This year I am participating in Kahaani, an annual dance event hosted by the Kolkata GC in order to raise funds for their partner NGO, Voice of World. I am playing the role of a dance leader (a role I’ve undertaken twice before) which can, at times, be quite a time consuming and stressful role. It entails teaching our fellow peers a dance, many of whom have no experience in the field of dancing. Nonetheless, it’s an enriching experience as it helps me gain valuable leadership skills and the art of patience. My main strength is probably my skill of dancing as I can use that to benefit myself and Kolkata GC. But, my weakness would have to be my temperament as I often get frustrated with people not understanding the step which I realize is irrational. This is also probably my biggest challenge as well and the main one I would like to overcome over the course of Kahaani.

I choreographed and planned the dance with two friends, Mallika Shankar, and Poorvi Singh. It took us quite a bit of time to curate and execute our ideas into something we thought would be accessible for beginners. It has been easy working with Poorvi and Mallika as we all share quite similar visions for the dance, however, when a disagreement is found, we easily compromise and come to a consensus. Moreover, although we all have different values and morals, due to our strong foundational understanding that there is no one right answer and everyone’s perspective is valuable, we have learned to accommodate and find a happy medium between us.

As Kahaani is a fundraiser, I have understood the valuable mission of Kolkata GC. It aims to empower individuals – namely women and children with disabilities – participate in society to their full potential. This is an issue close to my heart because, firstly, it works in India (where I’m from) and deals with such a prevalent issue in India’s current society. This problem is one that hasn’t been addressed adequately in the past which makes Kolkata GC’s actions so commendable.