The book One Life Two Births is a unique presentation of the two incarnations of renowned Odissi dancer Ileana Chitaristhi.  The author has given a detailed description of how a revolutionary young woman of the 60s, influenced by the western hippie culture, came from a small town in Italy, Bergamo, moved from continent to continent and finally chose Odisha as her place of work and stayed here.  In this autobiography, Ileana traces her early stage life, love, family tension, traveling like a barbula in Taliban-occupied Afghanistan, learning Tibetan mandala art, entering India, learning Katakali in Kerala, etc., like a movie scene.  Escape from the forbidden drug Mayazal and become a complete vegetarian, falling in love with Odissi dance in Odisha and becoming an apprentice, learning to embrace a completely unknown land and its language and traditions, the fortune of being a disciple of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra and finally becoming a leading craftsman and guru;  The book is a living document of Ileana's long journey, where we are treated to a novel portrait of the author's rebirth and transformation.  This book provides an expansive testimony of how indomitable passion, determination and grit make the impossible possible and show the way forward even in the unknown.