AIM for Seva held its annual fundraising event on the 25th of July, 2026, in support of Swami Dayananda Krupa Care, a centre dedicated to caring for adult men with developmental delays. Spread over ten acres, this centre provides comprehensive care by offering housing, vocational training, nutritious meals, and medical care, ensuring that these individuals have a safe environment in which they can thrive and develop their talents.
After the customary welcome by Sheela Balaji, the Chairperson and Managing Trustee, Dr. Giridhar summarised the activities conducted by the centre. Srinivasan Raman, COO, AIM for Seva Inc, USA then made an open call for donations, and the audience pledged their contributions to support the important work of the centre.
The highlight of the evening was the fundraiser programme, a dance production titled “RADHA – The Epitome of Devotion” performed by the renowned dancing couple Shijith Nambiar and Parvathy Menon. The musical accompaniment was provided by Pravin Godkhindi on the flute, Anoor Vinod Shyam on the mridangam, and Sai Vamshi on Indian percussion instruments.
This production was a unique presentation, where the duo had conceived the show beyond the typical orchestral format of a Bharatanatyam ensemble. The entire show rested on the flautist Pravin Godkhindi, the percussionists Anoor Vinod Shyam and Sai Vamshi.
The story was but a known one about Krishna, Radha and their friendship that blossomed in Gokul. What was interesting and also different was that in this format, the duo conceptualised the known stories with a new format of dancing only to the tunes of the flute. One did not see the usual vocals, nattuvangam and other entourage that usually accompany shows like these. Unlike in a typical dance production where the flute is an accompaniment to the main vocals, here the flute became the sole medium of musical and poetic expression, on which the dance was layered to the rhythmic beats of the mridangam and percussion instruments. It seemed so apt to see this approach of how the dancers had linked the flute, Krishna's very identity, to the story enacted by them. Pravin Godkhindi on the flute excelled himself by not only playing a couple of solo pieces but also providing the foundation for the entire dance with both the lilts and the assertions required through ragas like Desh, Bhimplaas, Yaman, among others. The percussionists came alive with their metrical patterns on the instruments and with vocals verbalising the jathis for the nritta aspects of the dance. In the sollukattus, they fused the terms ‘dha’, ‘ra’, and beautifully twisted them to highlight the word ‘radha’, at the end of the jathis, as a refrain to create the cameo moment, a very intelligent presentation indeed. Shijith and Parvathy, both well-trained under the banner of Kalakshetra, bring a certain vibrant energy on stage with bold ideas being presented within the classical idioms of Bharatanatyam.
The props, the frills, everything was subtly calibrated with more focus on the elements of dance. The story of Radha and her friendship with Krishna was narrated from the time of His birth till they attained unison. The narration focused on important scenes like Krishna’s birth, growing up years and association with the Gopikas, His display of Godhood to his mother with His wide-open mouth, the display of valour during the Kalingamardana and Govardhana scenes, the love growing between Radha and Him, the trauma of separation experienced by Radha when He leaves the place, and finally merging with Him. Each of these scenes was done in a pithy manner, with attention to the details of the story. No unwanted or exaggerated display of costumes, props or narration was used to tell the story. The sound and light effects were used to their best to capture the imagination of the audience; the percussion and flute were used to dramatise it and also bring the full story to the foreground. Parvathy as Radha transformed from the little playful girl to the young maiden courting Krishna, from being the mother to the pining Radha longing to merge with her beloved.
Shijith donned the roles of a boy, young man Krishna, to becoming Lord Krishna and portrayed them well through his abhinaya and nritta. Parvathy used the phrase ‘jaa re apne mandirwa’ from the popular Hindustani dhrut khayal bandish in Bhimpalasi raag by Sadarang to express her playful anger as a younger Gopika and then as rightful anger when He leaves. Using expressions like Radha, a meaningful line from a song to highlight the emotional and expression quotient of the dance, spoke of the intelligent thought and effort behind the conceptualisation of this production. The entire heavy lifting was done by the three members of the music team, with them working on both the melody and the rhythm without words or lyrics. Pravin displayed his skill with the flute in various shades, and his rendition of ‘Krishna nee begane baro’, a popular Purandaradasa pada in Yamunakalyani, was both poignant and apt at the same time. Ja ja re apne mandir vaa was played wonderfully to highlight the trauma of separation, and then the line ‘tvamasi mama jeevanam’ from Jayadeva's Ashtapadi – Priye Charu Sheele, narrated by Shijith with music in the background, was used beautifully to portray the return of Krishna as an answer to Radha’s longing to see Him and their unison thereof. A differently but boldly conceived dance production by the couple to bring out oft-heard, oft-seen stories of Krishna was both refreshing and startling.
Their students Lakshmipriya, Simran, Neyaaroy, Bhadra and Sreelakshmi carried the show with their teachers as an able team. For an audience used to vocals, nattuvangam, dramatisation with costumes and props, this was a pleasant surprise, telling them that dance productions rest in the dance, music melody, rhythm and the use of Bharatanatyam grammar, more than on other extraneous paraphernalia.