Shashibala, The Brave Servant Girl!

I felt as if I had walked along that bridge, a long time ago, in a different age. Strange! That was my first visit to the historic Fort in a small town called Monger.

The guide went on and on describing every little detail about the kings and queens. But I was not listening! The lake was holding me in a trance.

I was seeing a pitiable face down in the lake, crying out to me, asking me to rescue her. 

Instinctively, I screamed, “Hang on girl, I will help!”. 

“Who needs help? Are you okay?,” the guide asked me. I nodded with some embarrasment.

Later in the tour, the guide showed us the portrait of a brave servant girl who had drowned in the lake while saving a princess from drowning. 

It all came back to me. I looked closer and whispered – Shashibala!!!

(This post is dedicated to the maid, who saved my grandmother from drowning. When my grandmother was a little girl, she used to swim using an inverted earthen pot (matki), which slipped out of her hand on that fateful day. The brave girl died saving her.)

This is my entry to the flash fiction challenge, Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers hosted by the lovely Priceless Joy. We are given a photo prompt and approximately 75-175 words with which to create our stories. This challenge is open to all who would like to participate. Please CLICK HERE for more. Thank you Joy Pixley for the image!

The Exotic Nautch Girl

I first saw a nautch girl (dancer) when I was a little girl. We were at our mother’s village to attend a wedding and the nautch girl was standing in front of the community guest house.

She was ordinary looking but had a pleasant form. What made her special was the buzz surrounding her! Ladies were throwing scrutinizing glances at her while gents were checking her out through the corner of their eyes. Old ladies were chatting about beautiful baijis (another name for nautch girl) of their time. The arrival of the nautch girl had made the calm village a little noisy. She was considered a public woman, a fallen woman and everyone wanted to have a good look at her. But for me, she was exotic!

One of my relatives chided me for peeping at her. “She is not a good lady. Stay away from her. She is a nachaniya (another name for nautch girl). She dances and entertains the male crowd. Nice girls never go near her.” Her words made me all the more curious. And throughout the day, I kept a watch over the dancer through the window.

In the evening, I saw her washing her face and getting ready for the dance. We heard that groom and the baraat (group) had been received and were resting in the tents. I couldn’t wait to see her dance.

Well, at the auspicious time, the groom arrived with pomp and splendour. The nautch girl began to perform a welcome dance in front of the group. She had whiten her face, stained her teeth with betel and put on a lot of make up. Under bright lights, she looked younger than she actually was. The ladies watched the welcoming of the groom from the terrace while gents stood around her in a circle. Some young baraatis threw money at her which she pocketed fliratatiously.

I watched from above while she danced on and on…on that magical night. I forgot all about the wedding but her forbidden persona stayed with me.

It was later in life that I learnt more about the likes of her. I had almost forgotten about my exotic nautch girl when I came across this quote by James Forbes (Oriental Memoirs 1813)-

“Nautch girls are extremely delicate in their person, soft and regular in their features, with a form of perfect symmetry, and although dedicated from infancy to this profession, they in general preserve a decency and modesty in their demeanor, which is more likely to allure than the shameless effrontery of similar characters in other countries.”

I learnt that possibly my nautch girl was a crude and jaded version of the former nautch girls, who were superior in art and bearing. With time, during family functions, nautch girls got replaced by choreographed dancers.  And now we have DJs playing songs at every wedding.

Earlier, they were a prominent part of Indian life and culture during the second half of the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries. They were mostly teenage girls, who typically performed in Mughal courts, the palaces of nawabs, the mahals of rajas, the bungalows of officers of the British Raj, the houses of zamindars as well as at ordinary homes wherever they were invited. Sometimes they arrived with their troupe without any invitation to a celebration and patrons were expected to pay them. They would break into an impromptu dance whenever situation demanded.

It should be kept in mind that they were not into flesh trade and their husbands accompanied them as one of the musicians. Their dance forms were an amalgam of prevalent dance forms of India at that time.

As royalty faded, the tradition of nautch lost its lustre. Some of them joined films and theatre. They have been widely portrayed in films too. The prominent ones among them were Shashimukhi from Chitpur and Phanibala. Shashimukhi was the first recorded artist of India. She went on to become the tragedy queen of Bengal theatre. 

Further on, nautch girls lost their dignity and came to be seen primarily as sex workers. That is why my concerned relative had admonished me – “Nice girls never go near them”.

I do not know whether the nautch forms are still alive in some corner of India or not but I cannot help remembering that particular  nautch girl, who had looked so divine to me! I had followed her almost like a fan adores a film star. I had enjoyed her playfulness and dance moves. I did not know then that I was witnessing a fading tradition…

Images courtesy Google

Can we reset our past?

Can we change our past? Most of us would answer an emphatic ‘No’ to this question. We have always been told that our past can never be changed.

But this particular quote by the great Richard Bach got me thinking. 

You are always free to change your mind and choose a different future, or a different past.                                                                     

Choose a different past, really? What made Richard Bach write that? I thought.
Further research made me smile. I got my answer! Bach was right! Our past can really be changed. I learnt that our past is energy and made up of our experiences…of what we have gone through in our private world. If we change the way we look at our past, our past will take a different shape… thereby liberating us in our present and changing our future for better.

Even if two people were a part of the same incident, their perspective about it would differ from each other. Past is a variable…If it was invariable, every person in a particular time and place would have undergone exactly the same kind of emotions, same sort of feelings and level of trauma. But everyone has a different past. You and your sibling’s past could be similar but not same!  

I learnt that our past can be changed by changing our perspective towards it, through creativity, positivity and visualization of the event. It can be changed through different ways, which you can read in this inspiring post here. (http://simonarich.com/change-your-past)

Dear confidantes, if something about your past is troubling you, take this journey – Go back in time, look at the incident as an observer and try to help your ‘stuck’ self there by being positive and strong. Tell yourself – you will emerge stronger after this! Be creative and strong as you live through it!

We derive strength from our past when we have a grim present…why not the other way round? Everything is possible! 

We are always free to change our mind and choose a different future, or a different past.

Images courtesy Google

Quotes by Great Men on India!

  
Lately, I have been missing my motherland, India, rather sorely. In flashes, the memory of my country haunts me as I go about doing my daily task. I recall the biddings of my grandmother, the care of my parents, the playfulness of my siblings, the chidings of my teachers, the companionship of my friends, the humdrum of daily life, the sights, the feel…everything.  I guess, I am homesick and I need to see that beloved land soon.

A while back, two lovely bloggers Susan Langer and Sneha had challenged me for 3 Quotes 3 Days challenge. Do check out their wonderful blogs. 

The Rules of the challenge:

1. Post three consecutive days.

2. You can pick one or three quotes per day.

3. Challenge three different bloggers per day.

——————————-Today, I shall take up this challenge and since I feel homesick, my thoughts and quotes revolve around India . However, I am taking the liberty of combining the three quotes three days challenge into one due to time constraints. I hope I will be forgiven.

I have chosen 9 great quotes ( courtesy Google) on my motherland, written by famous people. I think you will like them! 

  
  
   

  
 
  
   
 
 
  
 And last but not the least, once again by Albert Einstein:
  
As for the third rule of the challenge, I nominate You. Do try this fun challenge, if You have the time and something to say. Take care!

Images courtesy Google