Deeply Grateful to Dr Amineh Hoti 

By Anila Kumari*
Washington, DC

 

I am so grateful to have been present for Dr Amineh Hoti’s talk at the Gandhi Center.  To take in a richly inter-woven fabric of ethnographic research in her book, 'Gems and Jewels', was a joy! Her thoroughness in research had delicacy, nuance and a kind of spiritual depth that felt, to me, like I had just eaten the most nourishing food. 

It was deeply moving for myself as an artist and activist as well as my mother, Kuchipudi guru, Smt Nilimma Devi to hear Pakistan’s extraordinarily diverse religious communities (Christians, Hindus, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Baha’is, Sikhs, Parsis, Kalasha and Jains).

So many aspects of Dr Amineh’s work resonate with my own struggles to bring tolerance and wisdom to hate between Indian Americans in the diaspora, based on caste, regionalism, nationalism and anti-Muslim rhetoric.

For my mother who hails from Peshawar, her references felt close to her heart as she was raised in a family where Hafez was read out loud alongside Sanskrit being chanted and Hindi (Tulsidas) sung. Dr Hoti’s comments on women as integral to the inter-faith community in Pakistan as well stood out - and we talked about this later on the way home from the Center. 

One of the first women to be allowed into the all-male Brahmin guild, my mother (and now myself) reinterprets with specific tenderness; heroines such as Sita of the Ramayana. She was in tears reflecting on Dr Hoti’s work which requires such courage. 

I have to say, please never stop your efforts.  Your work is not only breaking chains at the tier of academia, it is waking people up from all walks of life. At the Gandhi Center sitting and listening, I saw that yours is a peace from within you. It is shining like rays; beneath your words. 

Wherever I can - as a choreographer and storyteller - I strive to speak up,  I am working on 'Rahi' for next year which melds Kuchipudi rhythms and footwork, with the brilliant Fuad Foty on Palestinian Daf and Oud. My last work 'Yogini' was selected by international Dance ICONs Inc, and performed at the Atlas Theater, DC and it addresses the question of how women rise to resist injustice with the might of the soul.

I have ordered Dr Hoti’s beautiful book! May Allah always keep her and her beautiful family in peace and light, as she does His will.

*IG - dancesidra

https://dancesidra.org/