Madras Day Celebrations – Kilpauk Walk – 16.08.2009, 7 am.

Madras Day celebrations in Chennai has become Madras Week, and slowly expanding to Madras Fortnight & Madras Month.

The organizers are keen on conducting Heritage Walks in different places during this week with a view to highlight the rich heritage of our city which is to be preserved by all of us.

I took interest in Kilpauk walk, organized by Ms.Deepa Sekar on 16-08-09 as I basically belong to South Madras.

The tour programme was like this: 1. The Votive Shrine of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, 2. Madras 350 Building, 3. St. George School and Orphanage, 4.Pachaiyappa’s College of Arts and Science, 5. Kushaldass Gardens, 6. Kingston House, 7. Kalki gardens, 8. Citadel Studios, 9.Bhsashyam Naidu park, 10. Tapovan and the last Newton Studios. About 30 people took part and enjoyed the morning walk. A brief account of

the event follows.

1. The Votive Shrine of the Immaculate Heart of Mary: Father Amalraj narrated the story. One Mr.Mathias in 1942 prayed mother Mary to Protect Madras from getting bombed during the 2^nd world war. Mary with her mercy saved the entire India. Hence he wanted to build a Church and an orphanage in Madras. One French gentleman Mr. Edgar Raphael Prudehomme donated this land. This place hosts a Church, a Primary School and an orphanage. There are around 820 students, 90% from very poor families with single parent. The orphanage is the asylum for nearly 250 inmates.

Madras 350 is a building commemorating the existence of the City of Madras

built with a dome in the style of small gopuram. We reached this through Umayal Road where there is Shiva Temple which also has Sannidhis for Rama and Narasimha. The Aadhi Pillaiyar statue was found near the pond, on which the temple is constructed in 1950. The place belonged to Mr. Alagappa Chettiar.

St. George School & Orphanage: Ancient old school started in 1715, which also had a hospital with an isolation ward to house students who were suffering from chickenpox. Behind, there is the 500 year old Nawab Palace which is not in good condition now. Adds Mr. Vincent Cunningham, the chief, that there was a school band which has the history of playing before The Queen inside the Fort St.George, when she visited Madras in 1961. During that time the School had classes only upto 9^th standard. Children used to be sent to Dovton School, at Vepery from 10^th standard by cycle.

Pachaiyappa’s college of Arts and Science: 16 Acres land was donated by Pachaiyappa Chettiyar to build a college. This college alumni list has some noted personalities of Tamilnadu like, Mu.Varadarajanar, Nanjil Manoharan, C.N.Annadurai, Anbazhagan etc.,

Kushaldass Garden: It is in Poonamalle High Road. Those days Maharaja of Trivancore used to visit, stay and celebrate Moolam Thirunal here.

Kingston House: This was donated by Kannan Chetty and a Girls High school in the name of Seethammagaru now exists here. Nearby is the Nowroji Road where Rajaji lived.

Kalki Garden: Once the residence of Bharat Ratna Smt.M.S.Subbulakshmi. The Tulasi Madam and the Krishna statue are still preserved. In the piano room, we learn that, all the songs of the film Meera were choreographed and tuned. Later when Kalki Krishnamurthy joined Mr.Sadasivam, the magazine Kalki got published from this house. Now Maharishi Vidya Mandir has taken possession of this house. Ladies hostel is being run here and the school building has been erected by the side. The heritage house has at present escaped demolition due to stay order of the court.

Citadel Studios: This huge property was owned by one brother and sister who remained single and had no heirs to take over. The property was then divided. The movie 100/100 of Jaishnkar was shot here which was a grand success.

Bashyam Naidu Park: Bashyam Naidu was the fourth gen member of Beri Thimmaiah, the Dubhashi who had a significant part in the formation of Madras City. It was a vast 100 grounds garden, later given to children in parts. Still the descendants live there and the lady shared few of her memories. The song ‘Brindavanathil’ of Meera was shot in the garden and the cow which was shown in the song belonged to them. Sakunthala & Dushyanth scenes on charioit were also shot there . The house was a palatial one with a separate cottage as the kitchen.

The Tapovan: Chinmaya Heritage School is run in this place now. Once it was the place of Chinmayananda.

Newton Studio: Once a very costly studio run by technicians, where the shootings of superstars of yesteryear like MKT and NSK used to take place. Bhimsing took over this later. Now Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan is running its School here.

The tour ended by 10.00 am. Heritage walks during Madras Week are mostly arranged by Mylapore Times, a neighbourhood News Paper. Please visit their site http://www.themadrasday.in/ for details.

Surabhi, a family of 63 theatre artistes

Hi everybody. It feels very good to blog after a long gap.

Evam is a theatre group with few enthusiastic youngsters as members and they give real good plays in the city of Chennai. Evam, in April 2009 introduced Surabhi, a theatre group from Hyderabad with a total members of 63 artistes from the age group of 1-1/2 to 60+ to Chennai theatre fans. It is strange to believe that they live together as one family at Hyderabad doing their routine as students, employees, home makers etc according to their age, but all in one common profession, ie acting in stage dramas.

Surabhi has completed 120 years of existence as of now.

We were given to understand the artistes get a complete exposure to the stage, in the form of doing their own make up, preparing the back drops, painting the screens, singing in their own voice, monitoring the trick shots and managing the back-stage during the play. Above all any one can play any role if need be.

This troupe gave a visual treat on 25th and 26th April to the Chennai audience by enacting two legendary plays, namely, Pathala Bhairavi and Maya Bazaar, both in Telugu. The Music Academy hall was overflowing both the days. The audience were fully receptive though the language was the local Tamil.

The two plays had mythology, storyline, comedy, music, trick-shots and the presentation was spectacular.

It was news that Maya Bazaar movie came later as an adoption of this play of Surabhi.

Many VIPs viewed the plays both days.

The head Sri. R. Nageswara Rao said that they prefer Mythology as the subject, because there is scope for heavy costume, colour, meaningful songs and trick-shots which will enthrall the audience.

One of the VIP visitors Smt. Padma Subrahmaniam had all appreciation for the artistes and invited them all to her Bharathamuni Foundation for Asian Culture at ECR Chennai.

I have given a glimpse of the above two splendid stage performances as video clippings.
Video 1. Kalavaramaye Madilo (Pathala Bhairavi)
Video 2. Gadodgaj and Abhimanyu Fight. (Mya Bazaar)
Video 3. Gadodgaj as Maya Vatsala dancing. (Maya Bazaar)
Please enjoy.

Akshaya Tritiyai-The glitters are real Gold

This year Akshaya Tritiyai fell on 27th April. Akshya means without diminishing- hence bring in Aishwaryam home which remains undiminished. Thus goes the significance.

This concept was once the pracitise of those section of the society who believed in astrology which says bring in at least one gram of gold to have prosperity throughout the year.

Now the bug has spread deep and wide and people await the d'day to come and rush to jewellery shops.

However this year the astrologers strongly advocated to bring home diamond or platinum or even silver( white metal).

But, no the yellow metal has all the everlasting charm and there was rush for gold jewellery as usual.

Some of the offers the jewellers had announced on that day in newspapers are given for interesting reading.

Rs. 400/- less with gift vouchers : Service charge 1.5% less for credit cards & Vat 1% less for cash purchases.

Rs. 640/- less per sovereign: Shop open from 6.00 a.m to 11 p.m.

Free gold coin for every purchase worth 15000/-

Rs. 45 less on one gram and no making charges on plain gold jewellery.

For the purchase of gold coin equal weight of silver coin free.

Rs. 55/- less on gram of gold: no making charges for gold jewellery: 7.5% discount on diamonds.

Pre-booking of gold in advance to avail the lower rate among the two rates on Akshaya Tritiyai day.

25% less on making charges and 10% discount on diamond.

T.Nagar and Mylapore, the gold jewellery hubs of south Chennai wore a festive look on the day. The pictures below speak of the festivity.

This year Public Sector Banks have introduced Gold ETF - Exchange Traded Funds as an open ended Mutual Fund Scheme which invest in standard gold bullion. This security can be traded in the market as any other scrip. The banks call this as the intelligent way to trade in the purest
form of wealth.

All said and done this Yellow metal has its own charm and popularity. People, from time immemorial, feel Gold is the safest investment whatever be the season or rate.

The posterity-What are we leaving behind?

Recently I happened to see a documentary ‘My name is Palar’ produced by one Mr. R.R.Srinivasan at Alliance Francaise, Chennai.

Palar starts from Karnataka, flows via Andhra Pradesh enters Tamilnad and reaches Bay of Bengal near Cathurangapattinam .

The documentary was elaborately dealing with the atrocity the river is facing at the hands of greedy business community, bureaucrats, politicians etc.


The effluent from the tanneries in Ambur, Ranipet and Vellore are freely let out into the river causing severe health hazards to population around who consume the water.



Once people were using natural herbs like ‘Kadukkai’ and others as cleaning agents to treat the animal skin. The effluent had rich herbal value and the agriculturists used to vie with each other to collect the same and use in their fields to get high quality yield.
Now chromium and nickel are being used in the tanneries and hence it becomes difficult to standardize the effluent water as the ill effects cannot be removed.

The other major atrocity committed on the river is the quarrying of sand 10 folds above the stipulated optimum level by greedy businessmen and the same is sent to nearby states. It is highly unfortunate that the local population is used in this service specially women and children. They resort to assist this as they have no other avocation and means of earning because agriculture has totally failed and the soil has become uncultivable. If the sand mining continues at this rate the Palar belt is likely to become fully dried up and no recharge will be possible even during rainy season.
Now we turn to our Nxgen. We have very dynamic, hardworking, talented and enthusiastic Nxgen today. They are tech savvy and advanced in all walks of life. They use their brains and valuable trainings to serve other countries, make them prosperous and are termed very cost effective. But they don’t realize that the earth on which they stand is becoming parched and cracked.

The middle aged population stands silent spectators knowing well that what they leave to the posterity is barrenness, disease prone water resources and scarcity of quality vegetation. They also realize that if our rivers, lakes, wells and other water resources are preserved well, there my not be water scarcity.

India the largest democracy in the world is facing another election now. It is time the youth awake and strive hard to retain our resources intact. Let them bring home foreign exchange and boost up financial prosperity, but let not the motherland lose all the natural resources slowly because they do not show interest in preserving them thereby denying the benefits to the posterity. Let them take a consolidated effort so that the Newnxgen will be thankful to them.

I call upon the Nxgen and Newnxgen to have only one identity i.e., ‘I am an Indian’.


P.S. Photos from the documentary screened.

Umayalpuram Sivaraman & Chennai Sangamam 2009

Sangeetha Sangamam, the name that was given to the programme by Umayalpuram Sivaraman and his ensemble. Chennai Sangamam 2009 had concerts of top musicians in the south Chennai parks, like Sudha Ragunathan, Bombay Jayshree, Ranjani Gayathri, Sanjay Subramanyan etc.

But this year's highlight was Umayalpuram Sivaraman and his ensemble. It had senior artistes on percussion and other instruments on one side and budding musician like Bharat Sunder and two more boys on vocal on the other side. Here is a report on this programme that took place at Nageswara Rao Park, Mylapore, on the 13th of January, 2009.

Umayalpuram's beat filled the ambiance and reverberated through the pathway around the chess square. Sri. M.A.Sundaresan gave excellent support in violin and the songs literally poured out in a pleasant stream from his bows.

The programme was titled Sangeetha Sangamam and so had both classical and folk songs.

The first two songs were pure folklore and rendered well by the boys. Then there was the fast number Raghuvamsa Sudha, in raga Kathanakuthuhalam. Then came a song which had pallavi 'Eru mayil yeru', on Muruga in Tamil, next was 'Uyyalalugaviah', by Saint Thyagaraja in Telugu, a lullaby for Rama and the final charanam was again in Tamil 'En kanne kannurangu', all in the raga Nilambari. The blend was very smooth. Similarly 'Ramanukku Mannan' and 'Karunalaya nidhuiye' both in raga Hindolam, were combined and given as one single rendation. 'Muladhara murthe' in Hamsadwani followed with swift phrases.



I take a paragraph break here to tell that at this point one VVIP visitor entered. Yes, your guess is right. Madam Kanimozhi, MP and one of the organisers of Chennai Sangamam came and took her seat on the lawn along with her friends. The main song 'Tamizhai Kalvimozhiyakku' in raga Hamsadwani was dealt in detail by all the three boys adding kalpana swaras. There was also a thaniavarthanam by all the accompaniments. Umayal Sir stole the show and the crowd applauded heartily.



'Vallikanavan Perai' Kavadichindu was enjoyable. Age old song 'Adupambe' was handled in violin by Sri.Sundaresan. The next was the English note and the boys were adept in humming in a soft low pitch for the same

The finale was the song 'Shanthi nilava Vendum' followed by "Vazhiya Senthamizh'.

The rasikas present that day were mostly people from the neighbourhood and not the regulars to music sabhas. But they sat through the entire show and enjoyed the performance in toto.

You may also enjoy the two small video clippings given below.

The artistes of Sangeetha Sangamam:
Mridangam :Sri. Umayalpuram K.Sivaraman
Violin : Sri. M.A. Sundaresan
Ghatam : Sri. Pudukkotai Ramesh
Kamjira : Sri. Sri Sundar Kumar
Morsingh : Sri. A.S.Krishnan
Special Effects : Sri. Murali
Vocal 1 : Sri. K.Bharat Sunder
Vocal 2 : Sri. Nanganallur Ravishankar
Vocal 3 : Sri. Parur Ananthakrishnan

Gomatha Illam

Gomatha Illam

Can you imagine a shed full of cattle, cows and buffaloes, being tended and bred at the heart of the metro Chennai? Yes, the couple Ramu and Bala does it at Mylapore, Chennai at Veerabadran Lane.

Gomatha in Tamil means, ‘Cow, the Mother’ and it is sacred for Hindus. In Gomatha Illam of Ramus there are 20 cows and 15 buffaloes. Breeding these animals is the family tradition of Ramus and they live upto that till date.

Smt. Bala, lady just–above-middle age, looks very pious and soft spoken with very tender, affectionate expression in her eyes as she takes care of all the cattle as her own children.

The couple with their only son runs the entire show. They supply around 75 litres of milk per day, morning and evening to Hotel Saravana Bhavan in North Mada Street, Mylapore and to Grand Snacks in Gandhi Nagar, Adyar on week ends.

This is their family business for generations, says Smt. Bala and hence they want to continue despite the hardships. They don’t realize much profit because the cattle feed and straw prices have gone up many folds. Also they do not have much human assistance to take care of 35 cattle in one place.

We visited them on the day of Mattuppongal, the day next to Pongal, when people show their gratitude to the cattle for providing them milk throughout the year. Previously it was the tradition to take the cattle out, decked up, for a walk on Mattuppongal day and people at their doorstep used to take harathi and offer fruits to the cow and thamboolam to the owner. These things have disappeared now and the puja is being performed indoors only.

I wish the couple a happy and prosperous New Year (Ugadi)

Lecture Demonstrations - December Music and Dance Season 2008

Hi again! This is a belated report on few of the Lec-dems during December 2008 season

Here is a word about Lec-dems in general. Except at Music Academy the Lec-dems at other Sabhas witness only scant crowd that too all 50+.

The resource persons delivering the lectures are stalwarts and they do extensive research before presenting them in the limited time allotted.

It is unfortunate that the youth, especially those in the music and dance circle, as students, do not encash the knowledge imparted and get benefited by them.

Our senior vidwans, musicologists and dance gurus have treasures with them which the younger generation should exploit for their real growth.

1. Telugu-The special status enjoyed by Telugu in Carnatic Music –
By Sri. T.R.Subrahmaniam - Indian Fine Arts Society at German Hall on 26.12.2008.

In British India, English language was regarded as a status symbol. In the same way Telugu language enjoyed the status symbol among composers of 16/17 century.
Tamilnad had great advantage in that illustrious people like Rama Mathiya, Annamacharya and Narayana Thirthar from Andhra Pradesh contributed a lot and made Telugu a status language.

The influence was so great that composers with their mother tongue other than Telugu composed only in Telugu during that era. Patnam Subramanya Iyer, Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar (Tamilians) , Mysore Vasudevachar (Kannadiga) preferred to compose in Telugu.

The King Krishna Devaraya, whose mother tongue was Tulu, did a kavya in Telugu by name ‘Amuktha Malyada’. In this he has the last line ‘Desa Bhashalandu Telugu Lessa’
meaning among the national languages Telugu is the best.

Sangeetha Sampradaya Pradarshini, which is considered as Bible in music circle was written in the year 1904, in Telugu by Subbarama Dikshithar, the grandson of Muthuswamy Dikshithar's family whose mother tongue was Tamil.

Finally, Saint Thyagaraja who was born and lived in Tamilnadu did his compositions in simple Telugu, which was his mother tongue. His disciples too composed only in Telugu, telling ‘Na guru ela chesaro ala chesanu’ meaning I did the way my guru did.
The beauty of Telugu lies in the fact that all nouns end in vowels like Ramudu ending with u. This gives very good scope in carnatic music to do neraval and is very pleasant to hear. Whereas in Tamil the vowels end in consonants, like in Raman, n is the ending and neraval with that is difficult. In Kannada the vowels are extended with aa at the endings, which will not sound very good and neraval with extended aa is again difficult.

Our great poet of Tamilnad Sri.Subrahmanya Bharathy hence rightly said ‘Sundara Telunginil Pattisaithu’ which means Telugu is very good to hear and people opt to sing in that language.

This trend slowly changed with Papanasam Sivan who made Tamil kirthanas with classical touch popular later.

2. Influence of Yoga in voice modulation by Sri T.Unnikrishnan – Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha at Vidya Bharathy on 28.12.08

Voice culture is the usage of right voice technique while singing. Yoga deals with breath control and hence the practice of Pranayama helps improve the tonal quality.

There are three registries in voice, head registry, chest registry and false registry. Head registry is for light singing and 90% modulation comes from chest registry. Breath voice (the false registry) is bad in classical music, but permitted in light singing. (In breathy voice 10% of breath is applied with singing which comes along with the song and it is a disqualified voice for classical music.) Classical singing requires majesty and hence, there chest registry is applied.

When we practice with akaram it is better to replace ‘a’ with ‘h’ and practice haharam. This will enable us to reach the lower shadjamam easily.
Initially sarali is to be practiced with haharam. H works in a tremendous way in voice production. When akaram is applied it presses the larynx in the vocal chord and the voice becomes artificial. It may reduce the range also later on. When the voice gets the position, then akaram can be applied.
The position of the head should be at normal level even while singing in tara sthayi. If lifted up the larynx gets pressed and enough air will not be supplied to the voice.
While practicing any swara it should be plain, in a tight string like pattern without vibrations. This will help, later in applying vibrations and landing smoothly in classical music.

Yoga is for general health, wherein the mechanism is very easy with respect to Pranayama, meaning control and organized movement of breath. The spoken voice and tonal quality in singing gets improved by regularly practicing yoga (pranayama)

Three types of pranayamas can be practiced for 1 to 1.5 hours daily as a special exercise for the improvement of voice.
The vocal chord is a delicate instrument and hence any exercise/yoga is to be done under the supervision of a guru.

Kapalapathi: Imagine a lamp is kept in front. From nabhi pressing the billow apply force and try to put off the lamp. Repeat this for a specific number of counts. This clears the lungs.
Nadi Shodana: This is alternate breathing. There are two nadis; one is Ida, the left (female) and the other Pingala, the right (male). Inhale with your left nostrils, retain that counting upto 6, and then exhale counting 12 from right nostril. Now inhale through right, retain till 6 counts and exhale through left counting 6. Repeat this until there is balance in the exhaling. The effect of this is the mind will be steady with no stress. Both nostrils will be cleared without block enabling the music to flow out smoothly.
Bhastika: This is abrupt blowing of air throw nostrils and repeated fastly. This clears nasal passage and sinus. The area around the nose is purified and the resonating system is kept activated. Anyone can practice without nasal sound or with 10% nasal or with 50% nasal. With ‘OM’ also this can be practiced. The voice starts from vocal chord passes through various resonating system and comes out with sweetness and melody.

For improvement of voice one sarali a day repeated, will be enough. The next day the next sarali to be practiced.
For a steady pitch one should practice from lower panchamam to the higher panchamam. If 5 is the normal pitch one should start from 4.5, go to 5, then to 5.5.
This way one can sing confidently at the 5 pitch.

3. Role of Varnam in Voice Training by Smt. Sumathi Krishnan – Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha at Vidya Bharathy on 30.12.08.

We get to know different patterns from singing varnams like the following: 1. Hamsadwani varnam Pagavari, 2.Kanada varnam ‘Nera nammithinaiah’- anupallavi‘maruni kanna sri’and 3. Suruti varnam ‘entha premathone’- the swarams ‘panthamela jesevu e vela’
These give different patterns and modulations. The regular practice trains the voice in these aspects.
In certain ragas the pattern is woven around one swaram like in Goula varnam ‘chelimi kori vachi’ is around Rishabam which is the prime note. Similarly in the Saveri varnam ‘sogasuga’ again rishabam is the important note, close to Shadjam, which has got not only range but combination of swaras too.
In Pallavi Gopala Iyer’s ata thala varnam ‘intha chalamu’ the karvai gets shifted from ‘pa’ to ‘dha’ and also to ‘sa’. Here ‘pa dha dha sa’, ‘sa pa dha dha sa’ ‘pa dhaa dha sa’are beautifully chiseled.
To get good range, it should be practiced from lower pa to higher pa wherein numerous combinations can be achieved.
Varnam Patterns work very beautifully on voice training and also lead to manodarma singing. These patterns when practiced with akaras will be good for voice training

Some varnams like ‘Swami’ in Hamsadwani and Kannada ragas give knowledge about swarasthanas and varjyaprayoham in ragas.

Varnams are combinations of Jhanta varisai and Dhattu varisai, so very useful for voice training.
There are two types of varnams, namely Pada varnam and Thana varnam. Pada varnams are mainly meant for dance performances, whileThana varnams improve the voice texture and pattern.

Shanmukhapriya Thana varnam is produced here as video clip (the image quality is not very good) which can be enjoyed as to how the practice of varnam helps in singing RTP.

Finally madam Sumathy concluded her lecture by a verse in Sanskrit which said ‘have unexhausted control over the voice which does not tire easily, explore mature and correct phrases of ragas and learn from great learned guru’.

Madam Sumathy with her clear and authentic voice demonstrated every single aspect, with the singing of that particular segment of the varnam.

I once again reiterate that these lectures are made available free by Sabhas during December season but it is not reaching the target audience who will carry forward these treasures.

I have given only a small piece of the lectures in the perspective of a rasika and not as a singer or student of music.

I wish one and all a very happy Ugadi.

Dance Ballet- December Music & Dance Season 2008

Hi friends! It is nice to be back meddling with my blog after a long gap.

I would like to give a very short, crisp note about the Dance Ballets, I happened to see during December Music and Dance season 2008.

Nowadays December season is witnessing Dance Ballets in the place of Solo dances by veterans.

The three of them which I have chosen are again choreographed by veterans and performed by their school students.

I start with Mrs. Chitra Visweswaran’s Chidambaram Academy of Performing Arts which presented ‘Nirantharaha’ meaning ‘the eternal cycle’.

It was told that old Tamil literature speaks of seven stages of woman. Nirantharaha depicts the seven stages of woman which go like this, the girl baby, the little girl, the sweet sixteen, the young woman, the mother, the widow and the released soul. As madam Chitra puts it ‘every moment that goes is a death; and every moment that is born is birth; thus the eternal cycle goes on’. Mrs. Chitra Visweswaran took the lead role and performed effortlessly, deftly accompanied by her students.

The first song of Tagore’s Gitanjali was translated into Tamil and there were many more of his compositions taken for research and formed the source, says Mrs.Chitra. Late Visweswaran had scored the music for the Ballet.

The Music, that had direct influence of Tagore’s Gitanjali , and scored by a santoor artiste, had the melody and softness which prevailed throughout the drama. Odissi style was very neatly adopted in Bharathanatyam, fitting to the melody of the songs. The costume of the dancers very much resembled that of odissi.

The next is ‘Pada Kavitha Pithamaha’ by Bharathanjali Trust headed by Mrs. Anitha Guha.
Around 25 students of all stature from 2’ to 5’ took part in the dance ballet, based on the compositions of Annamacharya, mostly on Lord Venkateswara and Goddess Alamelumanga. The resource person was Sri. Pappu Venugopala Rao and choreography, madam Anitha. She is adept in handling students of different age groups and the audience always remains spell bound by their performance.

Pada Kavitha Pithamaha was another treat that way, with a special mention to be made about the Bhramotsavam scenes, where the Lord with his two consorts parade in different Vahanas on all 10 days.

In dance circle when we speak about spectacular, the one name that flashes is Smt. Krishnakumari Narendran of Abhinaya Natyalaya. This year Smt Nrithya Jagannathan and other students of madam Krishnakumari presented ‘Siva Swaroopa Thandava Lahari’ a celebration of Shiva and his multiple facets. The verses were taken from Sanskrit and Tamil poems like Thiruvachagam, Thirumandiram, Sivanandalahari, Shivapanchakshara Stotram, Siva Thandava Stotram and Charana Sringarahita Nataraja Stotram.

The two special items were the story of Ravana who sings Siva Thandava Stotram to get himself released from the crush by Mount Kailash and that of Padanjali, who composes Charana Sringarahita Nataraja Stotram on seeing Lord Nataraja’s Ananda Thandavam at Chidambaram.

Mrs. Nrithya Jagannathan was versatile in presenting the different facets of the cosmic dancer Lord Shiva.
The settings and lightings play a vital role in Krishnakumari’s dance dramas and invariably steal the heart of audience. These two aspects were exceptionally displayed in this production.

Krishnakumari Narendran is always passionate about her students, and Nrithya, her pet student for the last 25 years, learns, teaches and renders nattuvangam under Krishnakumari. She is also proud that her students do well in their schools/collages with a few pursuing professional courses like engineering/IT/medicine. She was thankful to the artiste who played Ravana, a student from abroad (Sri Lanka, I believe) who air dashed to Chennai, learnt in few days and danced. Of course her performance was quite laudable.

I have given a small tribute to the three great dance gurus of current time, who have established themselves by mere hardwork and untiring effort. It requires lot of patience, understanding and adjustment to plan, do research, choreograph, coordinate, rehearse and finally present a production with heterogeneous artistes and cope with their other important commitments in social life. Women dance gurus of our time are doing it extremely well.

I am happy to release this article on the eve of ‘International Women’s Day’, i.e.,March 8 th and dedicate to the women population all over the world who are adept in multitasking.

I am proud to be a woman and wish all ladies a very happy Women’s Day.

Myilayil Oru Margazhi Maalai

'Songs of December' was the name given to the unique programme at Nageswara Rao Park , Luz, Mylapore, held on 27.12.08 at 7 p m.

It is called 'Nadopasana' in Sanskrit which means to pray Almighty by singing his praise by dedicated, trained musicians who learn classical music under a guru.

The programme mentioned above was one such unique thing arranged by Mylapore Times/Kutcheribuzz, a neighbourhood newspaper/web site. Students of Balabrundam headed by Smt.Seetha Rajan rendered few Andal Thiruppavai songs followed by Christmas carols by the Revival Singers of Santhome conducted by M.M. Gaspar.

Disciples of Smt. Seetha Rajan, girls aged from 7 to18, dressed in traditional South Indian dress for teens, rendered around 8 popular Thiruppavai songs starting with 'Margazhi Thingal' the first among the 30 songs of Andal, who married Lord Ranganatha himself, the legend says. They were accompanied by a young mridangist.

The voice, the diction, the sruthi, the rhythm, the dedication, the harmony of the group, everything was perfect and excellent. Kudos to the guru Smt. Seetha Rajan.

Next was the choir by 'The Revival Singers' of Santhome. They were around nine youth, 3 male and 6 females accompanied by a young man on the piano.The group was headed by Mr. M.M. Gasper. They presented around 5 songs.

As I understand , the choir is a message from the holy Spirit of god. The Christmas Carol (songs) will have a theme of Christmas and the celebration of the birth of Christ. The Church choir is generally based on classical music.

So the 'Songs of December' presented the songs of the holy month Margazhi (mid Dec. to mid Jan.) for Hindus and holy month of December for Christians. The selective audience that day enjoyed both as Mylapore is a place where people of all religions live together peacefully. The innovative idea (thanks to the organisers) of conducting such programme in the open on a winter evening in December was also welcomed by the gathering.