His Bharatanatyam classes are classless in rural Malaysia

CHENNAI: When he mixed hot tar for a highway project in the 1980s in Kuala Lumpur, he thought of various mudras. When he collected

latex from rubber trees

, he dreamed of becoming a dancer. For this young Malaysian-Indian, life was a journey from one job to another -one he had to undertake to take care of his ailing father. Despite the hardships he faced from various jobs,

R Chandramohan

wanted to

learn Bharatanatyam

. But there was no one who could help him in Malaysia, where people saw

Bharatanatyam only in Tamil movies

those days.

In 1984, Chandramohan boarded a ship from Malaysia to Madras (Chennai). The idea was to learn Bharatanatyam from Adyar K Lakshman, veteran dancer and guru. On reaching Madras, finding a place to stay was not easy . Even though Chandramohan found several `mansions' in Royapettah, he was not able to find a room because of his `foreign' status. Accommodation was not given to foreigners those days without sufficient proof. But there was a ray of But there was a ray of hope. When Chandramohan told the manager of a mansion that he was in Madras to learn Bharatanatyam from Adyar Lakshman, the manager said he would check it with the mansion's owner who was a dance-lover. It worked out and the owner gave a room to Chandramohan at his mansion.

The problem did not end there. When Chandramohan went to see the guru, he learned that the guru was touring the US, and would be back after three months.But, Chandramohan waited for the guru to return. “As a child, I was fond of dance.After I grew up, I knew dance was within me. But I never had any opportunity to learn the art form in Malaysia. So it was a great feeling when guru (Adyar Lakshman) allowed me to join his group,“ said Chandramohan, who was in Chennai recently .

It was a turning point in the life of Chandramohan. He spent almost four years with his guru, learning the basics of Bharatanatyam. He also learned

Kuchipudi from Vempati Chinna Satyam

, another great dancer in the field. “In Tamil Nadu, only the rich would send their children to learn dance those days. It was restricted to the poor. So I wanted to take dance to the rural people in Malaysia,“ he said.

It was a challenge. However, the training that he received from two great gurus helped. To begin with, Chandramohan started teaching the students of plantation workers. He would travel from one place to the other in search of students. “I taught many without taking fees. What I wanted was to popularise Bharatanatyam among the Indians, particularly the Tamils and Telugus who live in the rural areas of Malay sia,“ said Chandramohan who has won many awards, including the `Best Dance Master in Dance Master in Malaysia' title.

The hard work paid off. Today, Chandramo han has popularised the art form in many rural pockets of Manlaysia. “It has been more than 35 years, and the journey is still on. I am now looking at the first batch of students that I trained in the initial years to initial years to strengthen our initiative, “ said the 56-year-old, who has trained more than 300 Indian students in Malaysia.