Friends,
I love Cuttack as it is an ‘authentic’ ancient city and once the capital of Odisha.
In the late 70s when I started Odissi, I used to ‘order’ all my silver jewelleries from Cuttack and would make several adventurous trips by bus to this mad divine city to make sure that the jewelleries were in order
My dearest Odia friend artist cardiologist, the late Dr JP Das, had his clinic and lived in Cuttack with his lovely wife, Gayatri Das, and family. Most of the drugs/medicines you consume in KL were probably manufactured in Cuttack.
Cuttack was and still is an ancient thriving messy island city in the middle of the Mahanadi tributaries, seemingly ready to implode at the seams. The Bali Jatra festival is still celebrated annually here in Cuttack.
The rennaisance of Odissi took place here, but the creative pulse of Odissi has shifted to Bhubaneswar. Now, Cuttack is almost bereft of Odissi except in small pockets.
I had performed here in Cuttack and remembered traisping over cables in the dark behind the stage during a performance.
Yes, surely Sutra MUST perform Radhe! Radhe! – in Cuttack. It was a mad Dancer’s vow.
Back in KL, some months ago, when we were consolidating the India Tour, our dear Guru Gajendra Panda announced (when we had already come to term that we would skipped Cuttack and have a day’s rest in Bhubaneswar), that he had managed to book a performance in Cuttack at the newly renovated Saheed Bhavan. This was in spite of advice from concerned quarters that there was no venue with the right facilities which could take on Radhe! Radhe! Of course, the concerned people who advised us were absolutely right!
Cuttack was destined to be that unforgettable
Fellini-esque experience the dancers will treasure!
Fortunately for me, I was not with them but with my good friend Gayatri Das savouring a fantastic lunch prepared for me.
When they arrived in Cuttack, our Sutra dancers discovered their bus could not enter. The road to Saheed Bhavan was too narrow and the bus had to be parked a kilometre away. So, they had to drag their custume luggages , props and merchandise/books et al, along the road. To add insult to injury, apparently, there was a school show in the morning and afternoon. The tech team could not bump in until late. At 5pm the stage was still littered with tech gadgets and the LED screens were still being assembled.
The dancers also found that there is no access from the back of stage connecting R to L wings, ie therefore all exits and entrances can only be assailed from one side and from one wing!
This requires a massive overhauling of the exit/entrance of Radhe! Radhe! The dancers improvised a rehearsal on the gaudy carpet as the tech team prepared the stage.
It would have been a nightmare for any lighting designer but Sutra’s Sivarajah who is well acquainted with performance in India, was as cool as Siva in Kailash.
Meanwhile, prior to performance, our organisers scampered left and right of the stage with shawls and trophies, improvising the felicitation of ‘VIPs’ who had just walked in ad hoc to the front. This seemed to be the staple of Indian dance program.
In the meantime, someone tried to quell the kuttuvillakku flame and knocked it and burnt his whole hand in the process.
Radhe! Radhe!, au contraire, was performed immaculately and received the best compliment from a connoisseur, who remarked, “An Amazing performance from the troupe! I saw the changes! The performance was even better than last night in Bhubaneswar!”
All is not over. Artist Kishore Sahoo had to ferry the luggages and dancers four times to the awaiting bus a kilometre away that would take us back to Bhubaneswar.
We were the last to leave Saheed Bhavan, exhausted and grateful that all turned out well. The dancers, veritable troupers they were, were well pleased with a day’s work, well done!
Ramli