heart of his Art. His was true sadhana.

 Dada Uday Shankar who had observed me for some time at the Academy of Dance, one day called me apart and told me that I should do Manipuri dance and that he would give me the name of a guru. This happened to be the same person who used to teach Manipuri Dance at the Uday Shankar India Cultural Centre at Almora. This centre had been functional between the years 1937—41. The name of the guru was Maisnam Amubi Singh.

When I went to Manipur to meet Amubi Singh, I saw how dance was a way of life in Manipur. It was not simply what people did for only the stage. But that it penetrated every aspect of life. That dance could be such a serious affair, is something I discovered at Manipur.

Amubi Singh asked me why I wanted to stay at Manipur and learn dance. I would have had to stay at his house, which did not even have a proper toilet. People in those days went to the pond to have a bath. I told him that I was serious about learning Manipuri dance. He said that his house would not be able to offer the comforts that I must be used to, and that I would definitely miss my parents. But I was determined.

From my Guru’s house I went to the Laihara Oba dance utsav. This was basically a Puja done in the presence of sylvan deities, worshipped at Manipur from the pre-Vaishnava days. Vaishnavism came to Manipur in the 18^th century.

At this utsav I saw for the first time how dance and empowerment were linked in the lives of women. The entire Puja or dance ceremony was conducted by the maibis, the female custodians of this dance cum Puja form. One would call them female purohits. They lived in special communities, interacted with the general populace, but somehow remained separate and distinctive.

When I went to the bazaar (haat), I saw that it was women who did the business. I was moved and deeply impressed.

I was with Guruji for two and half years. During this time (1957), my M.A. results had come out, and I had received a High Second class. I applied to a college at Imphal—Dhanamanjari College. I got the appointment.  For these two and half years, I taught during the day, and both the Principal of the college and Guruji, adusted their time schedules in a way that would cause me the least difficulty.

My husband- to- be completed his probationary period in 1960 and I came to Kolkata to be married.

Before I left Dhanamanjari College, the Principal announced that he would not let me go if I did not do a dance recital. I gave solo performances along with another of my Guruji’s dance scholars.

I had done the same when I left Sri Shikshayatan college, where I had worked briefly on a leave vacancy (1959—1960). This performance too was held in their college auditorium, Dada Uday Shankar ji came to the performance, and blessed me after it was over.

He was in the Railway Services, and I soon went to Jodhpur, where he was first posted. I practically gave up serious dancing, although I did conduct Chitrangada for one of the Durga Puja celebrations there. 

I turned my attention to cooking. My husband’s family was from Dacca. My mother in law would visit us and she insisted that I learn the distinctive Dacca style of cooking. This is a difficult style. She did not teach this to her daughters, because it would mean too much effort for them. However (with a smile) deeply concerned that her son would suffer the ill effects of any other culinary style, she taught it to me.

Today when my sisters in law are in any difficulty with this cooking, they consult me (smile).

 I asked her, why  she used the name ‘Debjani Chaliha’ when she was so clearly also Minakshi Basu? Did her passport have both names?

What unfolded was a fascinating story which provides an  interesting glimpse of the different set of premises that go with the different names; one wonders if there is a splitting of the self, and whether all performance artists who are women, can carry this split, especially since women have to play so many roles. The different names enact the gap that lies between the orders of Art and Reality. Minakshi Basu, the wife of Bhaiya Basu, Railway Officer, who is an expert in Dhaka style cuisine. Debjani Chaliha? The renowned dancer, replete and autonomous in her world of classical Manipuri dance.

This is the story behind the naming of the artist persona. Debjani was the name that came up in Yajna, which created the horoscope.  Her mother, ardently committed to the Arts herself, wanted to record two Assamese songs on the occasion of the centenary of  Sahityarathi Lakshmikant Bej Barua (1971) She asked her daughter Debjani/Minakshi to sing these two songs, which were recorded by HRC, at Kolkata. The first one composed by Bej Baura was ‘O mor aponar desh’ , which is a kind of national song in Assam. The other was a song from the first Assamese film and composed by Jyotiprasad Agarola: ‘loba buda kak/koi dalimi  nubune tak’.

My question: It was an act that was bold and singular at that time, wasn’t it, for a woman to ask her married daughter to adopt her maiden last name, Chaliha, in order to claim an identity that was outside her marriage?

 

Yes, it was. And the wonderful part of it all, was that my husband encouraged the persona name.

In 1970, I met Kulada Bhattacharya, who had recently returned from England with training in Media Studies, who lives in Guwahati now, and who  has been an important figure in Assamese television, in directing television  films and serials.  Kulada strongly advised me to take up  dance  seriously and make it a professional career.

Around this time, my mother who had been living at Kolkata since 1947, at 47 Uday Shankar Sarani, wanted to organize a dance show in which she wanted me to perform for my grandmother, who had never really seen me dance, professionally.

This program was arranged at my brother’s house at Sunny Park. It was actually the house of his wife’s Mamima, Romola Sinha,  who was the founder of the All Bengal Women’s Union Home. This house had a large verandah in which a performance could be staged. Friends and family came. The show was a huge success, and with a group of my friends, among  whom were Sasanka Pal and Dhrubo Shome and of course, Kulada, I decided to become a fully fledged professional dancer. 

I next gave a solo performance at Kala Mandir on September 29. 1970. I was 38 years old then. I played Radha and another dancer came to perform as Krishna. At that time no other dancer other than Bala Saraswati gave solo performances of this nature, and the show was a huge hit. A profit of 2000.00 was made from it.

I started getting invitations from many places. I was invited by the Rotary Club, by Max Mueller Bhavan.  My husband helped with advertisements. O.C. Ganguly did the posters.

I have done two tours in Assam. I have also given a solo performance at Rashtrapati Bhavan. I  was  invited by the Manipuri State Kala Academy in 1982, for workshops and seminars. 

I have evolved  my own dance curriculum which I shared with them. The chali, requires the use of both hands and feet, and in order to break students gently into this classical form, I have evolved my own structure which includes:

1.      Yogasana

2.      Dance exercises

3.      Rhythm exercises

4.      Steps

5.      Chali

I began my own dance school Metei Jagoi (Manipuri Dance) in the year 1971 and I began with six students. Today I have thirty and my troupe gives performances at Kolkata, almost every year.  

I wond the Raindrapuraskar, give to me by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, on the occasion of Rabindranath Tagore’s 150^th birth anniversary, in 2012.

It would have been nice to have a fuller closing section to this interview or fascinating oral narration; However, time constraints and logistics prevented that. I learnt a great deal from these interactions. Most importantly, mother daughter continuums are very important in most womanly achievement, and the continuum may also include grandmothers. One spectacular example of a mother-daughter empowered continuum from recent Bengali history,  is that of Swarnakumari Devi and Sarala Devi Choudhurani (Rabindranath’s older sister and niece). There are many others too. One can think of Gangubai Hangal and Hirabai Barodekar (classical musicians). Other mother-daughter clusters that I can think of include Sarojini Naidu and Padmaja Naidu,  Mridula Sarabhai and Mallika Sarabhai, Manjushree Chaki Sarkar and Ranjabati Chaki Sarkar, Sumitra Sen, Indrani and Sraboni Sen. I am sure there are many more that I am leaving out. Woman’s achievement is thus often a generational affair.

Class too plays a significant role, whereby higher class positioning facilitates the accessibility of resources and learning tools.  In addition, the support of progressive families is very necessary, in order  for a performance artist especially, to flourish, since the performance arts require significant interface and negotiation of spaces outside the ‘home’.

Interview conducted and commentary written by Sreemati Mukherjee, Associate Professor, Department of English.