As a Bharathanatyam dancer, Zakir Hussain believes in keeping his body in top form and hits the gym whenever he can; and he watches films too to cool off. His students know they can be called for practice sessions even at 10 p.m.
Though Zakir Hussain catches up on his reading late into the night, he is up by 5 a.m. so that he can be on time for his 7 a.m. Thiruppavai Upanyasam (discourse) at Bharat Kalachar in T. Nagar.
Peppering his talk with the theory of relativity and the knowledge of science the Alwars possessed, he recites verses from the Puranas,Upanishads and Vedas .
“As Andal gets down from her palanquin at Srirangam, she is so happy to be there at last and rubs the soil all over her body. But as she walks inside the temple, she is angry that Lord Sri Ranganatha has not come out to meet her — his bride,” explained Mr. Hussain to his audience that repeated the Pasurams after him on Saturday morning in his discourse on Nachiyar Thirumozhi at the Krishna Gana Sabha.
For over a year-and-a-half, Mr. Hussain has been busy in his latest avatar of giving discourses.
“It was Y. Prabhu of Krishna Gana Sabha who suggested that I give upanyasam a try as I was doing a lot of research on Vaishnavism for my dance performances,” he said. His dance pieces include Divyam, Dasyam, Narayanam, Sudarshanam and Ranganayakam. Dasyam is about the Lord’s servitude to his devotees and Ranganayakam is about the Srirangam temple.
Islam and Hinduism
Having grown up in a household that had both Islam and Hinduism side by side, he learnt and practised both religions for several years. Smitten by the love to learn Bharathanatyam and slowly mesmerised by the beauty of Andal, he came to Chennai at the age of 17 from a village near Salem.
“I learnt dance under Chitra Viswesvaran for four years. It was 365 days of dance. Then in 1994, I decided to leave the Margam and do dance dramas for which I had to do research. I continue to read any book on Vaishnavism that I can lay my hands on,” he explained.
This season, Zakir will perform Bharathanatyam at Brahma Gana Sabha on January 2 at 7 p.m. and at Bharat Kalachar on January 8 at 9 p.m. His Thiruppavai discourses will be on till January 1 at Bharat Kalachar.
