patna what one can expect from a boy who is an animation student in bangalore a trendy hairstyle branded and rugged jeans with a baggy tshirt are what one can think of and if he has a fancy for dance it must be jazz salsa or hip hop but patna boy tara shankar dhir is an odd man out as the second year animation student can be often seen on stage performing bharatanatyam tara had a fad for bharatanatyam since childhood and he started dancing when he was only a 6yearold child when asked why the classical dance form fascinated him he replied that it was sheer luck as a child i was performing on the occasion of independence day when sudipa bose who became my guru later on foresaw a classical dancer in me the other day i found myself enrolled with her training centre recalled tara though the loyolite was never on the toppers list in his school he is least bothered about his academic records as high marks were never the yardstick of being a good performer for him his father dhirendra kumar pandey a maths teacher takes pride as he counts the number of prestigious occasions his son has performed rajgir mahotsav vishwa nritya diwas and onam celebrations are among the many cultural festivals he had performed in pandey said tara also has a sister shwetambari pandey who is two years younger to him and also possesses a fancy for bharatanatyam while she stopped practice after three years of training tara continued it and now possesses an honours degree in the art in fact it was taras fascination for dancing which inspired shwetambari to take lessons his father revealed that his dedication towards bharatanatyam encouraged other students too as tara used to choreograph fusion dances for them even in college he choreographs acts for his friends tara considers himself a complete artful package as he also has a fad for painting and drawing since childhood though not a trained painter as a child he took interest in making portraits of gods and goddesses but classes in sketching as an animation student gave a greater dimension to my drawing skills and now i also draw a landscape quite well though not awesome he said asked if he had inherited the passion for the art from his parents tara said since his mother a hindi teacher in baldwin academy was an active theatre artiste the love for art was in his blood but in his case the love manifested itself in bharatanatyam in fact he wishes to give a concrete shape to his passion for dancing by opening up a dancing school where he can teach the dance form to children