Learning to accept, and accepting to embrace

Since 7th standard my schedule was waking up at 4am for chores, 6.30 am to 9 practice Mrudanga under my Guru, 10am to 4pm school, 4pm onwards farming and then 6pm to 4am in my Gurukul. I always had a dream to become a police officer but after passing my matriculation I realised that my family had already set the plans to send me to Bhubaneswar to pursue Mardala. I left the police officer dream in my village but after coming to Bhubaneswar I just craved to go back to my village. I was learning under Guru Satchidananda Das since 2007 and went ahead to train under Guru Dhaneswar Swain from 2018. He gave me a 15 page script and asked me to learn that and perform on the basis of which he would select me. I practiced my heart out and made it.

My contribution to the journey of Rudrakshya started when I saw other institutes doing productions with aid and recognition and the first thing that came to my mind was bringing Rudrakshya to do this. I did all the research by interacting with other institutes and learnt all the work. Guruji attained trust in me gradually as I took up the administrative work to contribute to Rudrakshya’s journey and success. After that Guruji has never questioned my work for Rudrakshya and never have I ever taken any undue advantage and have contributed selflessly to maintain this trust to take Rudrakshya forward.

People often say that I have sidelined my Mardala career which was actually true. But I have not felt that I am losing out on anything while working for Rudrakshya. Post my M. phil, after going to Dhanu sir I have balanced both worlds and have also continued with mridanga. Being “behind the scenes” for so long has made me understand a lot about dance. In this field, We don't need to compare our lives with anyone. We need to accept that what comes to us is what we put ourselves dedicatedly into. The time we give to crib about our problems should be channelised to rather accepting the problem and thinking beyond.

Through this we can keep ourselves so busy that we no longer have time to think about anything else, which makes all complexities simpler.