Skip to main content

Dance

Photo by Drew Colins on Unsplash  


In 6th grade,
a group of girls 
refused to take me in 
for an intra-school group dance competition,
some thought I didn't look good enough to be on stage,
some thought I didn't dance well enough to be on stage,
they danced for Aaja Nachle,
the irony of it all.
I have no hatred for any of those girls,
I don't even remember most of them,
they did only what they knew,
the problem with that incident 
especially at the age of 11 or 12,
is that I was never angry with them 
as much as I was with myself 
for not being good enough.
Today is international dance day,
so much has changed since then,
dance has meant a lot of things over the years to me,
so this is to remind you 
that the stage will never define what it is to move your body to the rhythm of your soul,
to feel sweat dripping down your elbows,
so this is for you 
who dances in the shower,
who dances in your bedroom,
who dances on a friday night with a closed of group of friends,
who can break into a dance in the middle of a debate,
this is for you 
to hold your body like an abode of all the gods that have names and all those that don't, 
and swing your arms into this universe 
without a knot in the center of your stomach,
this for your 
feet that taps,
hands that drum,
heads that nod,
and goes unnoticed,
this is for you 
who dances like the wind,
and tell me 
who can ask the wind 
to not move?
Happy international dance day to you.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

List of Confessions

Photo by  Álvaro Serrano  on  Unsplash One, You should try writing a love letter to yourself, I have written one to myself, it took me 17 years to complete it, that's also how long it took  for me to decide  if I loved myself. Two, I believe that the heart is flat  in our minds, that's why it is so easy to  rekindle a wound and also why  everything is just a finger's distance from healing. Three, I forgot my own phone number at a cafe coffee day counter, she kept repeating  the first few numbers that I had uttered without giving me space to think, maybe we are all her  when it comes to counting our mistakes. Four, I have a thing for languages, both for those I understand and those that I don't,  I would listen to hours and hours of urdu poetry  without knowing what it meant, maybe that is also one kind of silence. Five, I have thought too often about  what I would name myself  if not for what I have been named, everyt...
Post a Comment
Read more

Her Dreams Cut Open

Picture Credits: Sheela Pillai She dreamt of the ripples that mirrored every word in her heart, she dreamt of the memories that kindled the past with heavy brushes, she dreamt of love-struck flowers  that yearned for shadows of the sun, she dreamt of all the wreckage the meteors had showered over her soul, she dreamt of the fingers  that burnt the fire, she dreamt of the voices that seeped through the rustic winds. She dreamt of him. She dreamt of her. She dreamt of everything the universe would never understand. She dreamt of you.                                                                    -Vasanthi
Post a Comment
Read more

Faces That I Remember

Rowing through the spirals of memories that stalk my life, I squish, swirl and stumble as I see myself flipping through the pages  of the million people I remember. One of them was a woman, who grabbed a random kid  running in the corridor  and said “I loved the way you laughed today”. A minute later I saw that kid walk away with a smile on his face. A teacher, she was. Handled none of my classes but taught me something that was way beyond books, chalks and blackboards. There was a young girl the other day who wouldn’t take her eyes off the window. “Is it the chocolate shop that you’re looking at?“ I ask and she says “no, I’m looking at that raindrop that is yet to dry”. and all I could do, was smile. Yet another day  I saw a guy run,  as though he was running a race, all alone. But later I realized  that he had seen an old friend, walk across the road and all he wanted to do was make up for the time he lost. These are just a few among the many w...
Post a Comment
Read more