A multi-faceted personality like VR Devika, and to compress it into a short essay! Having known her for over 50 years, it is amazing how the simple, young girl blossomed before my eyes to the woman of substance she is today. She began her career with Madras Craft Foundation, earnest in discharging her duties and learning in the process, deeply involved in folk art and dances.
Prior to this she taught in a school in Shastri Nagar, then in PS School. A gifted teacher, Devika with her love for children, drove home many a lesson without it sounding preachy. She developed a skill for telling stories, related to arts and history and established herself as ace raconteur, very much in demand.
She learnt Bharatanatyam from the famous duo – Shanta and VP Dhananjayan. Being past the age of taking the stage did not deter this indefatigable young woman. She was brilliant in her lecdems on dance and won accolades for the same.
She is Founder and Managing Trustee of The Aseema Trust which is an NGO linking traditional performing arts and education where she developed many interesting programmes on these topics.
Deeply interested in Gandhian ideals, she has under her belt an M.A. in Gandhian Thought from Madurai Kamaraj University and a PhD on communication strategies of Mahatma Gandhi from the University of Madras. She loves sitting before a charkha and weaving, coaxing the threads to flow in quiet discipline.
Starting out as a journalist contributing to leading newspapers and journals, she is today an author of several books on leading personalities. Who can forget her fortnightly column ‘View from the Wings’ for Madras Musings? Her books on Dr Muthulakshmi Reddy, and on Rukmini Devi Arundale – both won the Ladli National Award for non-fiction in their respective years. In 2025, Devika was honoured by the Governor of Tamil Nadu on International Women’s Day. Her latest book on Dr. U.V. Swaminatha Iyer has already won praise from readers.
Among the bouquet of awards and recognition, too long to be listed here, are the Kala Seva Ratna Award from the Rasika Ranjini Sabha, the Vocational Excellence Award from WIA and the Rotary Clubs, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Amir Khusro Music Academy, and the British Council’s Charles Wallace Award for Arts in Education.
I often think of this incredible woman as a whirling dervish of activity, moving from one field to another, and enjoying whatever she takes up. She received the Certificate of Honorary Citizenship from the Governor of Maryland during participation in the US State Department’s international visitor leadership programme. Her lectures include traditional subjects such as Nataraja and the Cosmos, and collective consciousness in traditional performing arts like the Koothu. She has been on the folk and tribal arts and puppetry advisory committee of the Sangeet Natak Akademi, Government of India.
More of her accomplishments would run into pages, so let’s look at Devika the woman, peeling off the layers of academic excellence, and trying to fathom what makes her go on and on the way she does!
She admits that not having a family with the string of commitments it entails, gives her unfettered freedom to do what she chooses to do, enhanced with the good health and energy that she is blessed with. The world is her family, and being a teacher brought in innumerable number of children who love her to distraction. “So having no children of my own is amply compensated by my many students.”
“Yes, there was a time when I was young, I did think of marrying and settling down, but today I feel blessed that I am single and free to expand my horizon and keep learning. I have so many nieces and nephews besides my students that I have never missed not having any of my own,” she says with her wide smile.
I admire her joie de vivre, her zest for life and an incredible thirst for exploring new avenues. She is now on to her second wind so to speak, though in her early seventies. Call it serendipity when an ad film producer saw one of her television interviews and offered her a role in his ad film as Patti. As it happened, she had never faced a camera before, but she was a natural, and admits that she just enjoyed acting before the camera and had no inhibitions or nervousness whatsoever. The rest is history. Devika bagged 27 ad films, and was always the Patti in her different avatars. She loved the experience and another chance meeting with Sudha Kongura won her a small role in the feature film Parasakthi. And I won’t be surprised if she takes on more films as she enjoys it.
Devika’s philosophy is to enjoy whatever she takes up and to do it well, and turn down anything she would not consider suitable. Earning money has never been her prime aim, though as a single woman she needs monetary sustenance. Her eyes always twinkle with mischief and express a deep satisfaction with her life. Her grounding in Bharatanatyam surfaces in her own abhinaya, as she talks with gestures and speaks through her eyes.
Devika is a standing example of what you can achieve in life, with determination and not let age dog you or restrain you. “Do whatever you can and how you can, but be happy in all that you do,” is her final quip to the elderly. And that sums it all up, the secret of her success – she is truly a living inspiration to us all!