Geez this is so long already and I don’t think I’m even close to being done.

Alright. So this next item is going to be forever etched in my heart for many reasons. One, it was specifically choreographed for the three of us. Two, it’s in the raagam Carnatica Devagandhari, which is extremely special to literally everyone in our family. And three, it was a complete surprise to our parents. If you haven’t caught on, my family is really close. Like REALLY close. We tell each other everything. Even the things we shouldn’t tell each other we do. So when Aunty found this thillana (of course she knew how much we all loved this raagam), the first thing she said to us was “You can’t tell Amma and Nanna about this it has to be a surprise. That means to whispering about it to eacher other, and definitely no humming it around the house.” When I say that it was torture to consciously remember to let anything slip, that is a HUGE understatement. It was so funny because during every rehearsal when Aunty would make us do it, Srivi and I would have to start her off because she could never remember how the song started. I remember during our last orchestra rehearsal two days before the program, the three of us, Minu Aunty, Jayasingham Uncle, and a few of the other orchestra members sat for about 45 minutes after our rehearsal ended so we could figure out the taalam for the end of the thilana because the swarams (notes) didn’t make sense. On the day of the program even though the speed of the item increased drastically by the end, the only thing I remember was feeling the music and the raagam fill my soul. The way the flute ran up and down the scale in such an effortless yet beautiful way gave me goosebumps. And I know that it really meant a lot to especially my parents and all our family that came out for the event.

Because our program was on India’s Independece Day (Jai Hind!) Aunty thought it would be nice to end the program on a patriotic note. She let us pick the song, and even gave us the task of choreographing it, the cherry on top being we picked a song we learned as small children and Nanna (dad) even sang it for us! What a treat that was, dancing while our dad sang. He really brought music to our lives as small kids so it was cool that we got to share that with him. I remember the pain in the rear it was to choreograph this item, but mad props to Srivi because she really went above and beyond to make the item what it turned out to be. I wrote down the lyrics and got the meaning, but Srivi picked some really cool steps and ideas that we were able to incoorperate into the dance. At the end of the item when the pallavi (chorus) was being repeated a few times I remember singing outloud and feeling so proud that by the time we were saluting at the end, there were tears in my eyes. I’m super emotional and stuff but I wasn’t crying sad tears. I wouldn’t even call them happy tears. They were tears that represented the years of hard work and dedication we had put in, the amount of time, money, and sacrifice our parents gave to make this dream a reality, and I can honestly say that was the proudest moment of my life so far. Not that we completed the rangapravesam, I mean that was a victory in and of itself, but rather that we didn’t let people’s ignorance and bad words bring us down. That we fought for something we really wanted and saw that it came true. That we worked together as sisters and accomplished this as a team. I hope to cherish that feeling for the rest of my life.