Dancing Gets You Flying...as Tejaswini has it - 2!

Tejaswini was the kind of child who would stop mid-bite at the sound of an aeroplane passing over Pushkar. While her classmates solved equations and memorised definitions, she stared out of classroom windows, imagining clouds, wings, and distant worlds. To her, flying was not merely travel; it was freedom itself.

Born into a modest family in Pushkar, her father ran a small shop selling school bags and stationery, while her mother worried constantly about her daughter’s uncertain future. Neighbours often whispered about the quiet girl who seemed lost in dreams she could never explain.

And perhaps Tejaswini herself had no explanation.

She only knew that somewhere beyond the hills, temples, and dusty lanes of Pushkar, there existed a world larger than the one she had inherited.

A friend once suggested she become an air hostess. For a moment, the idea lit up her face. But her mother immediately refused. Another friend mentioned modelling, but that possibility, too, was shut down before it could fully form.

Gradually, her dreams retreated into silence.

Then one afternoon, while walking home from school near the Purana Rangji Temple, she heard music drifting through the stone corridors. It was unlike anything she had heard before — ancient, disciplined, almost spiritual. Curious, she peeped through a partially open doorway and saw foreigners performing a classical Indian dance form she had never witnessed.

Their movements resembled temple sculptures coming alive.

The child stood frozen.

“This is Bhagwan ka dance,” she whispered to herself.

From the next day onward, her life changed. After school, she would rush to the temple and stand outside the class for hours, silently observing every movement — the tilt of the neck, the rhythm of the feet, the language of the hands, the thunder of ghungroos.

Eventually, she gathered the courage to ask the director if she could learn the dance.

The answer was immediate: no.

The classes were full. Training required fees, discipline, commitment, and background. She was simply a local schoolgirl who stood outside and stared.

But rejection did not weaken her resolve. She returned every day and continued watching from the doorway. If she could not enter the room, she would still learn from the threshold.

One afternoon, an elderly visiting Guru noticed the same girl standing outside in the scorching heat, watching with unwavering concentration. There was no impatience in her eyes, no entitlement — only hunger to learn.

“You stand here every day?” he asked gently.

The girl straightened instantly.

“My name is Tejaswini,” she replied softly.

The old man smiled — not indulgently, but knowingly, as if he had recognised something rare.

Without formal admission or certainty about her future, Swini continued returning to those temple halls where Odissi felt less like performance and more like prayer. Yet life outside the temple remained harsh. By 2011, while studying in Class 9, financial difficulties and domestic responsibilities forced her to leave school.

The schoolbag disappeared. The classroom window vanished. Even dance slowly drifted away.

Then came 2012 — the year that changed everything.

One afternoon, word spread that a respected Guru had arrived at her modest home. He spoke to her parents not about fame, but about discipline, art, and the rare sincerity he had seen in their daughter.

“She deserves one chance,” he said quietly.

After hesitation and long discussions, the family finally agreed.

The next morning, Swini arrived for her first formal training session under Guru Shri Padma Charan Dehury. Nervous and overwhelmed, she approached Guruji before class and softly asked the question troubling her most:

“Guruji… how much will the fees be?”

The old master looked at her carefully and replied, “Your fees will be bigger than the others.”

Fear instantly crossed her face. She thought of her father’s small earnings and the burdens already weighing upon the family.

Then Guruji smiled faintly.

“You will return every step I teach you the very next day,” he said.

“That will be your fees.”

No money. Only discipline, practice, and complete surrender to the art.

And so began her true journey into Odissi.

Under Guruji’s rigorous yet deeply spiritual guidance, hours dissolved into practice. Mudras entered muscle memory. Rhythm entered the soul. The little girl who once dreamed of flying through skies slowly discovered another way to rise.

Then came her first performance at a temple festival in Pushkar, organised by Guruji and herself.

As lamps flickered against temple walls and musicians prepared backstage, Guruji quietly adjusted her costume and offered only one instruction:

“Dance with honesty.”

That night, when Swini stepped onto the stage, Pushkar no longer saw a hesitant girl from a humble lane.

It witnessed the birth of an Odissi dancer.

 

 ... story to be continued

 

The storyteller is a psychotherapist, pranic healer based in Delhi; Views presented are personal.