Can such a person be a role model? What is to be gained from the memoirs of one for whom public approbation meant nothing; the love of near ones didn't ostensibly matter too much, and who lived like Ayn Rand's fictional heroes, theorising that selfishness is the ultimate virtue. In a life full of men and destructive relationships-some discussed in lascivious detail-Protima emerges as one who carried nemesis as her middle name. And she singed all whom she cared to bed. The memoirs inevitably speak of her dabbling in dance and then donning the mantle of organiser, transforming herself into an "amma" to head her dream institution, Nrityagram. But Protima's no Rukmini Arundale and ultimately she runs away from Nrityagram too, leaving it to students yet too green to shape institutions.