It was on a hot, Monday afternoon that I
went to meet her. After getting lost in the maze-like streets of R.A.
Puram, I
finally came to the front of the house that
said "47, IV Main Road". But I really didn't believe that this was the
headquarters of Rasa - for the place looked more like someone's house, with kids milling
about. I went in and hesitantly asked "Dr. Ambika?..." - a cheerful lady ushered
me inside almost immediately - where I had my first glimpse was of this bubbly lady, who
was oozing with vivacity and verve from every pore.
Dr. Ambika Kameshwar
- she's not the doc that sticks needles into you and makes you eat foul smelling and
horrible tasting medicines. She is a doctor of dance - a Ph. D in Natya Abhinaya. She dons
so  many
roles in her everyday life that she makes Superwoman look jaded in comparison.
 For the past ten
years, Dr. Ambika has been running the organisation called RASA - Ramana
Sunritya Aalaya Trust - where she and her team of Women Fridays take care of a group of
special children (words like 'spastic', 'cerebral palsy' and the like are a big no-no).
Each day, they work with their special kids, using dance and music to help them with their
motor functions and pre-movement skills.
Dr. Ambika came to Chennai in 1985, after her marriage. She grew up in Delhi and later,
during her college years, in Bangalore. All the members of her family are staunch
devotees of Ramana Maharishi and even when she was in Bangalore,
she was attached to the Ramana Maharishi Academy for the Blind where she was invited to
teach dance to the visually impaired. Right from the time she was small, Dr. Ambika was
very much into music and dance and this helped her to communicate with the people at the
Academy. She taught Bharathnatyam to the visually impaired - it might sound like an
Himalayan task but to  Dr.Ambika, who feels that
dance is a communicative
force, it was just a brilliant way of communication. She
would demonstrate each mudra and her students would feel her hands and imitate the mudra
perfectly. They would measure her steps and do every single step she did without a
mistake! After coming to Chennai, she volunteered to teach dance at the Spastic Society of
Madras. She worked with people with cerebral palsy and she started modifying her technique
to suit their needs.
So what made her choose dance to help people with such problems? Says Dr. Ambika
"dance is an all encompassing thing - it should not be restricted to performing on
stage." So she took dance one step further and made it a tool to help people with
problems like cerebral palsy, Down's Syndrome etc. She continued doing this for 3 more
years and exactly 10 years back, started Rasa. On a trial and error basis, she perfected
the methods that could be used to do what she's doing - the methodology where learning is
made more fun and more active - she met a lot of physiotherapists and occupational
therapists and structured the methodology that she christened Creative Movement
Education. For the past ten years, she
has also been training others who are interested in her work - teaching them the ways of
Creative Movement Education. With this army of people, she mans the centre at Raja
Annamalaipuram, where she even offers CME as a diploma - Post Graduate Diploma in Creative
Movement Education.
So, how exactly does she work with her special kids? "Theatre is miniature life. It
portrays life - and what we learn from it. But I work in the reverse - I use theatre to
learn about life". Her battalion of kids range from 2 years to 47 years. The inputs
are age relevant - the same method cannot be used on a 3 year old and a 16 year old. For
the 3 year old that has problems with her pre-movement skills, she sings a Tamil or Telugu
song (she's very particular about being unilingual and teaches the kids in their mother
tongue), all the time shaking her head and twisting her hands in tune with the music.
Pretty soon, the child too follows her, twisting and turning to the music!
 On the other hand, for a 16 year old with cerebral palsy,
she switches on music, hands him chart paper and paint and asks him to do 'finger dance'
on the chart. She also uses her very successful method called "mirroring". She
seats two kids with different problems and makes them imitate her actions - moving her
hands and head to the accompaniment of music. Not only is this fun, it also gets her kids
move their arms - something they have always had difficulty in doing! As Dr.Ambika puts
it, "there is no one with a disability; they are all differently abled and it is up
to us to tap their abilities." And music always makes it easier "as Mary Poppins
says - a spoonful of sugar and the lesson goes down". Quite right!
Life definitely wouldn't be a bed of roses for Dr.Ambika and Rasa - so how does she deal
with the myriad problems that come her way? "Of course we have problems - any
organisation like ours will have two problems - funding and finding acceptance." For
the first, she appeals to organisations like Lions Club, Rotary Club as well as the
individual donors. But finding acceptance was more difficult - especially when she started
out. It took her quite some time to explain the use of dance for rehabilitation and make
people understand its usefulness. Now people have accepted her and Rasa and so what if
finding money is a problem? "I do my work and at the end of the day, I know that no
matter what happens, He (she points to Ramana Maharishi's portrait) will take care of
it". And her eyes glow with sheer joy - and the firm belief that has brought her to
where she is today.
Ask her what her work day comprises and you will  wonder if she has an extra 10 hours. "I come to
Rasa in the morning, be with my kids, organise my schedule, talk to my team and plan
Rasa's activities, give lectures for the PGD classes, conduct workshops for the Rasa
volunteers, meet jornalists like you (laughs), meet people who are interested in us, leave
for home by 4.00 where I conduct Bharatnatyam and Kuchipudi classes, rehearse and if I
have any, go for the recordings...." WHEW! When does she have time for her family?
"After 7.30 is family time! I play with my daughter and spend some "quality
time" with her (laughs) and then may be watch a late night movie with my
husband". SUPER MOM! She laughs when I say that.
 Then she explains the "rehearsing and going for
recording" bits. Not only is she an accomplished dancer, she is a great singer too -
so far she has sung in as many as 120 devotional tapes released on Ramana Maharishi and 4
- 5 solo albums. She has also released a collection of Tamil nursery rhymes and plays for
her kids called "Paadi Varum Pookkal". I am still
flummoxed as to how she does it all. She laughs her characteristic laugh and says
"it is easy, you know. I once read in Reader's Digest that "change of work is
rest". That's what I do - I keep changing the work I do, I don't do the same thing 24
hours and that balances everything. I'd probably be real serious and worried if I was
doing one thing only - but I play with my kids, dance, sing and do so many things that it
never gets tiring. And even if I get tired, I just go and give my kids a kiss - and my day
brightens up immediately!"
So what's next? "I am concentrating on Rasa Day - our tenth Annual Day which will be
held in Narada Gana Sabha on 27th of March. The theme is Creative Movement Education -
"Let's learn through dance". I have to plan the music, the dance moves, the
narrative, the sets, allocate the duty list....."
I left her with her planning busily for Rasa Day. As I was leaving, I was struck
once again by what a bubbly soul she was - with the kind of life she leads, she must be
saddled with more than the usual share of glitches but she goes through it with the
biggest smile on her face and her springy step. Hats off to you, Doc!
- Lavanya
If you are interested in Rasa and want
to donate or join them as a volunteer, then get in touch with Rasa by dialling 4954588.
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