Happiness Guaranteed – Make time for a hobby

Whatever your age is, make time for your hobby, do things you love that will truly make you happy!It is a great stress buster and gives you a great positive energy. As we age, we do not care to make time for a hobby. But it is not right. A hobby is a way to focus on something you love and genuinely feel happy about.

How My Hobby Started

I come from the Southern Part of India and at our place Bharathanatyam is the famous traditional classical dance. Our neighbour states are famous for Kathakali and Mohiniyattam, two equally invigorating dance forms. Dance is always a good outlet for excessive energy. But for some reason I was never interested in taking up formal classical dance classes when I was younger. Not even when my sister started classes at the Kalakshetra. No, it just didn’t interest me the way western dances did (Read hindi and Tamil movie dances).

So I was surprised when I started getting interested in Kathak in my mid-thirties.

Why kathak?

This is the answer. Kathak seemed exotic and from a  faraway land. (Not really that far if you actually think about it). Growing up, I had seen various performances of Bharathanatyam, some by experts, some who thought of themselves as experts, some who performed a mix of dance moves and dared to call it Bharathanatyam and some earnestly trying young dancers. For me it had lost its allure because of that, though it is a breath-taking dance form which is beautiful and graceful as expected of a traditional dance.

With regards to Kathakali and mohiniyattam, I saw some excellent dance performances and some not-so-good ones on various stages. So Kathak had the advantage of luring me with its never-much-seen dance moves (Remember we do not watch Hindi movies frequently at our home) and never-heard-of music. I did not know what instruments were used as the base for Kathak and had zero knowledge about it. I might have seen couple of performances in movies in passing I guess.

A good hobby time relieves stress

Lately I have come to realize how a strong interest in performing arts is the antidote for all our serious concerns. We seriously underrate hobbies in life. My sister plays the guitar. Whenever I have seen her play it, she seems truly happy, relaxed and content in a way that I find hard to describe. I was kind of sad that I never took up any music or dance lessons while I was younger though I was fairly good at them. As for drawing or painting , I could only stare at brilliant artists and be jealous. Let us just say it was better for the world if I stayed away from drawing and painting.

So all these feelings combined with the pent up energy of being cooped at home for so long gave way to take up a hobby strengthening my urge to learn Kathak and its background. By learn I was not aiming to become a Kathak Guru one day.( I know it takes years of dedicated practice and I’m sure my interest would continue only as long as I’m locked in my own house). Nevertheless I wanted to learn Kathak’s basic steps.

My search for a Guru

Like a sincere millenial who would turn to Google and Youtube when they wanted to learn something, I sought their help too. When I logged onto You tube to search Kathak related videos, I was floored by the number of search results. There were so many Kathak lessons by different people that I did not know where to start. There were tutorials (for movie songs) and then there were the TUTORIALS from dance Gurus. Now as I said I was a novice. So I collected the names of few gurus and did a Google search of them( No disrespect to these legends). I just did not want my hobby time to be too serious (that I could not enjoy it) or too sophisticated (that I could not follow it).

Accidentally I read about Guru Pali Chandra in the digital version of ‘The Hindu’. So I followed it up by research with Wikipedia where the Guru’s numerous accomplishments did nothing to ease my nerves. Guru Pali Chandra was an excellent dancer who had devoted her life to Kathak making the classical dance form easily accessible to millions like me who wanted to do it but did not know where to begin. After seeing her page my nerves doubled. Should I pursue this hobby? But I decided to learn it from an actual guru while I still could. My only assurance was in knowing that any classical dance form takes years to master and by watching videos, I could atleast get to know the basics from an authentic source. The temptation was too big to resist. So not knowing what to expect, I jumped into the world of Kathak.

No matter the age, be active

When you are in the thirties, there is a certain complacence to life. You are married, have kids, a steady job and life falls into a certain rhythm. It is not dull but it is not thrilling either. It lacks the rushing speed of twenties where you have to prove yourself in every step of the way. Life is thirties is just comfortable with rare twists and turns. But I learnt from my mother that being inquisitive about things was what kept the excitement in life going. If you are complacent for long, you just miss out living on so many levels. And that is where a relaxing hobby time come in.

The first lesson was pleasantly surprising. I expected very little but the Guru who spoke online was calm, poised and radiated some kind of silent assurance. Interestingly, she talked about the history of Kathak in a beautiful manner – The Mughal courts, temples, Gharanas were all there, each piece a revelation into this giant jigsaw called Kathak. I was smitten. The tales had an archaic romantic quality which created yet another thousand imaginative stories in my mind.

Theory and practice

Lesson after lesson the Guru combined both theory and practice with skill. She started with teentals (leg movement in differing speeds) and by the time I came to chagun (high speed leg work), I was panting too much and utterly lacked the grace with which the Guru danced on screen. I realized several things at once.

I had no stamina or flexibility and had to work on speed.

I’m never going to be able to keep up with this Guru.

What was I doing?

Like I said, I had grown too comfortable.

Secretly I was thankful that no one could watch me.

I kept going

While this was going on inside my head, my family was amused by my decision to learn classical dance and that too Kathak! My family circle had never heard of a hobby like this. They thought it was just a fad.  Just like a day when I decided to walk 5000 steps and did it for exactly 17 days!!! No one questioned my choice when I declared in our living room I was going to learn Kathak.

And so it went, day after day of panting, clutching my stomach, practicing simple steps multiple times, my guru always on playback. By this time I had completely surrendered to the Guru. I knew I would not get a better opportunity to learn what I wanted. My body protested, my lungs screamed and my legs started shivering but I refused to let go of my precious practice lessons.

Theory gives context

Tatkar, Hastak, Chaals, Chakras the lessons progressed along with some theory portions in between. I understood why theory is important in dance. It gave a backdrop and meaning to whatever I was doing. I liked listening to stories. I started telling random Kathak facts to my family and showed them various movements that I could proudly do now.

The best part was they did not have any reference for my new found hobby and so they unabashedly thought that my dance was awesome. I made a mental note to never show them my Guru’s actual dance. My father would proudly say in some random relative’s house that I was learning Kathak online now. I felt like an excited ten year old waiting to show off my skills at the first signal.

Lessons were liberating

I made time for a hobby not knowing where it would lead me. Those dance sessions gave me pure joy. The rush I experienced when I could do a sequence without any mistake was incomparable. I improved my flexibility and grace a great deal compared to day one. All those multiple practice sessions did not feel like a burden. Instead they felt liberating. I was the only judge of how well I could master a step. There were no time limits. I was lost within the bols and taals of Kathak. Sometimes I kept dancing the same simple step again and again until my sister pointed out in a not so polite way that she was getting tired of the same step.

Make time for your hobby

My elder son who is eight years old, kept asking me where I am going to perform this dance. I had to explain to him that mumma had a favorite hobby the same way he played football – For pure joy. We seldom take time for our own interests and happiness. That time could be the single biggest difference between frustration and inspiration.

The lessons and along with it my struggles to keep up are ongoing but I’m going to stick with my hobby till the end (of the video sessions I mean). As I said, in your thirties you have to create your own thrills. Make time for yourself and do not be afraid to try something new!

For those interested in learning any classical dance form, here is a good site for reference.

https://www.natyasutraonline.com/dance-forms

So what is your thrill? Do you allot a hobby time to make your life happier?