Vempati Rama Seshamma, wife of legendary Kuchipudi dance maestro Vempati Peda Satyanarayana (Peda Satyam), leads a lonely but fiercely independent life in a modest two-room traditional house at Kuchipudi village in Krishna district.
At 85, she is confident, courageous and used to being on her own. “I haven’t had to answer to anyone in my life and there’s no way I can think of doing it now,” she smiles smugly.
While her husband was the most popular dance director in the south Indian film field, his speciality being blending classical with modern, Seshamma remained behind the scenes as a supportive wife who believed completely in his mission. His career was at its peak, but Seshamma was her own woman, leading a life full of zest just like what she does today.
A small wooden gate opens into the front yard of her house which has plants of jasmine flowers. The room she occupies for most part of the day has a wooden cot, a tiny television set, a wall clock, two chairs and a photo of her young days with the dancing maestro Peda Satyam hanging on the wall. A stickler to time, her day starts at 4 a.m. After a 15-minute walk, she makes coffee for herself and waits for the maid to come and clean the surroundings. “I cook a brunch and I like food to be fresh and hot while eating.” She loves to feed her guests. “You should have come a while ago. I had cooked mavidikay-pappu (raw mango dal) and majjiga charu (tempered buttermilk),” she says.
What did marriage at the age of eight to a man whose passion was to dance in a female’s attire mean to her? “I was a kid and was afraid of facing him,” she says, and goes on to narrate how he had his primary training in dance at the age of 13 under Chinta Venkataramayya and received advanced training from Vedantam Lakshminarayana Sastry. “He also learnt Bharatanatyam and Kathakali and was drawn towards painting and learnt the art from Adavi Bapiraju,” she says.
Lack of encouragement from his gurus resulted in Satyam switching over to painting for a while, but he returned to dance in 1940.
Felt ignored
Asked if she attended his shows, she moves her head sideways. “I never went for his shows. He would be busy and I was left alone. I can’t take the feeling of being ignored,” she says with that familiar smile.
Seshamma is a school dropout. “My husband wanted me to study, but I did not listen to him. Once, the master hit me on my knuckles. I came back home and said I did not want to be beaten up,” she reminisces.
Life in Madras brought lots of fun, she says, talking about her 31-year-long stay in that city. “Actresses like Savithri and Vanisri came home and we ate in the same plate. They were so famous and yet so grounded,” she says.
No complaints
Things have changed over the years, she observes with a tinge of sadness. “Today, nobody likes to be told anything. So much is being done in the name of Kuchipudi,” she says and hastens to add: “May be, different people think in different ways. Why complain?” The couple did not have children. “My sister’s children come and see me everyday. I don’t go anywhere because I’ll have to seek somebody’s help and I don’t like dependence,” she says, letting the strong woman in her surface.
“This is my home, my soil. I have no more wishes and I want to be here till the end,” she says with a sense of contentment.
