a joyful method of self torture

new year...resolution time..as always this year too, i resolve to lose weight..the only progress i see in the new year resolutions i take every time is the no: of kilo's i plan to lose..it is in an arithmetic progression with common difference +3. this time, its 10 kgs (do the simple calculation in ur head..yes i started with losing just 1 kg. those who got it right, 5 points!!!)

but this time..i am real serious, oh ya!! how else can anyone term my sincerity in joining the dance(bharatnatyam) classes 1 month in advance?? and i havent missed any. it is 2 days per week and it is killing me.

i was quite confident when i joined. i had learned something similar a decade back...when my joints were not so rusty..youth's folly,as they say. so this time, i said to myself i'm gonna rock..oops..i meant i'm gonna pirouette n pose in all ways which wud make the audience go 'aawwwe'... my teacher would see the spark of genius in my eyes, she wud think to herself 'aah..atlast, someone who would carry forward the dance form in its true sense. my true disciple'. but ofcourse, she wouldnt betray any such emotion in class. that would be partiality. au contraire, she would be extra tough with me.. with others, she can afford to be lenient..('hmmph...people learning this for time pass'), but with me..no..nooo..

what a misconception. there were quite some new lessons that i learnt apart from the 'thattadavu', 'mettadavu', 'nattadavu'..

lesson 1:- stamina inversely proportional to age
if someone say 'its never too late to start something new', kill her/him.. or better enroll them for a similar method of self torture. to my greatest dismay, i saw myself gasping,panting and almost fainting after the first 15 minutes while the li'l ones there hardly break into a sweat. such a humiliation...

lesson 2:- u 'dance' a dance class
i tried to be inventive.. i need to sustain my energy level without resorting to 10 minute breaks after every 5 minutes of lessons.. and i found one. i mouth the movements. quite simple..others dance and i say 'left hand up, then cross right leg..right leg diagonally in front, look down.then up"..but my brilliance was short lived. my tutor bluntly told me that in bharatnatyam,we move our eyes,hands,legs...but not our tongues..

lesson 3:- if something seems easy, you are not doing it right
i am yet to come across a step which is easy on my aching limbs. once or twice i thought i did, but no..i'm not so lucky..i was just doing it wrong. all easy movements of hands are accompanied with complex movements of legs and vice-versa. and still, we are expected to do it gracefully without grimacing.. look happy, follow the hand gestures, emote..in short no agonizing or constipated looks when you are wondering which hand/leg gestures movement comes next or when your leg cramps get unbearable...grin..

all said and done, i still look forward to those classes...i love it.and who knows, maybe i am the prodigy that every tutor dreams of. ;-)