Why am I a Kathak dancer? What compelled me - an American - to study Kathak dance, which is embedded in an entirely different linguistic and cultural landscape from the one into which I was born? What gave me the courage to go alone to India in 1967 with the single purpose of studying Kathak with Pt. Birju Maharaj? This is the story of childhood and early adult experiences in my life, which led to my profound attraction to Kathak. It helps to explain why I felt compelled to dance Kathak, as if my entire life had been a preparation for that specific life path. In this article I have written about my childhood and early adulthood in more detail than might be customary in a NARTANAM artist profile. It goes without saying that some of the experiences during the formative years of an American childhood are very different from