What's in a name?!

Let's start with my most famous namesake, Rukmini Devi Arundale. She is widely known as the founder of Kalakshetra, the renowned school of classical Indian performing arts, situated in Madras. But I found out recently that Rukmini was in fact called upon to be President of India, by the then Prime Minister, Morarji Desai! She declined the invitation, prefering to confine herself to the Arts and stay out of the political realm. Many attribute the revival and popularization of Bharatnatyam to her, but that is debatable. But no one questions her great talent in Bharatnatyam or her contribution to the art form. Incidentally, this year marks the birth centenary celebration of Rukmini Devi Arundale.

All that said, the greatest Rukmini I have known is my late maternal grandmother, after whom I am named. She was a pillar of strength for our family. Married at age 14, she bore all the responsibilities of nurturing her family and other's families too! Always smiling and hospitable, she kept her home and all our hearts happy! And her cooking...whoa! Let's just say that we always over-ate at Paati's*. She was going to make mysore pak** for me when I went to India for my sister's wedding. But it turned out that I would never eat her mysore pak again....she passed away 4 days before the wedding. Well, it was a peaceful passing and the way my mother(an amazing woman herself!) looks at it, we have so many lessons to learn from Paati's life. And we will always feel her presence in everything we do! And as my Thatha*** says, I am the Rukmini to take her place now! :-) Hmm, now that's a hard act to follow.

* Paati = Grandmother
** mysore pak = Indian sweet made with gram flour and sugar
*** Thatha = Grandfather