Reba Rakshit, Strong Woman

This blog is in celebration of 100 years of Ghosh's College in Kolkata: 1923-2023! ​
​Spread the word: #100years #ghoshyoga

As some of you know already, for the past four years I (Ida) have been working on a biography of yogi/circus star Reba Rakshit. The manuscript was completed at the end of this year. It is scheduled to be published this year. Since it is International Women's Day, I thought I would share a little bit about the project.

Reba Rakshit has an incredible story full of tremendous challenges. She was alive during Indian Independence and the partition of India that came with it. She lived in a time where women had often very limited access to the world outside the home. Yet she was performing in the circus two, sometimes three times a day in front of huge audiences of admiring fans.

​She was a student of Bishnu Ghosh at Ghosh's College in Kolkata, and taught therapeutic yoga later in her life. 

​I became interested in her story years back, while working with Jerome Armstrong on his book Calcutta Yoga. This project took me on many adventures. Here are just a few:

• Meeting Reba's nephew who was so generous in telling me stories of his auntie.
• Visiting the school where Reba studied in North Kolkata and the kind Principal who found the records (!) of her attending school in the 1940s. The records were still there, hand printed in big school registers. What a find! 
• Traversing the streets of North Kolkata looking for her apartment with my friend Reeswav. He was very patient in the hot sun as we walked up the street, then down, then up, then down again for ages until we found her apartment. The numbers do not go in order. (Scott and I have said for years now: If you don't want anyone to find you, go to Kolkata.)
• Dragging my mom all around the city with me for this project. Dragging Scott all around the city with me for this project. Dragging Reeswav all around the city with me for this project. You get the idea... (Who's next!? Any takers?!) 
• Visiting with the late Montosh Choudhury, a yogi and fellow student of Bishnu Ghosh. He worked closely with Reba and knew her well. 

This is part of a larger project I am working on regarding women in yoga. Who were they? How did they get there? Why were women writing about yoga in the twentieth century in a way they were not before? There's a lot more to this project, but I'm still in the thick of it. 

For now, Happy International Women's Day! I can't wait to share Reba's story with you all.