The spark and Initial reactions

One fine day when I was talking to my mom over the phone, I blurted out - “Amma, I'm taking dance lessons!”. It was one of the things I vowed to never tell my mom, but my excitement got the better of me and it just came out. An immediate,“Are you learning Bahrata Natyam ? (Bharata Natyam is an Indian classical dance that Originated in Tamil Nadu – India, that is performed solo mostly)Thats good for you” followed. I replied “No - its Ballroom! Western dance as you know it ma“. After a pause, she managed, “Are you dancing with girls? Who are the other people (she meant other desi guys) going with you ?”. I replied “Yes and it's just me.” After a longer pause, she asked “Are the other ladies / women you dance with - Indian ?” I said “NO”. This time there was a longer pause. It seemed like with every answer of mine, I was ripping off a layer of my mom's comfort zone. She finally cried out “What have you done son ? Why ?” I was stumped and a little confused .... what did I do ?

I guess I cannot blame her. I am from South India, that too from Madras(a conservative part of India). Being raised in a conservative family, My dad was skeptical of the idea of me casually interacting with girls. A sudden jump from that kind of a setup to socially dancing with “foreign” women was a big jump for my mom to digest. It was a big jump for me at the beginning too. I still do not have answers as to why would someone like me would get into something totally out of character like ballroom dance. But this is how it all started.

It was a few months into my first job as a software engineer (Around September of 2005). I felt a growing hollow by the day on the inside as the only thing that I had was my job. Nothing bad was happening, at the same time there was nothing interesting to do after work. An everyday routine was pretty much 9 to 10 hours at office, picking up fast food and a couple of DVD rentals on the way home and watching it over dinner and even before I realized, another day passed and I felt like I was a passive spectator to my life. Just like any other weekend me and a friend went to a random club just like that. Coincidentally, there was a salsa band playing there. All of a sudden, two Asian, a middle eastern / Indian (I thought he was probably from the Middle East but later he turned out to be Indian as well) and a Chinese guy stepped out of the shadows and started dancing. I was surprised to see Asians on the dance floor and both were really smooth and graceful and I was simply mesmerized looking at them dance. It was fantastic to watch them in full flow. It seemed to me like when they were dancing, there were in a different state – reaping utmost joy a moment could offer. Moreover, when they started dancing, the whole (dance) floor emptied out and it was just the two of 'em stealing the spotlight with their partners and the whole club was cheering for them. Suddenly, I could feel blood rush in the veins of my forearm. In a flash, a hidden switch in my head turned ON. I could see myself in the shoes of the other two guys. For the first time in my life, out of the blue, I wanted to dance.