Mrinalini Sarabhai

What a way of paying homage to a departed soul. Dancing in its physical presence! That is what Mallika Sarabhai and her daughter Anahita along with Mrinalinis students did before taking her mortal remains for the last rites. Mrinalini Sarabhai aged 97 years practised and preached the art of dancing all her life-time. Almost 75 years of dancing in a lifetime. The only perfect way to pay homage was to dance for her.
Everybody is born to die. But what ensues in those years in between of birth and death, matters. It becomes more extraordinary when you know that it was in those times when dancing was taboo in good families and considered an art to lure the wealthy as courtesans.
Mrinalini Sarabhai never lived a life in the shadow of her late husband the doyen, the pioneer of Indian Space Explorations Vikram Sarabhai. She was as dedicated to her art as Vikram was dedicated to space. She set up the Darpan Academy of Performing Arts in Ahmedabad and nurtured it and created a legend of Bharat Natyam dancers. You can only dance this long with creativity. She created her own masterpieces. Dance was the breath of her life.
She will remain in the minds and hearts of her followers.