“ Ileana’s book makes interesting reading even in the details known to lovers of dance.. The book will be a valuable source of archival interest for it contains details known only to a few, now aging men and women of Orissa.  Aesthetically got up, reasonably priced, the book is an addition to Odissi history. It deals less with the aesthetic of the dance than with the life story of a master admirably told.”

“ This is a book of love stories.  Of dancers for the dance, of a dancing couple for each other, of a nation for a lyrical piece of its own soul. For Kelucharan Mohapatra’s  life book is witness not only to his own struggle, enchantment and growth in Odissi, it is a mosaic of Indian cultural history, of hard sincere work making magic… Of teaching values through the example of several besotted dancers who, for love of the art, turned their lives upside down and never regretted it, despite the hardship and discipline.”

“ It is a tribute to both the Guru who inspired this devotion and to the disciple who has spared no effort to make this book such a rich find visually as well as textually.”

“ The Making of a guru- His Life and Times, the biography of Odissi guru Kelucharan Mohapatra comes as a welcome change. Citaristi, the Italian student of  Mohapatra was so won over by the dance form that she stayed back in Orissa as Mohapatra’s sishya for decades. In the book she recalls the unusual story of Odissi and its most visible exponent.”

“ This is the story of the grand old man of Odissi by one of his many dedicated disciples…. Told simply and effectively this is not just the story of a great dancer but also the tale of Odissi development and world-renown.. A few typos notwithstanding, this is a passionate life-sketch of a man whose first forty years of life have no written record. A must-read.”