A government job! This dream of many young Indians was a reality for Annu Gupta living in Delhi. After completing her 12th, she appeared for the ETE (Elementary Teachers Education) course and cleared it. This landed her a nice job in a school.
Sounds perfect? But, not for her.
Annu began her journey with Kathak at the age of 15. Since then, she has continued learning and practicing it, no matter what. It soon became her passion and an integral part of her daily routine.
Talking to LifeBeyondNumbers, Annu revealed her deep connection with Kathak.
“Kathak has helped me in gaining the self-confidence I always needed. It has allowed me to become who I am and freely express my opinions. Remember how we hesitate in school when we want to ask a doubt? That’s what I had before I did Kathak. Right now it is a meditation for me every moment I practice Kathak. It brings me back to the present moment.”
The Turning Point
After her 12th, Annu wasn’t clear about how to go ahead in her life. Kathak was what she loved, but the government job was her father’s insistence. She choose to go ahead and take up the government job as a teacher until she could find clarity about what she exactly wanted to do.
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As she started teaching, something didn’t feel right. She felt that whatever she was doing was not coming from her heart. The daily routine felt mundane and she couldn’t imagine pursuing it for the rest of her life till the age of 60. That was the time to make a decision. She was saturated by the job and made a decision to quit. This was the time when Annu decided to pursue Kathak as a part of her profession.
She had a hard time convincing her father about the decision. Taking up dance as a profession was something that he found really hard to digest. However, Annu was determined and decided to explore further.
Anubhuti – Teaching Kathak with a purpose
The first step she took after leaving her job was to find a proper guru and get the needed guidance. Soon Annu started teaching Kathak to kids in Delhi and places nearby. Initially, it took time to understand how things work in this sector professionally. On taking up multiple classes with many students, she still felt that something was missing.
However, it was hard for her to precisely understand the void that she was feeling. The connection that Annu was looking for between the students and teacher was not there. She felt that the learning and teaching were more inclined towards transactional mode rather than coming from the heart.
However, one day when she was in Himachal, Bir, something beautiful happened. She shares,
“I was in Bir in 2016 and was approached by one of the didi’s from an organization name Avishkar, Palampur to teach kathak to some girls who were coming from Bihar. Those girls were from the Narigunjan organization. I happily agreed. However, the experience of teaching those girls was different from what I had in Delhi. They were extremely excited to learn and were joyful during the process. After the session ended they wanted to learn more. That feeling gave rise to ‘Anubhuti’”
The experience she had while teaching in Delhi never felt as joyful as the one in Bir. Those kids in Bir actually valued and enjoyed the whole learning process more than any other previous students. With an intention to connect and help more such kids grow, an initiative by the name ‘Anubhuti’ was born.
Journey Ahead
The Anubhuti initiative decided to not only teach Kathak but also imbibe the needed life skills in them along with the dance form. Just like Annu gained her confidence and connection through this dance form, she wanted her students to gain similar life skills. So she decided to combine the dance form with various skills like teamwork, self-confidence, creativity, leadership, and much more.
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The curriculum under Anubhuti was designed in a way that the process of learning along with teaching Kathak, also prepares the students for dealing with life as well. Annu further approached and worked with various organizations all over India. Having left her training in Delhi, she started working for kids with this NGO to make a difference in the lives of underprivileged kids.
She faced many challenges during her journey, from family pressure to financial pressure and the only thing that helped her through this was, her trust and her purpose.
Annu currently conducts online sessions to teach Kathak and also collaborates with NGOs to uplift people’s lives through this ancient art form.