When Miss Indias knew their politics

What was Indrani Rahman doing at an Aikya Kerala Movement convention?

V.K. MADHAVAN KUTTY

Stalwarts in the field of dance and music — Pandit Ravi Shankar, Yamini Krishnamurthy, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Sharon Lowen, Swapnasundari — paid handsome tributes and recalled their association with Indrani Rahman at a function to release the book Dancing in the Family, written by Indrani Rahman’s daughter Sukanya. I too had admired and respected the great dancer, memories of whom date back to the year she was crowned Miss India. She was the first Miss India and if all her successors are lined up today, Indrani Rahman would be selected as the most beautiful.

I believed, and still believe, that Indrani belonged to Kerala. She had spent her early childhood in Kerala Kalamandalam with her mother Ragini Devi, who was learning Kathakali there. She used to recall how as a little child our national poet Vallathol used to play with her.

In 1953, the year she was selected Miss India, I cycled down to her flat in New Delhi’s Sujan Singh Park to meet her. I had not fixed any appointment nor was I aware of such customs, as I was then new to New Delhi and its urban ways. My hidden agenda was to see the Miss India in person and the pretext was to invite her to Kerala for a convention. To my surprise, it was she who answered the doorbell!

I told her that the convention had been organised to demand that the Malayalam speaking areas of Travancore, Cochin and Malabar, which were under three different administrative set-ups, be brought together to form the Kerala state. To my disappointment, she said she had already informed the organisers about her inability to make it to Kerala. Those days travelling to Kerala was also not easy. One had to take a night flight to Madras and from there an overnight train to Calicut, where the convention was to be held.

I told her that leaders like K. Kelappan, A.K. Gopalan and K.A. Damodara Menon who were leading the Aikya Kerala Movement would be sadly disappointed. Indrani Rahman was known to hold progressive views and did not want to disappoint them. To cut the story short, she finally agreed and I felt triumphant. (The word ‘‘progressive’’ had a different meaning in those days and I do not know what it means now.) A few months later the first meeting of the India-China Friendship Society was held in New Delhi, which was addressed by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Indrani’s participation was noticed. Those were the days when Sino-Indian relations were exceptionally warm.

A few weeks before her death I met her at her New York apartment. She was still dancing and teaching dancing. Indrani could win anyone over with her dance, charm, courtesy and beautiful manners.

When Sukanya’s book was being released, I got the feeling that India had almost forgotten this great artiste and her contributions when she passed away. Perhaps the book will introduce her to a new generation.

Madhavan Kutty is the author of The Village Before Time