Born and raised in Mumbai, Pallavi Degwekar Shaikh has dedicated 25 years of performing to the art of Kathak. Today as an accomplished kathak artist, she teaches young people in New Jersey and promotes the classical Indian form to new audiences. Here in a conversation in Hindi and English with me, Mehar, Pallavi shares from her office in New Jersey, how she quit kathak for a year as a teenager and why she credits her kathak teacher, Asha tai, for helping her become who she is today.