Hi, I am Bhaswati

People always say, dream big!!! But to me, dreams don’t have to be big always. As a kid, I dreamt of being able to dance gracefully. I grew up in a lower-middle-class Indian family where spending money on something on top of education needed a lot of calculations and discussions. This is probably why a dance lesson never happened to me in my early life. In school, I was never considered for dance performances. It was painful, but I never expressed it because I didn’t want to be considered a loser. The pain and the dream stayed together, deep inside my heart, hibernating. But God was not totally merciless; she had some plans for me, even if not extensive.

For most of us who are from suburbs of West Bengal, India, there is a concept called “para culture,” defined by neighbors coming together, practicing everyday things, organizing events, etc. As a part of this culture, our elders conceived the idea of organizing an annual cultural event. I don’t know how happy it made them, but to me, it was a boon, a small step towards my dream. Being in a small community, I was considered an essential artist. I was even choreographing for smaller kids. Each year I waited eagerly for the event. It gave me a chance to live my dream once a year. Till 2011, this was the only platform for me. As I moved out of home for higher studies, I needed a different plan. Fortunately, I was always an outgoing, social and extroverted person. So it didn’t take me long to get familiar with the cultural clubs when I joined IIT Kanpur. IITK has been special to me in so many ways; one of them is it gave me a chance to put on my dancing shoes for different genres. I did the tango, tried Bollywood, and grooved with MJ. By the end of my IITK journey, I had strangers asking me “Oh you danced on that song, didn’t you?” However small it is, it was special to me. But still, I remained as a dancer without training, without perfect body language.

In 2018, when I moved to the States, I was afraid that I was getting detached from my culture. Again, as a lower-middle-class girl, I was never introduced to global culture so I was scared I would be lost. But no! God again had plans, so among the thousands of universities, I got into Penn State. Penn State introduced me to a group of people who loved music, dance, and other performing arts formats. We practiced every now and then in all parties and performed annually at our regional festival. The ultimate gift of Penn State to a novice dancer like me was Mrs. Anitha Vijay, whom I met in 2019. I started learning a classical dance form “Bharatnatyam” from her soon. I can’t thank her enough for the patience and faith she has shown in me. Holding her hands, I started gaining that body language I had always dreamt of. I performed pure classical dance pieces on stage, which was a dream come true.

I know life will take me to places, but I also know life will give me chances; chances to live my dreams, to face the audience, to dance to life…and its whispering to my ears, “it is never too late”…