I Am a Fleeting Moment in Time: Kathak Guru Shovana Narayan

What do you get when a senior bureaucrat moonlights as a Kathak virtuoso? In Shovana’s case—raised eyebrows, dropped jaws, and the occasional—‘Files and footwork?’, ‘Do you sign files mid-spin?’ ‘Meetings in a lehenga?’, ‘Do your staff clap in tala when you walk in?’ Her answer: discipline, ruthless time management, and zero overlap… though the idea of a meeting with rhythmic tatkaar was tempting. But this isn’t just a story of multitasking—it’s about making ‘Why not both?’ a life motto. Shovana didn’t just juggle two demanding careers—she rewrote the rulebook. Passionate about dance, fascinated by physics and maths, she chose both and excelled. She married Austrian ambassador Dr Herbert Traxl on her own terms, balancing two cultures, two careers, and a long-distance marriage with equal grace. In the 1970s, she even broke taboo by giving mukhagni to her father—an act of fierce love and quiet rebellion. This book is more than her story. It’s a challenge to every ‘either-or’ in life, a celebration of passion and profession coexisting. The book asks the only question worth asking: Why choose, when you can have it all? It enters the tatva of classical traditions, where art whispers life’s philosophy and endures beyond fleeting glory.