The child within the maestro of Kathak

Even at 76, Kathak maestro Birju Maharaj has the innocence of a child. The childlike enthusiasm becomes apparent when he talks about life in Lucknow, his love for technology and the innocent joy of small things.In town for a performance, Birju Maharaj was all hands, mudras and movements when he spoke. Excerpts:
Clad in a turquoise sequined kurta with white pajamas, Birju Maharaj sits comfortably in his Banjara Hills home talking about his father.When he was six, his mother asked Birju's father, a famous Kathak exponent of Lucknow gharana, Jagannath Maharaj to take the boy as a disciple.“My amma went on telling this to baba. But he said that the day I earn `501 then he would teach me. As a child, I saw many people coming to our house in Lucknow and pressing feet of my father and I'd say to myself, ‘Acchha dance karne se itna aadar milta hai, phir toh main bhi nritya karunga.’ In those days Rs 501 was huge. My mother collected all the rewards I got and the day the amount totalled to Rs 501 she presented it to my father and I became his disciple. He never spent the money but always kept it.”
Birju Maharaj has been performing from the time he was five and has lost count of the number of performances he has done in India and abroad. “My father was the court dancer of the Nawab of Rampur. I used to accompany my father and dance. Nawab sahib used to get so happy that he'd take me in his lap and shower rewards on me.”
But his father passed away when he was nine, and life became tough. When he was 14, he met Kapila Vatsayayan, the then leading historian of Indian classical dance. “She was my father's disciple and it was because of her that I was appointed as a dance teacher at Sangeet Bharati, Delhi. The kids wouldn't learn from me unless I carried them on my back as I, too, was a kid; then they'd agree to learn dance from me,“ laughs Birju Maharaj.
These days, he doesn't do much riyaaz, but has become fond of sketching, thanks to his daughter who is a painter. “I sketch movements of dance, flight of birds and elements of nature. It keeps me happy,” he says.
Talking about his travels he speaks about his stint with movies. He sang the thumri: Kaanha main toh se haari... for Satyajit Ray's film Shatranj Ke Khiladi. “I would love to choreograph movies,” he says. While he spoke, he kept on chewing supari (betel nut). “We have to express a lot with our faces so the facial muscles have to be expressive,” he laughs fiddling with the square dial of his watch. He adds, “This watch is my wearable com puter. I'm fond of gadgets. Once I bought a gadget in Moscow, dismantled it and put it back together. It was a weird torch. I have more than 100 torches in my collection.” He signs off, “I am going to check out new smartphones in a nearby store.”