Protima bedi streaking the lawn

Indian model and Odissi exponent

Protima Gauri Bedi^[2][3] (12 October &#; 18 August )^[4] was an Indian model turned Odissi exponent. In , she established Nrityagram, a dance school in Bangalore, Karnataka.

Early life

Protima was born in Delhi on 12 October ,^[5] the second of four children, three daughters, and a son. Her father was Laxmichand Gupta, a trader belonging to a business family from the Karnal district, Haryana, and her mother Reba, was of Bengali by origin.^[1]

In , her family moved to Goa, and later, in , they moved to Mumbai. At the age of nine, she was sent to stay at her aunt's home in a village in the Karnal district for a while, where she studied in a local school. On her return, she was sent to Kimmins High School, Panchgani, where she received her early education. She graduated from St. Xavier's College, Bombay (–67).^[5]

Career

Modeling career

By the late s, she started wor