The evening breeze carries the sound of ghungroos from the open window of Shovana Narayan’s drawing room in her house in central Delhi. Inside, the Kathak dancer is taking her students through their paces. The sofas and tables have been pushed back and a rolled up carpet reclines in a corner. The moment the practice is over, there’s a flurry of activity as the furniture is pushed into place to make the area look more like a drawing room than a drawing room-cum-rehearsal space. But the room never loses its cocoon-like atmosphere, one embellished in ethnic décor. The view of the large garden outside the window adds to the charm.

“I think it is lovely to have memories around,” says Narayan, looking around at the room where every little item evokes nostalgia. On one wall is a framed ghaghra and headgear. “My first Kathak costume,” says Narayan. “I wore that when my mother took me to Sadhana Bose, my first Kathak teacher.”

The adjoining wall holds framed awards and certificates—Padma Shri, the Sangeet Natak Akademi and the Oisca of Japan. Prominent on another wall is a traditional Thai zari work representation of a dancer that Narayan was gifted during a performance. And displayed all over are photographs, the several black and white portraits of Narayan’s mother and father, and colour shots of her husband, former Austrian ambassador to India, Herbert Traxl and their son. The photographs take up space on the walls, on side tables and occupy the corners, sharing space with statuettes of Ganesh (“a gift from my husband on our silver wedding anniversary”) and Buddha. “Though there are loads of ethnic artefacts here, I have never consciously collected anything. All I collect are my dance and my kids, the young dancers,” she says.

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