Homage to MS

December, 16, 2004

 

When I first heard a few days ago that MS was critically ill, my heart skipped a beat for a second. I tried to look away mentally from where this might lead to in a few days/months. I wondered what the connection is that makes me feel this way much as I would feel if this was happening to a parent or sibling perhaps. The connection, as I looked deeper into myself, is clearly more than a familial connection; it is a deeper bond born out of choice, by inner yearning, reaching out to the spirit within.

 

When the sad news of the physical demise of MS reached my years in the early hours of Sunday, I tried, almost as an involuntary reflex, to fill the void by filling the space around me with nothing but her music. Hasn’t she generously given us many jewels of melody and divine devotional outpourings?

 

When I was dwelling on the strains of her ‘Enneramum Undan Sannidhile Naan Irukkavendum Ayya’ in Devagandhari, it felt that she was having an intimate dialogue with the Almighty pleading to be with Him always. When my wife said that she would be at the feet of the divine without a minute of delay, I said that she was already there every moment of her life.

 

How else could I explain the radiance that she exuded when I had the rare opportunity of visiting MS at her residence 10 months ago? Her soulful music reflected her inner joy, radiance, tranquility and touched the hearts of millions just as she was touched by the music she was rendering.

 

One thing I do know, I am blessed to have the gift of music appreciation, to have been able to attend two of her live concerts in Hyderabad, to have been able to meet her in person before she merged in eternal kalam and in fact, to have coexisted in the same times as MS, though for only a few years.

 

When I hear the music of MS now, it is obvious that she sang each and every composition with conviction and sincerity. When I hear the line ‘Tirayin pin Nirkindrai Kanna…jnaniyar matrume Kaanbaar’ from her ‘Kurai Onrum Illai’, it seems that she has now merged with her Kanna and become invisible herself. But, like her Kanna, she is there to be seen, felt, and revered as before if only we have the inner eye or the Jnanam.

 

I would like to console myself that MS has not been lost to the world as she has securely become a part of our collective spirit and our very being long ago.

 

In homage and reverence,

Krishnaprasad Kamisetty

Bangalore

Friday, 27 January 2012 

Seasonal mamas and mamis 

With over 100 sabhas and over 300 concerts a day, the Chennai season offers a counter culture relative to urban India today. Along with young music students, teachers, diehard rasikas, and eager foreigners, there are loads of elders – our ‘Mamas and Mamis’. They close their kitchens for a month and help themselves to the delightful canteen food served by Padmanabhan, Gnanambika and the like. Their stories are interesting and their enthusiasm is infectious. 

Diehard mamis come to the academy for tickets at 5 am. She sits there even after buying tickets for the popular evening concert - just in case! There is the nostalgic mama I met - a professor in a Canadian university. I could not have guessed his background, with his veshti costume, his abhorrence of cell phones and his predilection for buses. 

There is the peace loving mama who believes that every single performer out there sings well. When he paid a generous compliment to an evening performer who could not keep a steady note that night (due to the season virus), I started maintaining a safe distance from the mama. Some are very helpful. 

When we were being tormented by an obscure ragam chosen by the performer for his bhajan, she volunteered to find it out and tell me the next morning. God bless her! There are doctorate mamis who come fully armed with reference tomes and song-raga compendiums and jump into intense research the moment the singer utters the first line. They discuss and research and discuss again with identification of the raga their only objective. Pretty oblivious to the rendition itself, and amusing to watch from a distance, they are found singly and also in groups. 

Then there is the name-dropping type: ‘Jayashri was telling me the other day that the music was not audible at all from the stage’, TM Krishn’a voice is not Ok, I believe,’ ‘Sanjay asked me to come to the concert early as the traffic was heavy.’ Some enthusiastic mamas keep polling for the best concert of the season. Any argument that tastes differ does not carry any weight with these mamas. 

There is a lonely, friendly mami who gives her phone number to every one from her city of Bangalore and asks them to come and visit her. I am a proud recipient of her number. There is this crooning mama who though in awe of TVS’s singing, launches into a parallel concert. Each one has his/her ways of enjoying the concert(s). I have stayed away from a talkative mama who attempts to involve you in the hot topic of the day (Anna Hazare, Corruption, Cricket are all fair game). 

Beware! Despite their many idiosyncrasies, the common thread of enthusiasm and love for music and all things musical runs strongly through all these mamas and mamis. These are the pillars of the season carrying the torch of nostalgia and unconditional love of music through generations. What will the season be without them? But, all the same, choose your seat wisely if you want to lose yourself in the music!! 

Posted by Sruti Magazine at Friday, January 27, 2012 

The Darshan of Smt. M. S. Subbulakshmi

February 22, 2004

 

As I was gingerly entering the cool and comfortable porch of “Sivam Subham”, I could not believe that I was actually going to be meeting with the music legend of all time and a veritable saint in a few minutes. I paused at the door before I even looked for the calling bell. I was wondering, “What should I say first? How can I express my worshipful admiration and respect to some one who was admired by the kings and the queens of the world, a thousand times before? Finally, I coaxed my hand to reach for the bell and ring it softly. Appropriately enough, the bell did not seem to know to make any jarring sounds and instead, made a very soft sound that I actually could barely hear.

 

A respectable gentleman, clad in all-white and with ‘namam’ on his forehead, ushered me in warmly. When I introduced myself as a reference of Dr. Sankaran, he said that he was expecting me and had me comfortably seated. He enquired about the purpose of my visit and laid the ground rules of no photography and no autographing.  I was disappointed for a brief second, but, understood how MS might have been hassled by innumerable autograph and photograph-focused admirers in the 70 years of her career. Later, when I enquired how he was related to MS, he said that he has been their servant for the last 50 years and that they are like his parents.

 

After a few minutes, I was signaled to go to an inner room where MS amma was being readied by one of her trusted ladies. She sat up just for meeting me. I truly felt that I was perhaps troubling her. I said ‘Namaste’ to MS amma and touched her feet as she herself folded her hands to greet me warmly with a huge smile on her face. It was such a sincere and warm welcome that I felt touched by her generosity. Her face was so radiant that a 10000W light bulb will pale before it. Before I could even open my mouth and utter all the things that I wanted to convey, she was enquiring about my kids and what they do. Mr. Athma explained to MS amma about my two daughters learning Bharatanatyam etc.

 

I really don’t remember what I said, but, I did manage to mention that this was a moment that I never thought I would experience in my life. I told her how her music embodied the best that music could be, for me. I told her that I felt that when I heard her ‘Bhavayami Gopala balam’ in the still of the night way back in 1983. She could not sit up for too long and was apologizing that she had to get back to her resting position. When I was signaled to wrap it up, I reluctantly got up with a pranam to the music legend, a saint and most of all, a wonderfully positive human being.

 

This is a memory that I will treasure for the rest of my life.