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The first time Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru saw Kathakali, a
staging of Nalacharitham kathakali, in 1955, there were times during the
performance when he couldn’t resist clapping his hands with joy.
Watching the show with him were diplomat- politician VK Krishna Menon
and freedom fighter- physician Dr. BC Roy. It was the first time such a
show, a Kathakali festival, was put up in New Delhi. (‘A Kathakali fact about FACT’ by Shilpa Nair Anand, The Hindu Friday Review, Aug 11, 2018) |
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In the early part of the 19th century, Nicki was easily the most
celebrated nautch girl of Calcutta. She figures in numerous
contemporary accounts of nautch parties to which the sahibs and
memsahibs were invited. The great babus of Calcutta vied with one
another to hire Nicki for their functions and festivities. She was known
to be quite wealthy and charged a thousand rupees for a single
performance. A contemporary admirer of Nicki was Lady Nugent, wife of
the Commander-in-Chief. She was greatly impressed with her performance
and by her dazzling gold and silver embroidered costume and glittering
ornaments studded with diamonds, pearls and emeralds. (‘Famous dancing girls from the pages of Indian history’ by Pran Nevile, The Asian Age, July 25, 2018) |
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