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In the years leading up to India’s independence, an amusing scene often unfolded in the Banerji family’s home at 17, Adwait Mullick Lane in north Calcutta. Every time the radio set crackled to life with music, their little daughter, barely past toddler years, would spring up to dance. She moved with ease and abandon, making up the choreography and yet perfectly in step with the beat.

There was another art the child revelled in – poetry. She would memorise classic Bengali poems that were as long as the day, usually Tagore, and recite them with all the ardour, thunder and pathos she could muster. She was so good at it that she was coached and presented on Calcutta radio by the legendary broadcaster Bani Kumar, whose musical programme Mahisasuramardini has been ritual listening for generations of Bengalis.

That girl with rhythm and grace, a terrific memory and impeccable recitation skills is now 84. Once in a while, when a name or place from the distant past eludes her, she shakes her head in annoyance. But time and age have not stolen her ability to reel off an interminably long padhant, a string of mnemonic syllables in kathak, with unbelievable clarity and cadence without once stumbling....