 Dancing with a brush
Sakthirani
 Sakthirani, the third child of Thangaraj and Meenakshi, was born at Baburajapuram, a remote village near
Kumbakonam, in Tamil Nadu. She has one elder brother and elder sister and one younger brother. Her father is in the Army and was always out of station. Her
mother used to take care of the children and household work as her father was not available most of the time. When she was two years old, Sakthirani had an attack of polio and lost sense below her hip and became bedridden.
As her mother had to do her daily chores, she would be very busy in the morning hours. She had to take care of her four children and send them to
school. When all her brothers and sister went to school, Sakthirani remained at home as her mother was unable to carry her to the far-off school.
When all others were away, the young girl spent her time alone at home feeling desperate. She used to weep and wail and try to get out of her bed to do something. But initially all her efforts ended in a fiasco.
Her mother used to console her and taught her something with the help of her sister's textbooks. Sakthirani knew that somebody was constantly needed when a child wanted to learn. That was usually done by parents at home and
teachers at school. But in the case of Sakthirani, the second option was totally absent and the first one was available occasionally.
But the little girl did not lose heart. She took it up as a challenge to learn as much as possible. Even when her mother was busy in the kitchen, she used to take the books and revise what her mother taught her in her spare time. She became thorough in the subjects and her interest in learning grew more and more.
She used to urge her mother to see how she read the lessons and said the answer for the questions in the textbooks. Having understood her anxiety, her mother would ask her to read loudly even when she was in kitchen and correct her mistakes. In the evenings, she sought the help of her elder brother and sister.
 Though she did not attend school, her sister used to conduct exams for her at the end of the academic year and correct her papers and declare her results which were very encouraging to Sakthirani. She passed class-7 at home in this manner. Her sister narrated her condition in school and the school authorities were very considerate towards Sakthirani and allowed her to come to their school to write her public examination for class-8.
She was literally carried by her mother to school to write the examination and she came out in flying colours. This gave her more hope and confidence and she passed out her examinations up to class-12. This was a great achievement of Sakthirani who had spent most of her time immobile at home.
While lying on her bed, she made a deep study of the pictures in the textbooks and attempted to draw them on the ground. She developed a taste for drawing and spent most of her time in drawing and erasing on the floor. She drew pictures on the walls too and coloured them.
When relatives and friends visited them, they were wonderstruck at the beautiful picture drawn by Sakthirani on the floor and walls. They encouraged her and suggested she join the arts college at Kumbakonam. Though she was anxious to pursue her higher studies, she was scared of ragging and insults by other students who might not know her feelings and values.
She remained unnoticed in a small village for 18 years and now she would have to face new people in a new place. She was much puzzled over the new situation. She had been less communicative all these years and so she decided to learn etiquette first and then join the college.
Sakthirani turned her attention to
dance. One may wonder how it was possible for a disabled girl to evince interest in dance for which movements of legs are important. Sakthirani did not bother about what others thought about it. When she was expressing her love for dance, her mother shed tears saying that she had made better movements of her legs when she was in her womb and at present she was unable to even move her legs.
Sakthirani's thirst for dance has been well expressed by her in her dance paintings. Most of her movements were related to legs only. What the poor girl could not perform, she was able to put in colours with the help of the brush. She herself never dreamt that she could ever realise her ambition. She joined the Arts and Crafts College to learn painting systematically.
 She finished her course successfully. In the meantime, she drew a lot of paintings which were highly appreciated by her colleagues, classmates and outsiders. She had a questioning mind which urged her to collect material from all over Tamil Nadu for the study of the 'Rise and Fall of Bharatanatyam from 2nd century to 19th Century'. She submitted her research paper on that subject for which she was applauded by her institution. Though she has no legs to dance, her paintings express her love and craze for dance.
Sakthirani participated in many painting competitions and won many prizes. In 1998, she got first prize in the painting competition held by the Fine Arts Club at
Thanjavur. At the national-level competition at Visakhapatnam, she bagged the national award in 1999. Similar awards were also secured in New Delhi, when she participated at the national level.
She is happy and proud that she is able to achieve something in life in spite of her disability. Her grief at her inability to dance continues. But she satisfies herself through her dance paintings which convey her love for the art. When she sees herself in dancing poses in the mirror, she feels happy. She goes to her imaginary world and dances for herself. No doubt her dance paintings have earned her name, fame and money. She is courageous enough to meet people and seek their help. She is a woman of hope and there is no wonder she has been successful in her endeavours.
Shanmugam can be contacted
@:
No: 54 Kamaraj Road,
Ramakrishna Nagar,
Alwar Thirunagar,
Chennai- 600 087.
Phone: 248 60 221
E-mail: shanmugam@azagi.com
(Extracted
from the book 'Hope is Life')
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