I am a person who loves to learn new things and as I spent few months in India, I found out many things about Indian dance form. In fact, I was majorly helped by one of my friend, Sulini, who is a professional Kathakali dancer. I came to know her, in one of the performances in US and somehow I was very impressed by the moments and the emotions shown in the dance.

Interestingly, she not only knew her dance but also about others. My perfect guide for me in India who helped me throughout my visit . " So, what do you want to know? " asked Sulini. "Everything, about Indian dance form" I replied.

" Hey! first you tell me about your dance, Kathakali" . She told me that Kathakali literally means story-play and is an elaborate dance depicting the victory of truth over falsehood. A Striking feature of Kathakali is the use of elaborate make-up and colourful Dances. This is to emphasize that the characters are superbeings from another world, and their make-up is easily recognisable to the trained eye as satvik or godlike, rajasik or heroic, and tamasik or demonic. Interesting, I thought.

Then she also told me about another dance form that her sister was was practicing Bharatnatayam. Bharata Natyam dance has been handed down through the centuries by dance teachers or the gurus called nattuwanars and the temple dancers, called devadasis. In the sacred environment of the temple these familes developed and propagated their heritage. I was shocked to know that the training traditionally took around seven years under the direction of the nattuwanar who were scholars and persons of great learning. The four great nattuwanars of Tanjore were known as the Tanjore Quartet and were brothers named Chinnaiah, Ponnaiah, Vadivelu and Shivanandam.

In fact, through Sulini and her friends, I also came to know about some other dance forms like the Kathak of Uttar Pradesh, Manipuri of Manipur.

One of my friend, Steven , who explored Kerala have contributed a write up on Dance and performing arts of Kerala. I was also electrified by the music of India. And the major force of me getting attracted towards the music was the musical show of th great legend Bismillah Khan. The Indian Music is one of the oldest and long lasting musical traditions in the world. It is said that the origins of this system go back to the Vedas or the ancient scripts of the Hindus. Such legends go a long way in showing the importance that music has in defining Indian culture