1956, Andarmahal Colony, Coochbehar

The girl looked down at the floor. The classroom wasn't much, just a long stretch of the hall with a raised platform in the middle. Girls danced on that platform for other learners to surround themselves and watch. The six windows offered a generous view into the valley but it got boring after fifteen years.

"Suprabhat," Sirisha di the matron of the school entered wishing everyone morning. A veteran dancer herself, she expected nothing less than perfection from her students.

"So don't wait, D group come up here and start." Sirisha di took her usual seat by the edge of the platform.

The girl was in the D group. She was never very nervous about dancing unlike being called by her name. Ever since she knew that her ridiculous name came from the matron, dance was something she identified herself with. A poor performance held no meaning because she was the one who did it. In a world where everyone associates thoughts and things with various words, dance and movement were all she had. Because that ridiculous name was not hers.

"You people always forget the relation of Bharatnatyam and the fire element," Sirisha spoke as she walked around the platform observing the troupe of dancers.

The terrible thing about dance classes was that no student could stammer in response to a teacher. If the teacher asks or shows you something you either move correctly or you don't. There existed nothing in the middle.

"So you, tell me what is derived from the fire element in dancing." Sirisha di pointed out a random girl in the class.

"It refers to the movement of fire," the girl does try to talk sitting. But a fiery look from Sirisha di her stand up and curve her hands and torso to demonstrate.

"You see students," Sirisha di turned to the troupe, "fire is interlinked with many things in this creation. Dance is expression through movement and nothing moves more randomly and beautifully than natural fire. The movement of a flame is not integral to the flame itself..."

The girl resisted the urge to complete the sentence but she had a rule of not associating with words. Then again Sirisha di was skilled with words as well and never used the same repertoire or paragraph to express herself.

"...it says all in the continuum theory," Sirisha di cleared her throat, "Om poorna madah poorna midha poorna mudhashate...," she turned to the troupe again and sat on the edge, "a part of a whole is the whole in itself...a flame can move just like grass on a breeze, a tree in a storm. Feel those things, be them..," Sirisha di pursed her lips to make a point.

"You know the great saints can tell you to achieve self realisation and what not...," Sirisha di began again, "but true art comes from imbibing these movements in you. Doing so you invoke that power in yourself. Do you realise how powerful a grass must be?" Sirisha di changed her leg position to avoid fatigue, "a fragile collection of cells that is described with the simile of blades. They hold down massive stretches of soil together prevents it from the fiercest eroding forces..."

"Dance is not that different, defying the natural physical laws of body movement. They once even described this context as Asta siddhi..." Sirisha di scanned the crowd, Defiance always get their attention, she thought, "literally translated to eight supernatural powers, those stupid saints say they are a hindrance to nirvana or whatever! But I think they are the actual way..."

"These powers are achieved through rigorous yoga, and that means doing your work in the right state of mind, not just exercise," Sirisha di breathed out excited, "there is the Anima, the power to assume minute forms, like dancing in a troupe, beautiful individually but one among many, never standing out. The opposite lies Mahima, be in a group but perform powerfully enough to assume huge proportions."

Sirisha di stood up again, she was excited, "the Laghima refers to being light or weightless. You people do the footwork right you will know how to hover on solid ground. Of course, a true performer must possess the Istritva, perfect mastery over body and senses, or else the illusion is broken for the audience. But the grandest power you should possess is the Prakamya, it means...," Sirisha di scanned the crowd again to ensure everyone was listening. The concept was hard to grasp, part of what made it boring, "having an irresistible will, to do anything you want to do. Therein comes Prapti..."

"Can't we control nature that way?" the girl asked suddenly and immediately regretted it but she continued anyway, "if we are one among nature yet the alpha. So powerful that even mother earth cannot bear us. Perfectly mastered our senses and thus the nature in the process. That means our will..."

"...is the will of the cosmos. Nature does our bidding at that point," there was glamour in Sirisha's eyes, the prospect of far-fetched speculation having minimal truth to it. Physicists often refer to that as a hypothesis, people just daydream, "of course you can! You can command it to rain, make the skies bleed at your mere will...."

The girl listened with rapt attention.