Selfie in the age of the Darpana

there isn't anything in my world that I haven't found reflected in Odissi: the loftiest ideas, the tiniest pleasures, the darkest feelings and the hardest lessons

"Aap bore nahi ho jaate? You've been dancing Odissi for soooo many years!"

Since I'm still dancing, you already know my answer. But let me tell you why.

Because there isn't anything in my world that I haven't found reflected in Odissi: the loftiest ideas, the tiniest pleasures, the darkest feelings and the hardest lessons. Not even something as banal as the selfie has been spared: the other day I saw a young girl in the Metro coach, finger-combing her hair while looking into her phone's front camera. It felt like great deja vu, until I realised where exactly I had come across this moment before...the same tilt of the head, same self-conscious smile, same bend of the hip.

Looks like we've been selfie-loving for thousands of years; back then we called it the Darpana pose.

Photo credit: Melissa Sproul-Singh