When I see them coming from the drama practical, <br />Taking of their exam and returning back, <br />I mean the learners, <br />Dressed and made up <br /> <br />And after seeing them, forget I my poetry <br />And start thinking about their performing art, <br />Trough dancing <br />They saying it all <br /> <br />With their poses and postures in movement, <br />Expressions of sorrow and happiness, <br />Expressing through signs and symbols, <br />Rhythmic movement and break-up of limbs. <br /> <br />Just like puppets, the old puppet dances of India <br />And the artistes making it happen <br />Through a thread, <br />Where that art and tradition? <br /> <br />Just like the Ramayana and the Mahabharata artistes <br />They enacting <br />The episodes as per their strength, <br />The love-romances of Krishna. <br /> <br />I see the dance school boys and girls coming from <br />After taking their practical exam <br />And the make-up men <br />Have tried to add the grace. <br /> <br />But what have the artistes got, <br />All those who have kept up the tradition <br />By being a courtier, a bai, a nautch girl <br />Or a devadasi, say you? <br /> <br />The arts ruined into the hands of the fanatics and conservatives, <br />Bad name was attached to, <br />The company too prevailed upon <br />And the nautch girls turned into replicas.<br /><br />Bijay Kant Dubey<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-dance-school-boys-girls/
