Two things that moved me!

Recently, I saw Anita Ratnam's (Bharatanatyam recital) Aandal Kauthvam online and was impressed with it. I have some good opinions about Ms. Ratnam. I am not a fan of her dance though. I think her dance moves are not very crisp and had it been another novice dancer dancing the way Anita does, his/her name would have never seen the light of day. And yet, I did not like her acting in movies because I thought she was of higher caliber than a common movie actress. I visit her website narthaki.com now and then. It is a great resource, especially if you don’t live in India. It is difficult to directly pinpoint why I like her, but I still do. When I saw her recent recital of Aandal Kauthvam, I realized why.
As a lover of Tamil Vaishnavite literature, of course, I melt when I come across any verse of the Divya Prabandham. This was one such occasion. Her Paingili Vannan Sridharan from Nachiyar Thirumozhi was a reminder of how excellent poetry can bring tears to your eyes. She also produced Neelam in praise of Aandal, so I am guessing, like me, she is a fan of Kodhai's writings. Like I said before, if it were a novice dancer, this might have gone unnoticed, but for a change, her fame has helped in this case. It was put online and marketed. Needless to say, a quite forgotten piece is revived (I am not portraying her as a martyr of a cause, but appreciating her for her choice of a rare lyric).
A similar incident of revival was done by the great M.S. Subbulakshmi when she sang at the UN. She revived the Aaichiyar Kuravai from Silappadhikaaram, which I recently heard. The lyrics, the imagination, and the metaphors are a world apart. I just felt lucky that I was able to appreciate and understand the meaning of such extraordinary writing. One such line says, "kariyavanai KANAdha kaN enna kaNNe? kaN imaithu kANbAr tham kaN enna kaNNe?” Roughly translated it means, what eyes are those eyes that haven’t seen the dark skinned lord (Vishnu), and what eyes are those eyes that blink while beholding the lord?
Agreed, I am an agnostic from time to time. Agreed, I don’t believe in religion. I find prayers directed to please the so-called almighty plain stupid. At the same time, I recite the Vishnu Sahasranamam because of the beauty of it. Sometimes I hold monologues with the invisible one asking him/her why things are the way they are. And yet, I find a silly happiness when in my lecture I say, "Surely the god loves .025 or .07 level of statistical significance as much as he/she loves .05" and add the phrase "if there is a God" and most of my students are taken aback by such "blatant blasphemy". The human mind is a contradiction and I am a fine example of it. I sometimes don’t even believe that there is a God. But that doesn’t stop me from appreciating beautiful writing when I see one. If there is an almighty, I think this is a good praise for him/her. If there is an almighty, I believe that this is how beautiful he/she would be.
I forget what the focus of this blog is and am wondering as to how to end this topic. Is an end really necessary when talking about an endless phenomenon (which for me is literature, for you it could be God)? I am not a fan of Anita Ratnam's dance, but yet I liked her interpretation of the Nachiyar Thirumozhi. I am agnostic, but yet I appreciate and am moved by the beauty of the poetry in Aaichiyar Kuravai. I guess in the end what I am trying to say is when you want to find your passion in something, you can find it irrespective of the fact that it might be mixed with things you don’t believe in.