BY VEENA RAO
Photos by Bytegraph

Atlanta, GA: AIM (All India Movement) for Seva  held its fundraiser, “Nayani”, a dance drama presented by accomplished dancer Rukmini Vijayakumar and her Raadha Kalpa ensemble at the Southern Polytechnic Auditorium, Marietta on October 14. Over 400 people attended the event. The Atlanta performance was the last of Raadha Kalpa’s 10-city tour of the US for AIM for Seva, and raised $90,000 for the charitable organization that works at making education and healthcare for rural and tribal children a reality.

The fundraising effort helped raise over $1.2 million nationally. The Atlanta show was coordinated and organized by Eashwar Money, Narayan Swamy and AIM for Seva’s team of dedicated volunteers.

The audience was mesmerized by the mastery, coordination and enormous talent of Rukmini Vijayakumar and her troupe. It was a sheer treat to watch the six dancers perform, emote and dance in perfect sync for close to two hours. “Nayani” was primarily in bharatanatyam style, but utilized other contemporary dance forms like the ballet and even martial arts to tell the story of an adopted tribal girl who is in search of Lord Shiva.

The dance drama opens with Lord Shiva taking on the form of an archer and destroying the powerful floating kingdom of Tripurasura with a single arrow from his bow. As the kingdom goes up in flames, and the ashes come to rest, Shiva smears the ashes upon his body. Some of the ash finds its way to the earth. Wherever the ash touches mother earth, a lingam arises. The forests of Amarkanatak become home to many such Shiva lingas.

Years later, a peaceful tribe comes to live in the forests. One day, the tribal chief finds an abandoned baby, names her Nayani and brings her up as his own. Nayani is strange, wandering off when she is supposed to be finishing chores, hearing and seeing things that others cannot. She begins offering flowers to an oddly shaped rock in the ground. Finally her parents decide to punish her for her odd habits. Where will her search for Lord Shiva take her? Will the villagers accept her love for Lord Shiva? The dance drama builds up to a climax that provides answers to these questions.



Vijayakumar was brilliant as Nayani. Her lithe movements, beautifully expressive face and complete command over her dance medium brought a lost tribal girl to life- and how!
Parshwanath Upadhye, Pavitra Bhat, Shruti Gopal, Suhail Bhan and Surabhi M Bharadwaj were equally in command. Arun Murthy, the stage and lighting designer, did a spectacular job at conveying the mood of each scene. Vijayakumar and her troupe are supposed to have been working on this production for over a year, and the effort shows.

Narayan Swamy and his wife Usha said, “The dance drama from Rukmini and her group was scintillating. It was a treat to watch the agility and perfection of the team as they danced in harmony and narrated the story. Smooth flow of scenes, melody of the music, Sanskrit verses, fast paced change of costume and colors along with well coordinated lighting were a delight to watch. I hope this team will come back to entertain more Atlantans and support the cause of AIM for Seva.”

Apart from dance and choreography, Vijayakumar is also an accomplished actress, and has appeared in a lead role in the Tamil film “Bommalattam” with Nana Patekar. She is currently working on the project “Kochadaiyaan” directed by Soundarya Rajnikanth.

An audio visual presented earlier in the evening educated those present about AIM for Seva activities. Started by Swami Dayananda Saraswati in the year 2000, the charitable organization has built 96 free student homes across 14 states in India in the past 12 years. At present, around 3000 children live in AIM for Seva student homes and attend a nearby school- all free of cost.

“The US fundraiser has now helped in taking the number of student homes from 96 to 108 (by middle 2013) all over India,” said Eashwar Money, Atlanta coordinator for the fundraiser.

“Over 2 million rural and tribal children have had their lives transformed,” he added. “In addition to the student homes, AIM for Seva has built 20 schools, five hospitals, six clinics and six mobile clinics.”

The audience was moved by the touching account of Mani Shankar of Duluth, whose son Venkat’s dying wish was that his dad devote his life to the cause of underprivileged kids. “Promise me dad, that every cent you make for the rest of your life will be for disadvantaged children, my son said. We can all leave something behind to help others. I am on a mission to fulfill this wish,” Shankar said.

Venkat’s wish and his dad’s dream recently came true when the student home he built opened this July in Mulvoy village in the Arakkonam District of Tamil Nadu, with five kids.

AIM for Seva has achieved special consultative state with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations and was a participant in the landmark Millennium World Peace Summit. Please visit www.aimforseva.org for more details.


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