’I read five newspapers everyday to see if he is mentioned anywhere’

Dressed in a chic nautical jacket and nude heels, Puran Davar greets us with a hug at her Napean Sea Road residence.

Puran Davar, Mumbai

Mother to: Shiamak Davar, dancer and choreographer

Dressed in a chic nautical jacket and nude heels, Puran Davar greets us with a hug at her Napean Sea Road residence. "I have been ready, and waiting for you," she says, with busy gesticulations that belie her slight frame. Apologies for the delay are waved aside as she seats us and pulls out three small scraps of paper. They carry meticulous scribbles about details she wants to ensure she doesn't forget to mention in the interview.
"Why do you want to know about me?" she asks. "Shiamak is the famous one."

Pic/Shadab Khan

That's not entirely true, because Puran is the Principal of Davar's College, one of Mumbai's oldest institutions for secretarial courses and typing, which she is at pains to remind us about from time to time. "People think we teach only typing. That's not true. We still get so many students for stenography and secretarial courses."

And the sprightly woman that she is, Puran still drops by at the institute everyday to supervise administrative work, even though she stopped teaching a few years ago. "What will I do sitting here at home? Two days a week, I visit Shiamak's office, and three days I spend at the college, meeting people and making sure everything is running well," she says, reminiscing about the days when fresh graduates from her college would land jobs with a starting salary of Rs 300. "Rs 350 was considered unbelievable! Today, graduates who don't know a thing start at Rs 15,000. How times have changed."

Family, obviously, is an important part of her life. Looking over at a framed photograph of her late husband and a mantelpiece full of pictures that stand above her bed, she says, "Won't you please mention my other children too, Shireen and Darab... See how handsome my husband was!"

And Shiamak, it is clear, finds a special place in his mother's life. "I am his mascot," she laughs, adding, "I read five papers everyday to see if he has been mentioned anywhere." As a child, the now-famous dancer and choreographer, who taught the likes of Shah Rukh Khan and Karisma Kapoor to dance in Dil To Pagal Hai, used to perform for guests at their home.

"I had an inkling that he'd turn into a performer since he was into dance and music from an early age. Back then, people ridiculed him... 'what is a boy doing dancing?' But my husband and I let him be. Our only condition was that he first complete his graduation before moving on to anything else."

Move on Shiamak did, and his success makes Puran beam. "He has students from across the world. And he did it all on his ownu00a0-- starting with just five people. Now he has centres everywhere. But still, he remains a performer at heart," she says. And Puran hasn't missed a single of Shiamak's shows in all these years. "I travel with him, and when he's busy rehearsing, there's always shopping and sightseeing to do."