Out of the Box

"What is he doing here?" Akshara nudged Tanusha while balancing herself in a half-squat stand or Aramandi' as their Bharatanatyam teacher Gayathri, called it.

- Sarvamitra

Tanusha's pink-and-green Bharatanatyam costume was drenched from head to toe with sweat. Her neat braid was coming off with all the dancing, and she looked at the entrance, irritated. Jagan was standing there, looking at the dancers in awe. He was a senior in school and the head of the Cultural Club. Tanusha shrugged in reply. Her energy was focused on getting her balance right. They had been practising the 'Aramandi' for nearly half an hour now and Tanusha was feeling like she was hit by an earthquake.

"6...7... 8 and good. Girls, take a five-minute break and get back to your positions!"

The students let out a collective sigh in response and sat on the floor, breathing heavily.

"Come in!" Ms Gayathri had noticed Jagan and invited him in. Jagan removed his footwear and placed it next to the neatly arranged slippers on either side of the room. He walked in with folded hands and said, "Ma'am, I want to learn Bharatanatyam too!"

"What a fool! He can't join this dance class!" Akshara whispered, her face twisted in disgust.

"Maybe he likes dancing," Tanusha countered.

"Doesn't he know that Bharatanatyam is for girls?" Akshara asked icily.

Tanusha wanted to retort that 'Nataraja-the lord of dance was male', like Jagan, but was cut short by Ms Gayathri who summoned the class to attention.

"I am going to give him a piece of my mind after class," Akshara vowed to herself before getting into position for the next set of warm-up exercises.

After class, Akshara walked up to Jagan and tapped on his shoulder, "Hi Jagan, all our braids are opening up, how is your 'braid' intact?" Akshara asked. Jagan sensed that Akshara was being snarky, and took the remark in his stride. "Is it? Thanks for noticing, Akshara! That's because I tied the braid the French way." He turned and made a gesture of flipping his braids back.