I think Kuwait was a great place to grow up.

it’s a really small country, a lot of people know each other, you just have a huge group of friends and since there is nothing else to do everyone will come out and play, it’s very communal. You celebrate all the festivals together. As a child, growing up there was great.

However, it was not always like that. My parents were caught in the first invasion. We are talking the Gulf War, so August 1990; I was less than a year old at the time. The country was basically burnt to ashes. My dad was held at gun point just because he was trying to get me a passport, he had to hand over his car.

Obviously I don’t remember much, but I have just heard the terrifying stories from my parents, they had to leave everything they had when they fled, absolutely everything- their house, their money, all their belongings, they took nothing. As we were not Kuwaitis we were able to escape as refugees into Iraq, the attacking country, and then from there we were able to get home to India.

My mum only carried the bag she brought me in and a feeding bottle. She says that’s when she realized all the superficial things in life mean absolutely nothing at all because we had to leave everything behind.

My dad returned to Kuwait after six months, when the war was over.

When he arrived the smog was so thick because everything had been burnt down that you couldn’t even see the people who were right in front of you. However this did not deter him; it’s the country where he has spent all of his adult life ever since he graduated as an engineer, it is home to him. He loves it. And I guess he is very thankful for everything it has given him. My dad doesn’t come from an Indian metropolitan city like my mom, he grew up in a really small rural village, he had a really hard childhood, he studied by candlelight as they no electricity and his mum had to sacrifice meals to educate them. To go from that to become educated and live out his dream in Kuwait, it’s a huge leap so he’s very thankful for the opportunities Kuwait has bestowed upon him.

I left Kuwait at about age 13 to attend high school and university in India and to further my training in Bharatanatyam, a south Indian classical dance tradition.

Upon completing my Undergraduate degree in Accounting and Finance, I made the move to England to pursue a Masters degree in Culture, Creativity and Entrepreneurship and pursue my passion for performance studies and performing arts at the University of Leeds.

One of the most amazing experiences of my life was in Leeds when I took part in a ‘firewalk’, walking on 20 foot of hot burning coal to raise funds for the charity ‘anti-slavery international’. I was scared out of my mind on the d-day and woke up with a few blisters after but it was the biggest adrenalin rush of my life, a huge accomplishment that I will always remember. Any time I’m scared or unsure of myself I think of that very moment and remind myself that “If I could walk on fire, I can do this”.

After finishing my studies I worked in Leeds for a further 6 months in Festival management, I was involved in the capacity of  Project Assistant at Light Night which is the Leeds equivalent of Melbourne’s White Night.

Since then I have been living in Melbourne.

I was very lucky, as I had a pretty easy transition into Melbourne because I knew a few people. Not too many people, but the few people I knew I knew very well, people from Leeds, people from Chennai, so on and so forth. It is crazy how small the world is sometimes!

One of my highlights since I have been in Australia was definitely when I fed the Kangaroos at Australia Zoo, 6 months ago. I had never seen a Kangaroo before, it was super exciting. I was just as excited as all the little kids who were also seeing their first Kangaroo. I even got to hug a Koala. Almost an Aussie Sheila already.

I moved to Melbourne two years ago when I got accepted to do my PHD in Theatre Performance at Monash University. My thesis investigates the negotiation of racialized and gendered identities in Indian classical dance.

Dancing has been a huge part of my life.

I started dancing when I was four and am now an upcoming professional Bharatanatyam dancer. Bharatanatyam is one of the eight classified forms of classical dance in India and is arguably the most practiced and performed of these dance forms. I have been performing in India for years and on a lesser scale have continued my dancing here. I also had the opportunity to participate in a two-week workshop with renowned performance artist Tim Miller that culminated in a public performance titled ‘Body Maps’ in Melbourne last year.

Ultimately I want to get into academia, continue performing, become a published author and open my own performance company someday. I’d also like to teach in South America for a while.

I feel at home here but I don’t know how long I’ll stay, “I have Itchy feet” and I want to eventually end up in Europe.

Find out more about my research and Bharatanatyam at my blog-

http://bodyasevidence.wordpress.com/about-bharatanatyam/