A fascinating account of 'rebirth' & transformation

Gotie Jibana Dui JanamaOdia translation of autobiography of Ileana Citaristireflects the shadows deeper than the treeHiran-mayee's acute and accurate reflection of the dancer's memoir in Odia.

- PROF TAPAN K PANDA

The original English version MY JOURNEY: a Tale of Two Births is not just a dancer's memoir but a moving narrative about the courage of leaving everything familiar and embracing unusual in an entirely different territory. This is all about exploring a culture and surrendering to a new, challenging life. The translation of beautifully reflective, honest and takes the reader to the world of surrender, devotion and spiritualism. The collection is definitely a valuable and motivational reading for dancers, cultural anthropologists and anyone who loves stories on migration transformation, dedication and devotion.

I had the chance of reading both the English and Odia translated version of the book and can fairly say that the translation sounds lucid and contextual as the life story largely revolves around Odisha and Odissi dance. So in the process of learning a classical dance, the book transforms into a memoir of cultural and social integration to reflect on the symbiotic existence of a resilient foreigner and all-embracing Odia culture of universal brotherhood. The book is a testimony to a life led with passion, dedication and unwavering search for cultural and spiritual meaning. The book chronicles artistic achievements which are natural to a memoir but the translator has exceptionally contextualized the experiences by using the neckbone of the cultural contextOdia language.