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.
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