I am the only child of my parents. My father Ramanathan Ramakrishnan who passed away in January 2010 hailed from Vadakancheri near Thrissur. My mother Parvathy is also from Thrissur. When I was not even 2 years old, my father who worked in the Government of India was transferred to Delhi, and it is in this city that I have lived ever since.

was a great one for visiting religious places. And I had the advantage of accompanying them everywhere. I saw so many parts of India as a child, and have visited several important shrines.

My parents also exposed me to performances as a child. We would go to hear the best musicians perform in Delhi, and see the greatest dancers perform. I grew up on a menu of Indrani Rehman, Kamla Laxman and Yamini Krishnamurti. All legends. All my ideals.

How was your career growth since arangettam in 1974? Milestones?

Career in dance is a strange turn of phrase. There is only passion that drives the dance. No career in any accepted sense of the term. I was always passionate about the dance. Even during my school days I would perform at least once or twice a month! It could be small clubs at which I would perform like the South Indian Music Club of Delhi, or other similar organizations. I also travelled to other cities for performances: Mumbai for Kal Ke Kalakar. Sonal Mansingh ji presented me in her dance festival where she showcased new emerging talent. So performances were always part of life. But simultaneously, my academic pursuits continued. I went on to graduate in Mathematcal Statistics from the prestigious Lady Shri Ram College for Women in Delhi University. Then I joined for my masters in visual communications at the Indian Institute of Mass Communications in Delhi.

As was expected of me by my parents, I went through a series of fabulous jobs: my first was for the N A Media Foundation, under the giant journalist Nikhil Chakravarty, Eventually I joined the corporate office of NTPC in corporate communications.

We know, today you are one of the well-known dancers of India, especially everyone in the Capital knows you by face/name. Do you think your base being Delhi did support a lot in your career growth?

I think the internet has obviated the need for geographic marking. Today, because of technology, one can be based anywhere and achieve anything. While I have may have had some advantages by being based in Delhi, I have had my share of disadvantages too – organizations in Chennai seem to see me as from another planet! I think the campaign in Maharashtra for All of India for all Indians is one of the most critical campaigns that will take us back to the roots of our nation and to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi’s dream.

Today there are lakhs of children in India learning Bharatanatyam. But only few of them are reaching to heights of their career. What can be the reason in your opinion? Don’t we have enough audience? Or is it due to lack of support from the families? Or is there no career prospects in Indian Classical Dance?

I think that interest in classical arts is there. But our educational systems have not adapted to the teaching of arts. In an NCERT Committee of which I was part of, we recognized that wanting to teach the arts in schools is one thing, but finding suitable teachers for such a national effort is quite something else. Where do we find the teachers who can transmit creative energy on the arts? That is why our age-old shruti-smriti method of the Gurukuls remains relevant still.

So that is the crisis in teaching. Of the related crisis in performers, there is a crisis. One is that the classical arts do not find support in the media. So the task for creating spaces for new and young artists has gotten extremely difficult. Where are the next generation of dance and music critics who can command universal respect such as the late Subbudu commanded? But why only print media -- even in television where is space for the arts? DD Bharati was formed to showcase our arts. Now even that channel is full of silly soap operas. This has to truly change. We must fight for a Public Broadcasting channel dedicated entirely to our classical and folk arts. Maybe a channel supported by the Sangeet Natak Akademi!

On career in the arts, let us face it. While there is money in music, there is little money in dance. For the first 25 years, classical dance is only a passion. It is only if one can outride that and persist, and fight, and shout, that one begins to earn just to maintain oneself. Dance is expensive; musicians are expensive, learning it is expensive, and arangettam is expensive and costumes and aharya is expensive. So a career in dance is getting more and more difficult.

her MSc in Development Studies at the London School of Economics as an INLAKS scholar.

I love to sing, to teach, to write and to meet young people and inspire them In fact, a lot of time is spent on youth-focussed activities. Then there is my studio, Natya Vriksha, where I teach over 100 students. I take classes myself; my senior students assist me only when I am travelling.

I love watching Hindi movies. I love Chinese food, even though I am a complete vegetarian. And I hate shopping, even though I love handloom sarees.

The quantum of financing for culture has grown tremendously under this Government. And that is a wonderful sign that culture matters. State Governments too are constantly promoting their art forms. But I think somewhere Government has come to be seen as lackadaisical and courting mediocrity. That needs to change dramatically. Let me give you one concrete example. The world famous Khajuraho festival in the first week of February issues advertisements in national papers on the 1 of Feb each year. Too late for many to plan to attend. The same ads placed on 1 Jan would create, I am sure, a surge of real and committed viewers for that festival. On the other hand see Delhi Government’s Ananya Festival curated by Seher. It is an example of how Governments and creative communities can synergise to maximum effort. So a lot of dialoguing needs to happen. More productive public-private partnerships need to be put in place. More impresarios are required to make public spending in the arts worth the buck.

Kerala is a dream state for culture. Which other state in India has so many diverse classical and folk performance forms. And the highest levels of education. What we now need is to synergise all these pluses to make super pluses. Collaborations perhaps, between various art forms, even a new language of contemporary performance. The sky is the limit!

But at the base of all that ambition are two simple things: knowledge of roots and training. With these two in place, the youth of Kerala can fly far higher than ever!