Mumbai dance troupe stages unique show at rly station with water conservation message

Passengers on Churchgate Railway station were in for a pleasant surprise recently, when they were greeted by the sight of 15 graceful Kathak dancers. Near the ticket counter, curious onlookers enjoyed the Kathak performance, led by Anshu Parihar of Mumbai-based Ta Thei Thei Tat Trust. This unique initiative was undertaken by octogenarian Aabid Surti and Parihar, with the support of Western Railways. Surti, who is known to fix taps in people’s houses for free, in order to save water, clubbed the idea of generating awareness about water wastage with this Indian dance form.

“Since more than 1,000 years temple dancers of India, including Devadasis used to dance before monsoon or in drought situations, to please Lord Indra for abundant monsoons. Inspired from that we intended to use this form to please heavens for a good rainfall and at the same time, also create awareness.” The dance routine was of more or less of 4 minutes and was performed at an interval of around 10 minutes, for an hour.

Volunteers of Surti’s NGO called Drop Dead Foundation, went around the station to explain people the necessity of saving water and educating them about the millions of litres of water that is …read more