June 2026 - Ananda Shankar Jayant & Vishakha Hari

Her striking personality filled with positivity envelops you even before a word is exchanged. Her beautiful, smiling, wide eyes ooze warmth, making you comfortable immediately.  Her uninhibited genuine laugh fills the room. Meet Ananda Shankar Jayant — a Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi artist, whose life is a demonstration of drive, grit and persistence.

Ananda’s foray into the arts began when she was around four, when her expressive eyes were spotted by a dance teacher while visiting a temple.  The seeds of the art form were sown then and nurtured by her ‘never take no for an answer’ attitude.  Whether it was moving to Kalakshetra in Chennai or obtaining an admission into a Master’s degree at Osmania University, or during the various challenges that dotted her path, she kept going.  She decided what she wanted and went for it. 

Backed by her family, especially her mother Subhashini Shankar, she created a name for herself through her programmes, classes, productions, choreographies ¾ all the while uncompromising on her commitment to her profession and her passion.  As one of the early women officers with the Indian Railway Traffic Service (that was primarily male-dominated) and as a classical dancer, she balances her work and her dance by managing her time efficiently, scheduling her programmes and rehearsals in a manner that doesn’t clash with her work requirements. But there have also been instances when she has had to miss a programme because of an emergency at work. But that, as she says, is the peril of ‘treading two tracks’ in railway lingo!

As the conversation flows, she speaks freely of her journey in arts and of art in her life.  “No one has it easy,” she says, highlighting the fact that the art and hence the artists are not mainstream yet in the Indian context. Hence, the weight of sustaining and nurturing the art falls solely on the shoulders of the practitioners of the art form.  She actively propagates ‘cross-subsidising’ — a strategy to sustain your practice/performance of the art form through funding it from a more commercially viable activity, such as teaching the art form. Leading by example, she not only set up her dance school Shankarananda Kalakshetra early on but also cleared the UPSC to join the Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS). Shankarananda Kalakshetra, her school in Hyderabad, is a premier institution offering in-depth training in Bharatanatyam in the Kalakshetra style.

Picture this…

A young woman walks into an examination hall to write one of the country’s toughest professional examinations — the final examination of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. The paper is on Direct Taxes. She writes it quietly, confidently. When the results are announced, she stands All India First.

Years later, the same woman stands on a concert stage with a tambura beside her, holding audiences spellbound as she moves effortlessly between Tyagaraja’s kritis, Valmiki’s verses, Sanskrit slokas, and stories told with wit, scholarship, and devotion. Whether in Chennai, Zurich, or the House of Commons in London, the response is the same: complete attention.

These are not two different women. They are both Vishakha Hari — someone who has never seen any contradiction between intellect and art, precision and bhakti.

The early beginning

Tanjavur-born Vishakha Hari was taken to Tanzania within months of her birth. By the age of five, she was in Mylapore, and a teacher was already coming home to teach her.

But her real first guru, she says without a flicker of hesitation, was her mother, Vijaya Santhanam — who took her children regularly to the discourses of Sri Sri Krishna Premi Swamigal, believing the stories would settle somewhere in the subconscious whether or not the children understood them then. They did. In the background, always, was Mangalam Paati, their grandmother, an ardent Tyagaraja devotee whose voice carried his compositions through the steam and sizzle of the kitchen.

A CA at the tampura

Chartered Accountancy (CA) is not a parenthesis in Vishakha Hari’s biography — it is a full chapter. When asked why CA, she laughs. “My friends were doing CA. I never had great vision or great clarity.” Balancing demanding examinations alongside four to five hours of daily music practice required immense discipline and focus — something she feels is becoming increasingly difficult for the current generation. “I didn’t have a mobile phone or other distractions. It was just studying CA and singing. Entertainment was not compulsory every day.” She is not nostalgic for its own sake, but observing a genuine pedagogical crisis.

At a time when the Margazhi season continues to expand in scale and diversity, initiatives like ‘Margazhi Matram’ stand out for reimagining not just programming, but the very experience of art. Conceived by Ranjini Kaushik under the aegis of SciArtsRUs, the festival is rooted in the belief that accessibility is not an add-on, but integral to artistic practice—where making art accessible to some ultimately makes it richer for all.

Emerging from a larger global vision shaped during the pandemic, the initiative responded to the lack of visibility for artists with disabilities, evolving into a platform that integrates them seamlessly with mainstream performers. Rather than isolating difference, Margazhi Matram foregrounds artistic excellence, bringing together practitioners across abilities, cultures, and geographies, including members of the global Indian diaspora.

What distinguishes the festival is its interdisciplinary and multi-sensory approach. By incorporating elements such as cymatics, sign language, abhinaya, and storytelling, and by actively leveraging technology and assistive tools, it creates immersive experiences that transcend linguistic and auditory barriers. This has enabled even aurally challenged audiences to engage with music in deeply meaningful ways, often for the first time.

Equally significant is the growing openness within the artistic community. Performers—both emerging and established—have shown a willingness to adapt their art, collaborate across abilities, and embrace inclusivity as an integral part of expression rather than an external requirement. This signals a gradual but important cultural shift within the classical arts ecosystem. 

H.K. Venkatram is a distinguished violinist who has accompanied several stalwarts of the past few decades, as well as many of today’s leading artists. A respected teacher rooted in the gayaki tradition and an A Top graded artist in the All India Radio, Venkatram has also made his mark through ensemble collaborations, including the veena–venu–violin format.

What makes his journey particularly noteworthy is his parallel career in the corporate world. A system architect and designer with a focus on developing personal computers, he began as an individual contributor and went on to take leadership roles, building high-performing engineering teams. He recently retired as senior director at Intel after over three decades of service, with one of his key milestones being the creation of a world-class system engineering team in Bangalore. His role involved extensive travel across India and internationally, including the US, China, Singapore, Malaysia, and Israel.

Balancing such demanding professional responsibilities with a sustained presence on the concert stage required meticulous planning and discipline. Venkatram managed his calendar with care, ensuring that work commitments never came at the cost of music. Consistently delivering beyond expectations at work, while maintaining a rigorous practice routine to remain performance-ready, enabled him to pursue both paths with equal seriousness.

A crucial pillar in this journey has been the unwavering support of his family. He acknowledges the role of his wife, Triveni Saralaya, whose encouragement and understanding have been foundational to his dual career. With careful planning and a clear sense of priority, he ensured that neither career was compromised—never missing a concert because of work, and sustaining both pursuits with dedication over decades.