News & Notes
Prabasi Bharatiya Samman in dual domains

French national of Indian origin, Malini Ranganathan, an
internationally acclaimed Kathak exponent was conferred the prestigious Prabasi
Bharatiya Samman Award by the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind on
23 Jan 2019 in Varanasi, for her extraordinary contribution in academics and
arts.
From studying textile designing in
Mumbai to donning the cap of a professor of humanities and educational science
in France, Malini has kept her passion of dance and music steady and vibrant.
Trained both in the Lucknow and Jaipur gharana in kathak from Damayanti Joshi
and Roshan Kumari, she learnt Odissi from Mahadev Raut and imbibed the nuances
of nattuvangam from her mother.
Fluent in English, Hindi, Urdu and
Tamil, Malini has convened and curated events like the International Yoga Day
Celebrations (2018) and Namaste France (2016) in Nantes,
France. She has marked her name in prestigious festivals like, France
in India (Mumbai), ‘L’année de l’Inde en France’ (Paris), ‘India
Year’ (New York) to name a few. In 1996, she served as the artistic
director of the festival d’été, for Nantes City Council.
Malini continues to teach dance and
often presents papers in international conferences on topics of her interest.
Jagyaseni Chatterjee