Sanatombi, a girl from Imphal, Manipur, is in Delhi, having received a scholarship from the culture ministry to learn Kathak. After her first day at the dance school, she is back at the house where she lives as a paying guest. Her mother, a veteran Manipuri dancer, calls from Imphal to ask about the class.
"I don't know whether it was a good decision to come here," Sanatombi says.
Sanatombi's experience, lived through by many Indians from the country's north-east, is shared by Molina Singh.