To be honest, I was very scared of Geeta Doctor. Because she was not a traditional person. I think Geeta was a non-believer. She appears to criticize various art expressions with what you might call ‘a clean slate’. She delighted in learning, observing and commenting on all forms of art – literary and performative, visual and tactile, Indian or world art – without the burden of its rules. Just as ‘other’.
She was alert and witty, with a laugh hidden behind her smile, ready to unsettle you. I was often tongue tied. (In fact, since I was asked to write this tribute, I’ve been picturing laughing at his choice.) But that was as long as I was on the other side, as was he. Once I knew her, I took part in the entertainment as friends, doing dance scenes, if I may say so, in her absence. I wouldn’t dare in his presence!
‘She was funny, with a laugh hidden behind her smile, ready to unsettle you.’ Photo Courtesy: Mala Mukherjee
Geeta read (and wrote) avidly, and in the early 70s, in her role as a journalist, she was present with a ringside seat to many of the art movements that were then emerging in Chennai. Writing a review of the exhibition of visual artist SG Vasudev, it was said Tree In 2010, he recalled the layered world of the 60s, when Vasudev and a group of artists had established the self-sustaining Cholamandal Artists Village. He wrote, “It has been described as a village situated on the seashore.” “It was kind of an epic undertaking, the old man-teacher-friend and preacher, [founder] Panikar led his group of loyalists to make a mark in the jungle of that time.”
For this read the words of Geeta Doctor The Hindu
That was when I first met Geeta – when Vasudev and his now late wife Arnavaz, a fine artiste, had invited me to dance on the sand outside their new house. There was always discussion over simple food and drinks after the performance. Such an important work, when the exchange of ideas helped us understand the need of our own arts and times.
a bohemian spirit
Geeta started working as a journalist for publications in Mumbai in the 1970s. freedom firsta generous monthly, and parisianaThe Parsi magazine which closed down last October. he helped in the beginning inside OutsideIndia’s first design and architecture magazine. She moved to Chennai in the 1980s and wrote for several other publications. The Hindu,
Geeta Doctor, when she took artist Jahangir Sabawala to Pulicat Lake. Photo Courtesy: Mala Mukherjee
A few days ago, his daughter Meenakshi shared some of Geeta’s writings with me, which gave me an understanding of the topics reviewed by her. Even the headlines of the articles reflected the happy nature of a man who seemed happy to walk for a while with that book, that display, that exhibition.
For example, writing about food memoirs A Bite in Time: Cooking with MemoriesHe commented that it was “a mirror of a larger than life personality.” An invitation to Tanya Mendonça to enjoy her life. His true talent, as any bohemian soul living in late 20th-century Paris will recognize, is to be a FlaneurTranslated it means floating above the ground in a state of permanent bliss.” For me, Geeta was also a FlaneurHis own temperament was repeatedly reflected in his reviews of others, And that’s how we got to know him,
Geeta Doctor in Dhanushkodi Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
In December 2016, he wrote passionately about dancer and choreographer Astad Debu. “Do they remember it as I remember it, the short series of six movements in which Astad trodden the canvas of contemporary dance in India and laid it open to different interpretations? Did they really feel pain when he opened his arms with blades and let the blood drip out? Or later, in what became a showstopper moment, he twisted his flexible body so that his tongue became part of the performance. He licked his stage floor as if it were his most cherished The other dancer became one with the performance.
She then explained her non-partisan, broad perspective on society: “He could be a Parsi at home, a Christian in a school taught by Jesuit priests, and a student of Islamic traditions thanks to a Kathak dance teacher. The influences he absorbed included those from a Bengali family, Biharis, and South Indians, all of which enriched his idea of not only what it meant to be an Indian, but also what it meant to be an Indian.”
It was pitch-perfect. Even now, I can shout with joy at that line which sums up what it is to be truly Indian. It is written by a writer and critic who was born in India but grew up in France, Sweden, Switzerland and Pakistan, following her father, who was in the Indian Foreign Service.
who spoke from her heart
Geeta, an octogenarian woman who headed a four-generation family of strong women, often talked about how much she loved food, laughter and the company of strangers she met during her travels. A glimpse of this can be seen in their reviews.
‘Geeta loved food, laughter and the company of strangers she met while travelling.’ Photo Courtesy: Mala Mukherjee
In 2005, she couldn’t contain her joy after traveling to Malaysia to watch Kuala Lumpur-based choreographer and classical Bharatanatyam dancer Ramli bin Ibrahim. “Ramli follows the tradition set by Ram Gopal or even Uday Shankar by seizing the heroic moment and walking that path that is often so dangerous between being too exotic or mesmerized by its own sensuality. By insisting that this is a tribute to Odissi, perhaps, what he is also seeking is the same appeal to the grandeur of Odissi that surrenders itself to the feminine in all its manifestations of desire.”
A few months before she was diagnosed with a terminal illness, she wrote about Marghazi and the people among whom she lived. Although unknowingly, I believe that very few people have summed up the season as succinctly as Geeta did in her review of the book The Tamils: A Portrait of a Community. “It is that time of the year when the invisible call of ‘The Season’ invites people from far and wide into the air around Chennai. There is an almost imperceptible hum of the Tamil heartbeat written on the air… which speaks of a mythical past that finds expression in music and dance in different places. In every generation, a scholar reaches these ancient depths and finds a way through the tangled roots… It makes Nirmala Lakshman’s exceptionally vivid treatise on Tamils is doubly interesting.
For me, Geeta was an independent voice outside the theater who spoke straight from the heart. This was a democratic voice. It echoed a worldview that could see relationships and rejoice in them almost invisibly. She was not biased; She didn’t move around. And for the few of us who recognized it, it will not be copied. Will miss him. May his soul rest in peace.
The author is a Bharatanatyam dancer and choreographer, and former director of Kalakshetra in Chennai.
published – January 08, 2026 01:28 PM IST