Dr. Vyjayantimala Bali. The name shall never stop ringing a bell in the ears of the billions of people on this planet. The epitome of perfect beauty, grace, hard work and perfection. Sometimes it is said that the eyes can deceive and that is how the popular saying ‘looks can be deceptive’ came up. But here neither have my eyes deceived me nor her looks. .
Singing for her dance is the most uplifting experience of my life. I feel I am truly blessed to even see her beautiful feet take one step forward. The way she immerses herself in the dance, gets into the shoes or much better, the soul of the character she is portraying, be it the ‘nayika’ who is waiting for her lord as in many varnams, the most memorable being the Tanjore Quartrets’ Kambodhi pada varnam, my first ever for her and Suma Saayaka, the effervescent master piece of Swati Tirunal that she performed in Delhi; the ‘gopi’ who is exasperated by Lord Krshna’s pranks on her and decides to see tongue in cheek with him and intelligently replies to all of Krshna’s statements in the Shloka extract from Krshna Karnaamrtam that she did in Calcutta, or the farmer who is generally complaining about the society which held the Mylapore audiences’ attention so much so that even a pin dropped could be heard, or Shri Andal, who sings beautiful verses on her Lord, that she performs before every concert.. I can go on and on about every single role and movement of hers. Words are just not enough to express the beauty of this peerless sculpture that has taken a human form.
The practice sessions that are innumerable in number for every program of hers are a joy in themselves. A true perfectionist, she does not stop with correcting just me and the accompanists but even with herself, she is never lenient. Her irritation when something goes slightly wrong will never result in a scream drama but in more and more of practice and just sheer practice by all of us. By saying ‘slightly wrong’, the extent can be compared to what will happen to the food if one prepared it with just one grain of salt less!
Vyjayantimala ma is one truly multifaceted person, juggling the roles of a legendary dancer, yesteryear film star, former MP and not many would know, a reigning champion of golf and table tennis, though she does not indulge herself in playing them now. With so many feathers in her cap, she is so humble and childlike, and takes so much pleasure in even small things like treating herself on a box of her favorite sweets. I think most sweet shop owners would give a whole shop of them to her! With so much, she is very religious and God fearing and attributes all her success to Shri Andal.
I have no words to explain what I feel at this moment, even thinking of her. As joyous tears well up in my eyes, reminiscing on the hard work that goes into every performance, the dancing feet, the expressive eyes and not to forget the charming smile, my happiness knows no bounds. She is a true artiste and I say this not without a proof. In one of her performances that was a tribute to the great composer Oottukkadu Venkata Kavi, I remember she was dancing for a song in praise of Lord Hanuman, Bhakta bhagadheya. The last scene depicted the story where Hanuman proves his devotion to Lord Rama by tearing open his chest. She was so moved that she was in tears, as there was a thundering applause for yet another of her divine and mesmerizing dance. She completely immersed herself in playing the role of Hanuman or else such an unconscious reaction would not have been the result.
Though I can write volumes about her, I am restricting myself to these pages. I feel extremely lucky to observe her from such a close range. It is a dream come true for millions of people on Earth but to have it fulfilled when I am just a teenager is nothing but The Lord’s and my Guru’s choicest blessings on me. I shall always look forward to every meeting with her and quench my thirst to learn more and more…
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