KANAKAVALLI JOURNAL

n December's Vignette, Glory Kanikella gives us a glimpse into her a life as a working mother in Hong Kong. The Executive Director of a garments manufacturing firm with operations across four time zones, Glory is always connected to work. As a mother of a three-year-old, she finds joy in experiencing life afresh with her daughter Ariana.

Urmila Sathyanarayanan, our November Vignette, has been dancing for as long as she can remember, and has performed across India and the world. A renowned Bharatanatyam artiste, she runs her own Bharatanatyam institution that follows a uniquely holistic approach to the art form. 

Kieran Heralall, better known as KH Kanna, is a Bharatanatyam dancer based in Toronto, Canada, and Kanakavalli’s October Vignette. Despite having a full-time day job as an insurance professional, Kanna performs around the world, choreographs his own shows, and studies Carnatic vocal music.

Kanakavalli’s September Vignette, Thangam Venkatesan is more than a doctor. A reluctant physician to begin with, Thangam has now come to believe that pursuing medicine shaped her destiny. She is an international medical expert, a teacher and academician, a meditation instructor, an avid gardener, a mother, daughter, wife, and traveller, inhabiting her many roles with grace and love.

Dr. Vandana Vignette is the Co-founder of The Banyan, a pioneering organisation in the field of mental health in India that turns 25 this year. In Kanakavalli’s August Vignettes, Vandana traces the roots of her passion to make a difference, the early years of struggling against stereotype and the person-centred approach that makes The Banyan truly special.

“For me, tradition is about addition,” says Jayanthi Kumaresh, one of the country’s finest Veena artistes, who began playing the instrument at the age of three. Jayanthi, Kanakavalli's July Vignette, believes in the versatility of her art form and its relevance in a modern context, having performed at traditional Carnatic concerts and at international jazz festivals.