By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik - Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist
As a child in Mumbai, I watched Rajan Uncle perform Chakyar Kootu. My parents were economic migrants from Odisha. My neighbours were from Maharashtra, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. And we got to see cultural performances that no one in Odisha or Maharashtra, would have had access to, like Chakyar Kootu. With his white painted face and a golden hat, Raja-appa (as we would call him) would speak in Tamil and Malayalam and I would watch the audience laugh and sneer, late into the night.
