Sunday Reflections – Kunal Roy

It appears as if this year has been cursed by some pious souls, making the people on the earth script their tales of sorrow, despair and anguish! One after the another,dismal news has ripped through the corner of our heart! Besides the dance of death by the novel corona virus across the entire globe, the tinsel town has witnessed a few untimely demise of some glittering stars! And today one more tale of tragedy has been woven. The eminent dancer, choreographer and actress Amala Shankar breathed her last in her kolkata residence today, leaving behind myriad memories on the sands of time!
Amala Shankar was born in the 1919, when the country was ruled by the Britishers. Her father always desired her to be interested in art and nature. Amala grew up under the able guidance of her father. She was brought up in such a way so that she could turn out to be an inspiration before all and sundry! At the age of eleven, she attended an international conference in Paris, where she met Uday Shankar, the famed dance personality. Amala used to put on frock. But Uday’s mother Hemangini Devi gave her a saree to wear. Indeed a preconceived notion was nurtured that Amala was going to tie her nuptial knot with Uday. However, both of them entered into a wedlock in 1942, after Uday proposed Amala in a solitary, romantic evening! Amala became an inseparable segment of Uday Shankar’s dance troupe. Both performed together and earned fame and money beyond any one’s fantasy! With the passage of time Amala gave birth to Anand Shankar and Mamata Shankar. It is worth mentioning that her both children are still the pride of Bengal and beyond! On the other hand some marital issues cropped up between Uday and Amala as the former fell in love in with a girl of her troupe and plays like Chandalika and many more were made in absence of Amala! Uday Shankar died in1977. Amala led a life of separation in the last few years of her marital life!
After years of honour and glory, Amala Shankar is no more with us. She has left for her heavenly abode. Not only in terms of kith and kin, but also as a professional she will be an example to us! A spouse, a mother and above all an ardent lover of art! Delight and sorrow complement one another, always. Shelley pens in his poem”To A Skylark”:
“Teach me half of the gladness,
That thy brain must know,
Such harmonious madness from my lips would flow,
The world would listen than,
As I am listening now”