Music, maestro and memories - Tribute to Lalgudi Jayaraman

Amidst the Sri Ramanavami music concerts in Bangalore, my phone buzzes to convey a very sad news.

The violin falls silent. Maestro Lalgudi Jayaraman passes away. This happens while I plan to visit him in a week's time. This makes the moment more pensive. And my mind travels back by 30 years.

I will never be able to express how I felt when I received a letter from the legend Lalgudi written in his own very beautiful handwriting. Even the address on the envelope was written by him very neatly! It was after a concert in Cuddalore, I had written to him and he 'penned' a reply. And my mom and dad were surprised at the letter written by the maestro himself more than I did.

Two years after the mail, I met him at his residence in T. Nagar. I was amazed at his memory recalling a letter written to one of his thousands of admirers. We spoke about many things, about my workplace, the place I started living after joining my first job, my music training and more. The two hours I spent with the person he was, apart from great musician, still stays green in my memory.

Long after this, I met him on the corridors of Sri Krishna Gana Sabha after his concert during the December season of 1988 / 89. He looked at me as though he was recollecting something and I just began ,"I am ...". He completed my name! What a memory!

His Christmas day concerts for Kalarasana at Rani Seethai Hall on Mount Road and the New Year's Day concerts at the Mylapore Fine Arts Club became part of my calendar in the years of my living in Madras on and off during my transferable job.

Again in 2008, when Lalgudi received the 'Lifetime award' from the Music Academy, I went to be there at the function just to have a glimpse of my favourite music genius.

I might have taken to Lalgudi's music through my mother who admires his playing a lot. She recognises his style with ease even when she hears him accompanying a vocalist in the vintage recordings. I am sure she must have heard almost all his recordings at some point and so she identifies the 'voice' of his strings at one stroke of his bow. She has stories of seeing him with a tuft in his early years. A sort of admiration the present day young people have for their filmy heros!

When we bought a 'two-in-one'  in the late 70s, it was a cassette of Lalgudi's music that inaugurated the precious device of ours on that day. The universal choice of all of us at home!


Of all the memorable days of my life, one important day associates with Lalgudi much more than any other. The day never passes without thinking of him. That is my son's birthday who shares it with this maestro!

I became the happiest person when my son took to learning the violin involuntarily, as a kid of 5 years. He got introduced to many instruments along with violin and vocal singing later. He loves Lalgudi's Saramathi. And we all love the Ganamurthi in the veena-venu-violin recordings!

Lives are ephemeral. Memories live longer and music lives forever.

Lalgudi's Saramathi masterpiece 'Mokhamu galada' asks 'Is moksha attainable in the world?'

Yes. He proved it through his music.

Wall arts. Will they be back in Chennai?

Compound walls are always the face of any building. Be it a small house, a bungalow or a landmark building.
Some prefer to have the walls plain and put up terracotta tiles to give them a look of a heritage house.

These days, graffiti on private walls are rare to see.
We always had great painting tradition on the walls. The murals, the warli art of Maharashtra and the madhubani paintings on the mud walls in the interior Bihar are artistic expressions of common people even now.

A few years ago, artists in Mumbai joined hands and started painting the walls of private houses and institutions. The Mumbai Wall Project, founded by Dhanya Pilo, who caught up with the artists and public very quickly and as they were looking at the great wall along the Tulsi Pipe Road between Mahim and Matunga (West) railway stations, the city fathers invited them to just paint up the wall!

Mumbai is open to creative projects in many fields. Art is just one among them. The characters the city has in the form of the historical buildings and the style of living perhaps allow art to be pat of their daily life. The annual Kala Ghoda Arts festival is a testimony of the love for arts the people of Mumbai have.

The Tatas have lapped up the concept and began involving themselves in such creative art projects. Last year they hosted 'Mumbai Wallbook' to paint up a two kilometer wall stretch from Mahim Railway station.
I just received a Press notification from Tata Housing Development Company (THDC) about the upcoming 'Delhi Wallbook' event. Now their canvas will be the one kilometre wall along the North Campus of the Delhi University, University Road, Maurice Nagar. About 500 artists are expected to paint the wall this Sunday, Feb. 24. Strictly only art, no text, no product, politics or whatsoever!

Chennai too has long private and public walls.
I used to look up the walls of Theosophical Society on either side of Besant Avenue.
Brightly painted in yellow is the Chepauk stadium wall ...
Chennai too had its wall paintings along the long walls on the Mount Road. The previous DMK Government had decided to decorate the walls with paintings when the Supreme Court banned posters. While the paintings withered in the rains and shines, political and promotional graffiti slowly overtook the space. And as ever, the decision by a new Government is not to redo or repair the paintings but to whitewash them.

We still have space on the walls of private houses. The walls of the new gated community apartments make good space for arts. The trendy malls can also offer that space for arts.

Tatas, are you listening? Turn your eyes on Chennai after you are done with your Delhi project. We do have long walls in the culturally rich Chennai city!

Jacks at our backs!

After I saw the clusters of the tender jack fruits in Palathope (Mylapore) last Sunday, I think I have been looking at every tree in every bungalow I come across on my way!
It was a great scene at Luz Avenue today. The corner house, where we went to meet an old friend (later we came to know that he has shifted to a crowded place and to a gated community on the OMR), has many trees. A hearty scene in the heart of Mylapore.
One among them is this jack fruit tree!

I remembered the good old days we spent in Cuddalore, a coastal now now famous for its Silver beach. It was then a quiet place, though it was the district headquarters and housed a beautiful Collector's bungalow. Cuddalore is still a district headquarters, just that the name of the district is Cuddalore now and then it was South Arcot.

The summer vacations used to be fun with evenings at the quiet beach which used to submerge in the dark at around 6 in the evening and there were a very few roadside lights on way back home. So the most part of the days were to be spent at home.
And there was this sweet guest at every vacation. The jackfruit.
Appa used to get the best ones from Panruti, known for the sweet fruit.

I don't remember bringing a whole fruit to home after that, cutting it with gums all over the hands, drying up the seed for the next day sambar ...

Naturally it was a great sight for me after a long gap of 25 years! Sweet memories.

Lattice Bridge Road - then and now!

Am not talking about history here.
Just wanted to share a picture I shot yesterday.
A walking distance from my home, L.B. Road has lots to it. From small bunk shops to shopping complexes, cinemas, auto showrooms ...
I never had time to walk leisurely on this road just because of the sheer traffic ordeal.
Today, I couldn't help stopping at this board on this furniture hiring place.

The Lattice Bride in Tamil 'பலகை வாராவதி'!
And the subtle changeof 'Nadar' to 'And' ...
Chennai is changing?!

The virgin goddess of Mylapore

I couldn't stop thinking why people should study their mother tongue well.
Do we take it for granted that we all are pundits of our own language?
When the name of the school is flawlessly translated into Tamil, why can't the street name be?

Mundaka kanni amman (the goddess with eyes like lotus petals) becomes one that sounds like virgin Mary in this name board!