For a moment I stop to think what I read from John Gray's book Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus - Together forever, "Working women are required to be more masculine. The more focused, responsible, competitive, and aggressive she is required to be at work, the more difficult it is for her to reconnect with the softness of her feminity when she gets home."

So true of the current day Indian working woman, who strives hard to fulfill her duties towards family, household, and professional career. Add art to her already brimming cup, and you can be almost sure that it has become too heady a mix to handle.  Not to these women who have shone as artistes while being fully qualified professionals  — Hindustani classical vocalist Dr Ashwini Bhide Deshpande who has a Doctorate in Biochemistry and has worked in BARC, US based Danseuse Deepa Mahadevan, ACS and MBA from S.P Jain Institute of management, working as a realtor/loan consultant, renowned Hindustani classical vocalist Vidushi Lalith J Rao, BE (IISc) and MS Biomedical Electonics, offered a job in IBM, and Carnatic classical vocalist Manasi Prasad, MBA from IIMB.

Tall order
Tall order it may seem, this rare species of women who don the super-woman mantle as they strive, clearly know how to match it.

Deepa Mahadevan says, "A postgraduate degree was a minimum requirement in the society I come from. Peer pressure dominated my decisions to pursue academics, although I never let dance get affected by studies." "My teacher, Smt Usha Srinivasan gave us no choice - we just had to manage our dance life along with exams. Even during post-graduation, my holidays were allocated for dance; family came after that. Even during the two years when I had to live away from my guru, I completed a diploma course in Indian Art from Nalanda Dance research centre, Mumbai," says this proficient dancer acclaimed for her grace, abhinaya, nimble footwork and exuberance. Dr. Ashwini Bhide puts it casually as, "I was born and brought up a middle class family where academics and arts were matters of parallel pursuits." "My decision to take up music as a profession came much later (after I had acquired my graduation in Microbiology and PhD in Biochemistry) which my parents whole-heartedly supported," says this modest winner of the 'Zee Astitva Woman of 2005'.

Stress on academics
Vidushi Lalith J Rao explains, "I never had a career other than in music; but while studying, my parents felt that I should be exposed to different art forms, sports and academics. The stress was always on academics, but they left it to me to decide what I really wanted to do."

Obviously, it takes dedication, years of focused hardwork and immense passion to get to their levels of achievement in arts, as each is a full-blown profession in itself. Dr. Bhide says, "One has to struggle to do this but I believe that being a woman helps. A woman must have family support but so does a man. For the woman, I think that the emotional support is very important - the actual execution she can then handle", explains this stalwart of the Jaipur-Athrauli gharana who has been performing for the last 26 years and has also authored a book of her own compositions called 'Ragarachananjali'. Daughter of the illustrious Manick Bhide, she feels that the role of parents is very important. Taking pride in the achievements of their children always helps, is what she feels.

Deepa quips, "My family understood the deep respect and passion I had for my dance. My mother, herself a dancer and highly creative, energetic person gives me great strength. Dance was an expensive pursuit, coming from a middle-class background, but she always made sure I had my costumes and accessories in place. She single handedly nurtured the family." "My husband is himself an extremely passionate person and gives me immense support and encouragement; he is my best critic," says this ace dancer and real-estate/loan consultant, adding that her parents in law promote and suggest improvements. Her message is clear: "If one has conviction, sincerity and commitment towards the cause, support will definitely flow in". " Satyagraha works!" says this US based dance teacher who has been performing for the last 14 years and runs her dance institute called 'Tiruchitrambalam'.

Vidushi Rao says, "When I was learning, my parents went out of their way to ensure that I devoted sufficient time to music, in addition to academics and sports. They also took me to every concert they attended during my growing years. After marriage my husband has been the one who has encouraged and supported my music. My husband, parents and in-laws looked after my little son, while I travelled on concerts quite often. When he grew up he also encouraged me".

 Additionally, artistes have to pay attention to their fitness, grooming and instruments - be it voice for a vocalist or the body itself, for a dancer.

Dr Bhide reflects, "Yes, performing artistes have to take care of their instruments (my voice in my case), as well as their appearance on stage."

Respect your body
Deepa adds, "I feel it is very important for an artiste to respect her body. Like how an instrumentalist takes care of his or her instrument, a vocalist her voice, a dancer has to take care of her body, as it is a visual art. The beauty of the art form is affected by physical form to a large extent as the dancer's art is so closely intertwined with her body. If the emotions and the patterns are drawn with the body, then the body has to be maintained; no excuses," says this young artiste.

Vidushi Rao, says, "Earlier, traditional gurus would not have liked their shagird to pursue any other career except the artform that they taught. As a guru, I give my students full freedom to decide as I feel that personal decisions that are best left to them." Vidushi Ashwini adds, "The student listens to the guru's advice more than the parents', sometimes. Today, it is important that the guru tells the disciple that academic education is equally important as their art or other skills."