Gautham M.’s win in the Bharatanatyam (Boys) High School category on Day Two of the District School Arts Festival at Government Higher Secondary School for Girls, Cotton Hill, ensured him a spot in the State School Arts Festival.
This will not be the first time that this Class 9 student of St. Mary’s Higher Secondary School, Pattom, will head for the State-level contest. Gautham, who bagged the top spot in Kuchipudi in the district fete last year, made it to the State fete in Bharatanatyam too on appeal.
Gautham, son of Mahesh, a labourer, and Anitha, a home-maker, started showing an interest in dance at a very young age. When his elder sister Ganga took dance lessons, he would hang around. He began taking part in competitions, dancing to compositions recorded on cassettes. It was only in Class 7 that he came under the tutelage of Attingal Joshi. That year, he competed in folk dance at the school level, and at the sub-district level, fought off the challenge from 18 girls to make it to the district event.
The going has not been easy for Gautham’s family, what with one earning member to make ends meet. His success is hence all the more sweet for them. The child in him is apparent when he can’t stop hugging his mother after the results are announced.
A beaming Gautham credits his success to Attingal Joshi. “This would not have been possible had I not come across my guru. ”
