It was the fourth night of the annual Osho celebration and the very first time that the duo had performed together on the same stage.

The superbly choreographed dance began with Esha's graceful Mangalacharan, an invocation to God, followed by Vrishti (showers) based on aesthetic descriptions of the monsoon, taken from Kalidasa's immortal poem Meghdoot.

Next, Hema appeared on stage amidst thunderous applause. She rendered three numbers portraying different aspects of the feminine principle, such as Durga, Tridevi and Gayatri.

Hema's long tenure in films helped her to enhance the Abhinaya with the quality of emotion which is an intrinsic part of the classical dance. This is what made her Ashtapadi of Jayadeva extremely juicy, when Hema expressed the amorousadvances of Radha, the symbol of the eternal beloved.

Hema would have concluded her recital with a traditional Tillana, a gay rhythmic dance, had Esha not come with her. At the end, both mother and daughter converged with a joint Odissi-Bharat Natyam compotisiton. This dance was aptly named Moksha -- salvation.

Very softly and lovingly, the two forms merged together. It was also a meeting of two generations, two styles and two souls. It touched many hearts in the audience when Hema embraced Esha in an artistic gesture, as if the past and future were both dissolving in the present.

At the end of the performance, Hema came to the microphone and said, ``I visited the Osho Commune for the first time two months ago. At that time I had no idea that I was going to perform here after only two months. I loved the atmosphere so much, I hope I will have many more opportunities of coming here, it was a very lovely experience.''