I noticed in the newspaper that one of the legendary Jhaveri sisters, Darshana, was giving a talk at kitab khana, my favorite bookstore. Bliss would describe the respite from mumbai’s afternoon heat in air-conditioned comfort. Junoon is a fairly new organisation tapping Mumbai’s artistic talent in small gatherings at different venues around the city. The enthusiastic and professional way this program was held was impressive. Sunil Shanbagh along with a few young actors gave a theatre/poetry performance that was very moving. Beautifully done with an excellent successful mix of english, hindi and even kashmiri. After that were the fascinating reminiscences of Darshana Jhaveri. I found her story fascinating and recounting of it mesmerizing. The story is quite amazing of four gujarati girls learning manipuri dance in bombay and going to Manipur and the difficulties of gaining acceptance there from the conservative gurus. They also faced resistance in preparing a Manipuri program of 2 hours for the modern stage that could be seen to cheapen or corrupt the art. I could have listened to her for hours. Photos and videos were very helpful too. She herself, though not young anymore demonstrated Manipuri movements in a most graceful interesting way. I took the opportunity to ask her if there had been a devdasi tradition in Manipur and she gave a detailed if perhaps somewhat technically over my head affirmation. I also hope that she and her sisters have been video recorded for the oral history not only of the Jhaveri sisters, but also of Manipuri dance and its interaction with the dance world in the 40’s 50’s and after. Thanks to all of these people, especially Junoon and Darshana Jhaveri for this outstanding program
