Dont mix art and god

CHENNAI: Understanding of god
I feel god’s presence in every holy place. I have a good relationship with god. As we all know, life is very uncertain. There’s an unknown force one always looks up to which gives strength to continue one’s battle in life. It’s a comforting feeling to have someone to look up to.
Take on religion
Each religion has a beauty of its own. I come from a conventional Christian family. But my father was a liberal man because of which I was trained in bharathanatyam. For some reason, church is very orderly but temples are not so. One can walk in whenever one wants and stay as long as one wishes to. So the atmosphere is completely different. What I enjoy the most is the Indianness of the religions. I was 16 when I performed my arangetram. The media persons present on the occasion asked me if a Christian could worship Nataraja. I said art and religion were two different things; it was best not to merge them.
Spiritual practices and belief
As an artist, one has to be open to everything. Otherwise, it is difficult to create something new. I enjoy my prayers, I enjoy Christmas carols and I love visiting small temples.
Favourite pilgrimage sites
Like I said, I like travelling to temples which are less crowded. It gives me a sense of peace. Otherwise, I like visiting The Kirk – St Andrew’s Church in the city.
(Gita is a city-based artist)