Tags:
Journalism of Courage
PUNE, June 16: Dressed in a fluffy white frock, her golden hair gleaming, Ewa Maria Cherukuru makes a theatrical entry at the head of the stairs.
8220;Today I am zombie!8221; she exclaims with a trace of accent. She has been up till 3 a.m. with dance rehearsals for an episode by the Education and Media Research Centre on ballroom dancing, to be aired on Doordarshan, but her vivacious face does not betray any sign of fatigue.
A familiar figure at social dos, discotheques and beauty pageants, Ewa Maria, ballroom dance teacher, cannot think of sitting still. 8220;I am a typical Virgo. I just don8217;t know what the word bored8217; means. I have to be constantly occupied.8221;
Racing cars, decorating interiors and now running her own ballroom dancing school, Cinderella, are just some of the ways this versatile lady has kept herself busy.
Talk to her about her passion for dancing and her face grows animated. It was, after all, this passion which led her to meet her husband, and to Pune from her native Poland. 8220;I was teaching at a school for ballroom dancing when in walked this patient stranger with big round eyes. He had come to the school to learn not to dance with his two left feet and swept me off my feet,8221; she laughs. Marriage to Dr M K S Cherukuru brought Ewa Maria to Pune. Ask her when that happened and a gurgling laugh escapes her. 8220;Ah no, I do not want you to know that. I may be ancient but I am young at heart, you see,8221; she says.
8220;My philosophy is be happy, freak out while you can.8217; And if you are unhappy, do not let those who care about you find out because then they would be upset too,8221; she says.
Personal experience has shaped that philosophy. The turning point in her life came when she had a terrible car crash when she had gone to Bulgaria for a car rally. 8220;I was the wrong person at the wrong place and the wrong time,8221; she says, adding wryly, 8220;Actually I was driving too fast.8221;
Only 19 at the time, the crash left her a physical and emotional wreck. 8220;I wanted to come back to my husband, who was in Pune, as a healthy normal person, so I did not let him know of my condition,8221; she remembers. Her positive attitude towards life and determination to fight all odds saw her on the road to recovery. The accident may have shaken her but, as she says, 8220;I have no scars on my mind.8221;
Cinderella, the dance school she started in 1991, happened quite by chance. Her work as an interior decorator made her dependent on the workmen. 8220;I am independent-minded, so when people asked me to teach them to dance, I decided to do it professionally. I took the first flight to Poland, enlisted in a dance studio there, and came back only after I had secured a degree certifying that I could teach,8221; she says. She insists, though, that it8217;s not just dance that is taught at the school. 8220;I teach them facets of personality development and how they can conduct themselves elegantly,8221; she says.
As if keeping her feet tapping at Cinderella with dances like the fox-trot, waltz, the rumba-samba and jive were not enough, she is also a frequent visitor to local discos. The other passion for this very-much-in-love lady seems to her husband Dr M K S Cherukuru, president, Kalyani Steel. The secret of their marriage, she insists, is that they do not interfere in each other8217;s lives. 8220;Both of us are busy with our work but we understand each other well and respect each other8217;s space,8221; she says.
A self-confessed happy-go-lucky woman, Ewa Maria Cherukuru certainly believes in living it up.
