Odissi: Kumkum Lal learning Brajaku with Guruji
Director: Ashok Lal
Duration: 01:26:19; Aspect Ratio: 1.333:1; Hue: 64.473; Saturation: 0.048; Lightness: 0.328; Volume: 0.205; Cuts per Minute: 1.031; Words per Minute: 20.306
Summary: Kumkum Lal spent four years in Tokyo, Japan, teaching and performing Odissi extensively. In 1986, with her husband Ashok, she hosted Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra (Guruji) and a group of musicians including the renowned composer Pt. Bhubaneswar Mishra, from India, for a month. During his stay there, Guruji taught Kumkum and held workshops for her students. Kumkum and Guruji also travelled across Japan, holding lecture demonstrations at universities and performing in different environments.
Guruji often taught, composed or rehearsed into the night. Ashok, who had just purchased his first video camera, recorded significant portions of their Japan tour. This video depicts events over two nights and two days; Guruji teaches Kumkum new sections of the dance by night while they formally record finished sections of the performance during the day.
Kumkum Lal has been a disciple of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra for more than four decades. Her initial training in Odissi was under Guru Harekrishna Behera, and she has also studied and performed creative dance with Narendra Sharma, and Chhau under Guru Krishna Chandra Naik. She has taught English at Delhi University. She was a keen reviewer of dance and has acted in plays. She has worked with Sangeet Natak Akademi as the head of their dance section and was awarded a senior fellowship by the Indian government to work on a Sanskrit treatise on Odissi.
So much has been written about Guruji, and clips from his performances are easily accessible online; however, it is hard to come across video material showing him outside the performance space. One has read about his idiosyncrasies, but to see them come alive, albeit in two-dimensional form, is a different experience altogether. Fleeting moments make up the detail of his life - the omnipresent gamcha (towel), the tin of pan masala, his easy sense of humour, or how he reacts to the admirers he is surrounded by.
Kumkum also treasures this period because it gave her the opportunity to work closely with Bhubaneswar Mishra, whom she describes as the architect of Odissi music.
Here, her student Ranjana Dave converses with her as they watch these videos again, while reminiscence and hindsight come together. The years Ranjana spent learning from Kumkum were full of invaluable dancing, enriching conversations on all and sundry, and much relief from hostel food.
Guidance in translating the Oriya lyrics into English was provided by Kumkum Lal and Sangita Gosain.
Braja ku
Guruji
Indian classical dance
Japan
Kelucharan Mohapatra
Krishna
Kumkum Lal
Odissi
Oriya
abhinaya
Oimachi, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, Japan
[Music]
Kumkum Lal imitates a sequence of actions as directed by her guru Kelucharan Mohapatra (Guruji). She rocks an imaginary baby on her knee till it falls silent, then slowly lowering it into the cradle. The gentle rocking motion of the cradle should lull the baby to sleep, but it suddenly wakes up again, prepared to pierce the skies with its cry. The mother pleads with him to stay silent.
Guruji's back is to the camera.
Guruji: Now the baby has woken up! Now...(the opening stanza of the song begins)
Kumkum: See, the television is there and I am here! Guruji sometimes watched TV while teaching me.
Guruji liked rehearsing through the night; it was a favoured time especially when he composed new pieces. The nightcoat which Kumkum wears in this section of the video has been witness to many such midnight rehearsals. 24 years down the line she lets on that she still has that nightcoat. On this particular night, the clock has almost struck two (as one shall notice slightly later) but Guruji is in his element, goading an extremely sleepy and reluctant Kumkum into practising a little more.
(Oriya, by Gopal Krishna)
Raga: Anandabhairavi
Tala: Triputa
(Recorded music fades in slowly; intermittently, Kumkum Lal sings along)
Braja ku chora asichi gheni jibo,
suatuni hoi re!
Translation:
The thief who has come to Braja will take you away
Now, sleep quietly, will you?
Ashok Lal: (switching between two modes on the video camera) Auto.
(Music, followed by the repetition of the opening stanza)
Braja ku chora asichi gheni jibo,
suatuni hoi re!
Translation:
The thief who has come to Braja will take you away
Now, sleep quietly, will you?
Ranjana: In an abhinaya piece, the dancer constantly switches between roles. Here, the most frequent transition is between the roles of the child and the mother. When the dancer plays the mother, she is often seated, talking to the child who lies in the cradle or holding him in her arms to pacify him. As he becomes increasingly agitated, she stands up, propping him up on her hip with one arm, imploring him to fall asleep. At other moments, she might play the thief who will carry the child away, drawing on her histrionic abilities to make the child fear the thief. Also, since the song is addressed to the child and is not being narrated in third person, the dancer establishes eye contact with the child while speaking of the absent thief. Moments of direct interaction with the audience are few.
(Guruji and Kumkum sing the song as they practise)
Rankara dhana mo gokula chandrama
nishi pahi nahi re...
Translation:
You are the light of our lives,
O moon of Gokul, the night has not passed yet, dawn is yet to come.
Guruji stands up to demonstrate a step to Kumkum and performs the rest of the stanza. He is now facing the camera.
(Guruji goads a very reluctant Kumkum into the next portion of the dance)
Variations of the opening stanza are performed. Guruji dances with Kumkum; occasionally, each stops to observe the other.
Braja ku chora asichi gheni jibo,
suatuni hoi re!
Translation:
The thief who has come to Braja will take you away
Now, sleep quietly, will you?
Kumkum: Guruji was a man whose work was his intoxication. Look at the difference between him and me. Guruji knows he is being filmed; he's giving his best. And look at me, not bothering about all that! Even for the smallest programme, say, in a primary school, he would give his best. He gave complete attention to whatever he did.
(Gap between stanzas, instrumental music continues, Guruji vocalises the music using syllables. Here, the mother in the song is making further attempts to calm her child and lay him in the cradle.)
Sanchari bhava is performed to the first line,
'rankara dhana mo...'
Rankara dhana mo gokula chandrama
nishi pahi nahi re...
(Return to opening stanza -
braja ku chora)
Braja ku chora asichi gheni jibo
suatuni hoi re!
Translation:
You are the light of our lives,
O moon of Gokul, the night has not passed yet, dawn is yet to come.
The thief who has come to Braja will take you away
Now, sleep quietly, will you?
Instrumental music follows and Guruji demonstrates the corresponding pure dance (nritta) movements that often appear between stanzas in Odissi abhinaya.
When he finishes, he looks at Ashok Lal, behind the camera, and asks whether the recording is going fine.
(Break in recording)
Guruji explains the logic behind the movements he executes and continues practising a portion of the second stanza with Kumkum. In the background, Ashok Lal can be heard faintly, changing video modes again.
...
Nishi pahi nahi re...
(Return to opening stanza)
Braja ku chora asichi gheni jibo
suatuni hoi re!
Translation:
...the night has not passed yet, dawn is yet to come.
The thief who has come to Braja will take you away
Now, sleep quietly, will you?
Guruji was very fond of gadgets. He acquired his first video camera in Japan, during this trip. The Lals had also purchased their video camera at the same time. The camera did not passively record, but was the object of much fascination. At various points, Guruji stops to ask about the camera and converses with Ashok Lal, who is behind the camera. Ashok, in turn, can also be heard switching camera modes from time to time. When I told him that he keeps focusing on the clock, he retorted, "I had a sense of history, you know!"
While Brajaku is a simple Oriya lyric with few allegorical references, Guruji uses sanchari bhava to elaborate each line in three or four different ways. For example, in 'nishi pahi nahi re', the mother first explains to the child that the night is yet to end, then attempts a longer description of the night in the next repetition, showing the dark night with hands in pataka hasta.
The intervals between stanzas are wordless breaks where the dancer is less constrained by direct interaction with the child. Here, she uses one such interval to show the child how the wily thief might arrive and whisk him away; then, she closes the doors and windows to reassure the child.
Guruji demonstrates the next part of the song for Kumkum; it is evident that he might be modifying parts of his original composition as he goes along. Energetically reaching the end of his piece, he remarks, "
Ghar hil gaya." (The house is shaking)
Rati gota jaka mati lu nata re...
Translation:
You have played your pranks all night...
(The camera mode is changed to 'manual' as it zooms into the clock to show the late hour and then pans across the room)
Rehearsal has come to an end, they discuss what needs to be done the next day.
(Break in recording)
(Another night's rehearsal. Today, Kumkum is wearing a sari.)
Braja ku chora asichi gheni jibo
suatuni hoi re
Translation:
The thief who has come to Braja will take you away
Now, sleep quietly, will you?
The piece is now progressing more smoothly, with less interruptions.
In the background, Ashok Lal is in conversation with a woman, probably Kumkum's cousin Manjul Mathur, who sang at her Japan performances.
Guruji taught the piece to Kumkum over several nights. Formal video recordings of the completed portions were often shot in the morning, either by Guruji or Ashok.
'
Brajaku chora...', which is repeated after every stanza, is enacted thus: The mother shows the suspected thief walking through Braja with one hand in
kartari hasta; then the thief comes and grabs the child in the blinking of an eye and runs away with it.
Guruji switches on the tape recorder and rewinds the tape to reach the section they are practising. Seated before Kumkum, he uses his hands and torso to enact the song while Kumkum follows him with her eye. The conversation behind the camera continues for a short while.
Rankara dhana mo gokula chandrama
nishi pahi nahi re...
Braja ku chora asichi gheni jibo
suatuni hoi re!
Translation:
You are the light of our lives,
O moon of Gokul, the night has not passed yet, dawn is yet to come.
The thief who has come to Braja will take you away
Now, sleep quietly, will you?
(Music)
The first line of the next stanza plays, Guruji turns the tape off. They go over '
rankara dhana mo...' again, singing it together. Ashok Lal relinquishes his perch behind the camera and moves into the frame for a few moments. Guruji explains some aspects of the song and corrects Kumkum's movements.
...
nishi pahi nahi re...
Braja ku chora asichi gheni jibo
suatuni hoi re!
(Music, enunciated in the absence of the recording by the use of syllables)
Translation:
...the night has not passed yet, dawn is yet to come.
The thief who has come to Braja will take you away
Now, sleep quietly, will you?
Kumkum: Guruji was quite merciless; there is work to be done and if you are sleepy, that's too bad! (a while later) This was the dahlia season, so it should be April or May. We had huge windows, so the plants in my house got a lot of sunshine. This was a beautiful house; it had a combination of Western and Japanese influences.
Kumkumji immensely believes in the protection sweaters can provide against common cold. One might find her wearing a woollen blouse well into the hot summer months of March and April in New Delhi, where she presently lives.
Rati gota jaka mati lu nata re
palaka na pakai re
Translation:
You have played your pranks all night,
you don't even stop to rest your tired eyes!
(Recorded music is switched on again; the dance is rehearsed from the most recent appearance of the opening stanza)
Kumkum: My sari was loose, that is why I'm dancing very sloppily. There was a time I would pick up things before he even said them, because he composed lots of things with me. And then, one year, in Bombay, I had an attack of arthritis. The NCPA workshop space was air-conditioned and all the walking in and out, the temperature difference, that's how it started. He'd teach me something and I'd immediately forget. I couldn't remember anything because of the pain. So much so that I started avoiding class. Fortunately, my homeopath in Delhi said it was a passing phase, and it eventually went away.
Guruji tells Ashok Lal to switch off the camera for a while. He says they should resume recording after a little more practice.
(Break in recording)
Guruji goes over the stanza word-by-word. In the background, Ashok Lal speaks to someone on the telephone.
Rati gota jaka mati lu nata re
palaka na pakai re
Translation:
You have played your pranks all night,
you don't even stop to rest your tired eyes!
The conversation resounds in the small room. Kumkum and Guruji take a short break from dancing while she explains who is on the phone with Ashok.
They continue dancing, reaching a part where Kumkum must crawl on all fours.
Kumkum: You know, I never performed this item! I'm not sure when Guruji composed 'Brajaku', but he filmed me doing it and taught it to Sanjukta (Panigrahi) and other people from the video. Sanjukta told me she saw my tape, that is why I wonder if many people had learnt it before this.
Ranjana: Besides describing the passing night, the mother also mimics the child's antics from time to time.
Kumkum: (laughs) What happened was I didn't have any children. I got married later than most women did, which worried Bhaujo (Laxmipriya Mohapatra, Guruji's wife) and Guruji a lot; they were very happy to see their students married and living a nice, settled life and all that. I was a student of Guruji before I got married, and after my marriage they were very fond of Ashok. But I didn't have children. Once I had also told him, all your compositions are in
srngara rasa, why don't we see more
vatsalya rasa and
bhakti rasa in Odissi? Then Bhaujo and Guruji decided that if they teach me something in
vatsalya rasa I might become a mother. So he came specifically to teach me
vatsalya rasa, I like to think!
Ashok walks into the frame to sit behind Kumkum, so that he is facing Guruji. He takes photographs of Guruji's expressions with his still camera. Guruji is engaged in animated role-play, imagining how the truant child and tired mother must behave. The mother bends low into the cradle, trying to get the child to close his eyes, and the naughty child promptly hits his mother on the cheek. Crawling on the ground, his legs flailing petulantly in the air, Guruji is very convincing, leading Kumkum to remark that they could just record him dancing.
Ashok shifts to the right, to get Guruji squarely in his frame.
Filmed in 1986, on a VHS camcorder by Ashok Lal, the husband of Kumkum Lal. The setting is an apartment in Tokyo. The doyen of odissi guru Keluchan Mohapatra and musicians from orissa stay up late into the night choreographing new works, that will soon become key parts of the odissi dance repertoire.
Ranjana: In '
rati gota jaka...', the mother is telling the child about the night that is fast escaping them, which the child has been blissfully ignoring; all he has done is hatch elaborate pranks. He is so restless; even though he has not learnt to walk yet, he crawls with great vigour, not afraid of the unexpected, till he loses his balance and falls on his side. That is when he flails his legs in his air and bawls loudly, as the concerned mother runs to his side.
(Recorded music begins)
Rati gota jaka mati lu nata re
palaka na pakai re
Grama nishabada helani ki tote
nidra asu nahi re
Translation:
You have played your pranks all night,
you don't even stop to rest your tired eyes!
The village is silent, asleep,
why are you unable to sleep?
After one repetition, Kumkum stops to watch Guruji demonstrate the next line of the song.
Kumkum: I can correct myself now! This is how Guruji worked; he would have a glimmer of an idea and make that the basis of his work. I still have all the photographs Ashok is taking in the video. There's so much material with me, old photographs, brochures, sometimes I don't know what to do with it!
(Recorded music continues)
Braja ku chora asichi gheni jibo
suatuni hoi re!
(Next stanza)
Ke sikhadela dola dhalibara
tala ukutai re
Pada bathaiba pora ahuriki
nata anti nahi re
Translation:
The thief who has come to Braja will take you away
Now, sleep quietly, will you?
Who has taught you all these pranks,
to roll your eyes like that and make faces?
You have been kicking your legs about restlessly
Aren't you satisfied now? Is there any end to your antics?
By the time '
ke sikhaidela...' begins, both Kumkum and Ashok are seated on the floor before Guruji, Kumkum continues to watch admiringly while Ashok photographs Guruji.
In the last part of the concluding stanza, the line '
nata anti nahi re' is repeated several times, marking the end of the central part of the composition.
pedagogy
Kumkum: Ashok only took still photographs of Guruji doing this part of the song. I wish there was a video...he was brilliant when he was showing me this.
Return to opening stanza '
Braja ku' for the last time. Sufficiently tired and placated, the baby is finally ready to fall asleep.
When the song ends, Kumkum says that they should have recorded Guruji performing; Guruji laughingly dismisses the idea because he has only performed seated in one place.
Kumkum and Guruji are surprised to know that the video camera has been recording them all this while.
Ashok requests permission to record Guruji performing the last part of the song again, but he says they should practise first.
Guruji switches on the tape recorder and begins rewinding the tape. Kumkum yawns audibly. Guruji requests her for a glass of water. She brings it to him and leaves the frame. Once he finds the desired point in the song, he calls out to her, asking her to return.
Kumkum dances, following Guruji's movements.
Braja ku chora asichi gheni jibo
suatuni hoi re
(Music)
Rati gota jaka mati lu nata re
palaka na pakai re
Translation:
The thief who has come to Braja will take you away
Now, sleep quietly, will you?
You have played your pranks all night,
you don't even stop to rest your tired eyes!
Kumkum: Ileana's book (Ileana Citaristi, The Making of a Guru) ends with a description of a big Odissi festival, where Guruji performed right at the end. That day, I had performed just before him. The atmosphere was charged, inspired, and Rabindta Mandap was packed to the gills. After Guruji's performance, Pankaj Babu (Pankaj Charan Das, who taught Guruji at one time), who was in the audience, came to felicitate him. On stage, there was a Jagannath idol that Guruji had decorated himself, pinning a wax mala to it with great care. He was very fond of using pins to fix things at various places (laughs). Guruji prostrated himself at Pankaj Babu's feet and he in turn took the mala off Jagannath's idol and put it around Guruji's neck. Guruji kept that mala with him; right after the programme ended, in the post-performance melee, he gave me the mala and asked me to put it around his photo. And the strangest part is that for the longest time I didn't have a framed photograph of Guruji.
Eventually Guruji pauses the tape and takes Kumkum through the portion where she plays the crawling child who has fallen and ostensibly hurt himself. The concerned mother immediately rushes to its side and gently remonstrates it, for it has been mischievous all night.
Grama nishabada helani ki tote
nidra asu nahi re
Translation:
The village is silent, asleep,
why are you unable to sleep?
Ashok has now shifted to the other side, so that he can photograph Kumkum.
They repeat the whole section, beginning from '
rati gota jaka...', once again.
Special attention is paid to 'nidra asu nahi re', where the mother is slapped by her child.
Kumkum talks of how Guruji's omnipresent
gamcha (towel) was a multipurpose object. He used it to swat away mosquitoes and to deal with the sinusitis he suffered from.
Kumkum: When he composed during workshops at NCPA, there were nights on which I stayed back at NCPA instead of going back home to Santacruz, because he would compose late into the night.
Brajaku is replete with gestures in pataka hasta that are used to depict the night in different stanzas.
Kumkum: The way it's going, anyone will wonder if I have ever danced properly! But it's also being joined.
Guruji discusses how they should allocate stanzas to finish on schedule.
The three of them chew something that Guruji passes to them in round steel containers, probably tobacco and pan masala.
Grama nishabada helani ki tote
nidra asu nahi re
Translation:
The village is silent, asleep,
why are you unable to sleep?
Guruji was very fond of pan. His process of pan-making was a work of art, according to Kumkum, who terms it a 'real ceremony'. Every day, he would cut out the decaying portions of leaves. He carried his betel leaves with him whenever he travelled abroad. After a while, when the leaves would run out, he just ate the pan masala. Kumkum says she tried very hard to cultivate betel leaves in her house, but in vain.
Kumkum: My petticoat is wet from all the dancing and the sari keeps slipping.
Braja ku chora asichi gheni jibo
suatuni hoi re
Translation:
The thief who has come to Braja will take you away
Now, sleep quietly, will you?
Someone sitting behind Guruji, ostensibly one of the musicians, bends low to avoid the video camera and leaves the room.
That person turns out to be Manjul Mathur, vocalist and Kumkum's cousin. She returns with a pillow and a sheet.
The woman who cuts across the frame is Kumkum's cousin Manjul Mathur, with whom this song was recorded. She also sang for Kumkum and Guruji for their performances around Japan during this tour.
Ke sikhadela dola dhalibara...
Translation:
Who has taught you all these pranks,
to roll your eyes like that and make faces?
Bhubaneswar Mishra, playing the violin, teaches Manjul the remaining stanzas of the song.
Ke sikhaidela dola dhalibara
tala ukutai re
Pada bathaiba pora ahuriki
nata anti nahi re
Translation:
Who has taught you all these pranks,
to roll your eyes like that and make faces?
You have been kicking your legs about restlessly
Aren't you satisfied now? Is there any end to your antics?
Each of the musicians was paid Rs. 5000 to spend a month in Japan. About Bhubaneswar Mishra, who is seen playing the violin here, Kumkum says that all the music he composed was mostly when he was on a train. He felt he needed the rhythm of trains to be able to compose; she never ceases to wonder at how 'all these great tunes were composed on trains'.
The camera first rests on a Kathakali mask.
Kumkum's house, during the day. The curtains have been parted slightly.
Kumkum: Focusing on this Kathakali mask must be Guruji's doing! He was the one who came up with all these ideas.
Kumkum: Ashok just happened to buy a camera then...to think that this wouldn't be there if he hadn't!
Braja ku chora asichi gheni jibo
suatuni hoi re!
(Music)
Rankara dhana mo gokula chandrama
nishi pahi nahi re
Brajaku...
(Music)
(Cut to the next stanza)
(Music)
Rati gota jaka mati lu nata re
palaka na pakai re
Grama nishabada helani ki tote
nidra asu nahi re
Brajaku...
Kumkum: As the years went by, I think dance pieces have become more footwork-intensive.
(The recording is completed on another day)
(Music)
Ke sikhaidela dola dhalibara
tala ukutai re
Pada bathaiba pora ahuriki
nata anti nahi re
Brajaku...
(Music)
Kumkum: I've always had long hair. My mother studied in a convent school and lived in a hostel, so her hair was always short. When she got married, she tried to grow it without much success. That is why she decided her daughter would always have long hair.
I have always been fascinated by one particular moment at the end of 'Brajaku..', when the performing mother/ dancer contentedly watches her baby fall asleep and begins to leave the stage, almost on tiptoe. The audience then claps, acknowledging the end of the dance. Then the mother returns; alarmed at the noise the audience is making, she implores them to keep quiet, else her baby will wake up again (not seen in this clip). Whether this arises from spontaneity or a stroke of choreographic brilliance is immaterial; something moving, visceral, stuns you at that instant. The first time, one is inevitably surprised and amused, but even after seeing it again and again, in different versions by different dancers, I am always left suffused with warmth.
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