Papanasam Sivan’s arrival in Madras

The following is an extract from Sivan’s partial autogiobraphy. To me, it is a fascinating book and this passage has never failed to thrill me. The account mentions AK Ramachandra Iyer- a firebrand who was a patron of the arts. He founded the Midland (now Jayaprada) Theatre, started Madras Auto Services (now with the TVS Group), set up RR Sabha and introduced Coca Cola and Parker pens to Madras. He was also the eldest son-in-law of the famed lawyer, TR Venkatarama Sastry.

Sivan’s Patna Pravesam

(Translated from the Tamil Enadu Ninaivukkadal originally serialised in 1968 in Dinamani and later published as a book with the same title in 1996)

The man who laid the foundation for my life in Chennai was the greatly generous AK Ramachandra Iyer. It was he who first invited me in 1922 to perform bhajanai during the Mayilai temple festival. I reached his house on North Mada Street at around 8.00 am a day before the festivities began. Ramachandra Iyer was in animated conversation with ten to fifteen of his friends. Those who had never seen me or heard my bhajans were deep in discussion about my music. I felt extremely shy about announcing myself at this juncture and just sat in a corner. Suddenly, lawyer Vaidyanatha Iyer arrived and noticing me asked me as to when I had come. On hearing this, AK Ramachandra Iyer greatly offended and remarking that I ought to have introduced myself instead of sitting like one robbed of speech departed in a huff.

I bathed in the temple tank, worshipped at the temple and returned to the pyol outside Ramachandra Iyer’s house. After half-an-hour, he departed in his car for office. He noticed me as he left and calling the servant instructed him to take me inside and ensure that I was fed. I went inside and was enchanted on seeing the puja room. Ramachandra Iyer’s wife (daughter of the eminent lawyer TR Venkatarama Sastry) was Goddess Lakshmi incarnate and she served me my lunch.

The next day the flag was hoisted at the temple. At 10.00 pm the deities came out in procession. Ramachandra Iyer went to have his darshan and en route asked me as to why I had not gone for the bhajan. I replied that I needed a harmonium. He immediately instructed his servant to accompany me with the harmonium in the house. As soon as the procession began Ramachandra Iyer returned home and retired for the day. At midnight the procession reached his residence and he came out for darshan. Auditor Rajam Iyer called out to him and asked him to come and participate in my bhajan for a little while. “That lunatic perform a bhajan and I to listen to him!” he exclaimed. “He must have gone somewhere.”

“See that crowd at the southern end?” asked Rajam Iyer. “That is Sivan’s bhajanai.”

“Don’t be silly,” came the reply. “That must be the tevara ghoshti”. By that time the tevara ghoshti had reached Ramachandra Iyer’s doorstep. It was a small group of ten to fifteen people only. Seeing this Ramachandra Iyer went in without a word.

Half-an-hour later, my group which was a huge crowd reached his doorstep and hearing the cries of “Hara Hara Mahadeva” Ramachandra Iyer came out en famille and participated in the bhajanai. By the time our group reached the gopuram it was 1.30am. Ramachandra Iyer stayed on till then and walked home with me.

On the third day it was the Adhikara Nandi procession. This time Ramachandra Iyer escorted me with great love. He was greatly devoted to Karpagavalli and Kapali and he looked resplendent with his forehead lined with the sacred ash. The bhajanai began. Many thousands, unmindful of the terrible heat and forgetting their worldly cares, their hunger and thirst stayed on and participated wholeheartedly. In this fashion the bhajanai sessions were held on four days of the festival.

On the ninth day the Bhikshatana procession began at 6.30 pm. I went to Tiruvallikeni and the beach to enjoy some fresh air and returned well after 7.00 pm. The deities had crossed South Mada Street. It was then that I noticed the vast ocean like throng, patiently waiting for the Sivan Bhajani to begin. I was filled with remorse. As if in punishment for my wrongdoing I found my throat had become hoarse and not a note would emerge from it. I shed tears. I prayed to Kapali. I then set the pitch to 4 ½ kattai instead of my usual 4 and began. This worked and it was 12.30am when the mangalam was sung.

After this Ramachandra Iyer fixed concert engagements for me at the residences of TR Venkatarama Sastry, A Rangaswami Iyengar and the Accountant General NV Raghavan. I also sang one evening during the vidayatri festival at the temple. Everywhere rasikas and patrons appreciated me.

After the festival I requested Ramachandra Iyer to give me permission to go back home. Around 20-30 prominent residents of Chennai gathered for my farewell and they all spoke in my praise. I can never forget the words of AK Ramachandra Iyer.

“I had formed a certain mental picture of Papanasam Sivan. He would be around fifty. He would be sporting the sacred ash on his person and several rudraksha malas would adorn his chest. He would be wearing the dhoti in the panchakaccham style and would have the complexion of a ripe gourd. I imagined that he would be accompanied by two or three disciples. My mind refused to accept that this figure, sitting in a corner, clad in a four-cubit dhoti and sans an upper garment or baggage of any sort and for all appearances presenting a picture of a simpleton would be the great Sivan. I dismissed scornfully the idea that this man could perform bhajans. Truly I realise now that his simple appearance and humble ways show him for the great man that he is”.

Ramachandra Iyer gifted me Rs 500 on that occasion. From then on Kapali and Karpagam made me their own and kept me near them. Truly, this has been my greatest fortune.

Celebrating Arcot Road and its environs

Madras Week celebrations, which have been held in August for over six years, are beginning to have an effect. The brainchild of journalist Vincent D’Souza, Madras Week was to celebrate all that is great and glorious in Madras that is Chennai. And ever since Madras Week began, veteran journalist Sashi Nair, has been ensuring that Kodambakkam has been an active participant in the celebrations. He has been consistently organising talks, drawing competitions and story-telling sessions in that area and the venue has always been Hotel Green Park, whose management has been greatly supportive of this effort.

Itwas therefore but natural that a group of people residing in the area have come together to create a group titled Namma Arcot Road, rather on the lines of Namma Mylapore which has been in existence for several years. The latter has it will be remembered been consistently highlighting issues concerning its area of focus, organising events, heritage walks and also along with Mylapore Times, been celebrating the Mylapore Festival each year in January. In short, there is something happening in Mylapore right through the year and not just in August. Namma Arcot Road has a similar agenda.

The idea for Namma Arcot Road came from Binita Sashi and Gargi Advaithi, both residents of the Kodambakkam area. They realised that nothing much by way of events happens in the locality and for pretty much anything cultural they had to brave the traffic and go to Mylapore or Nungambakkam. They then decided to start a movement to bring events to their own doorstep. Sashi, Binita’s husband was all for it and when they approached Vincent, he suggested they call in Namma Arcot Road. With the roping in of a couple of more volunteers- Madhusushan, Rashmi Ramakrishnan and Soundara Rani (of Arcot Road Times), the group was on its way.

On October 2nd, an informal inaugural session was held at Hotel Green Park. The event was compered by well-known story-teller Jeeva Raghunath. Gargi explained the rationale behind the group’s formation. Mrs YG Parthasarathy, the veteran educationalist presided. In her speech she recalled the barren waste that Vadapalani and Kodambakkam were before she set up a branch of her Padma Seshadri school there which catalysed the movement of several families to the neighbourhood. S Muthiah, the chronicler of the city hoped that Namma Arcot Road would begin seriously documenting the history of the area. Film personalities SP Muthuraman, Balu Mahendra and Nasser shared their memories of the studios of the area. The inauguration was preceded by a drawing competition for children who had to sketch their impression of the Kodambakkam-Vadapalani area.

It is to be hoped that Namma Arcot Road will keep its enthusiasm at the same level as was evident at the inauguration and make the area come alive with events and programmes.

This note was written early in October. Since then the group has organised a heritage walk at the Prasad Studios and is also going ahead with a music programme.

Lessons from Seoul on river restoration

The daily press carried reports recently of a Tamil Nadu government delegation to South Korea. This was led by the Deputy Chief Minister and while it was a trade promotion initiative, the team also took time to study the restoration of the Cheonggeycheon River that runs through the capital city of Seoul. The team’s impressions have not been reported, but a perusal of a document released on the restoration by the Seoul Metropolitan Government and available on the web makes it clear that there are some aspects of unlearning that those in authority in Chennai will have to do if the city’s rivers are to benefit from a similar process.

The Cheonggeycheon has in the past suffered a fate that is quite similar to what has happened to Chennai’s waterways- the Cooum, the Adyar and the Buckingham Canal. Once the lifeline around which the city developed, it began to see the settlement of displaced and landless farmers along its banks during the Japanese occupation in the first part of the 20th century. The banks of the river became slums and the waterway itself was converted into a drain and became notorious for the spreading of infections. Even during the Japanese occupation, work began on covering a part of the river and while this was abandoned in the years following the liberation of the country and subsequent Korean War, it was taken up once again in right earnest in the late 1950s. In 1967 it was decided to build an elevated, six kilometre four-lane two-way highway on it. A 11km drain was laid below the highway and pipes and conduits, respectively for water and electricity have also been laid below it.

In the 1990s, the structure supporting the highway was found to have developed cracks and work on it. Despite work continuing till 2003, certain safety-critical aspects could not be ensured and that is when the idea came up of dismantling the entire highway and restoring the river to its original glory. The project, now envisages doing away with the entire highway, putting the service facilities below the river bed level or along the sides and recreating the stream. Like Chennai’s rivers, the Cheonggeycheon is also not a perennial one and so efforts are on to get recycled water to provide continuous flow. The required levels of oxygen in the water to support aquatic life will be monitored on a continuous basis.

The project moreover is not one that is looking at the river’s restoration in isolation. As it passes through one of the most congested commercial districts of Seoul, more than 4000 interviews and public consultations were held before the project took wing. Street vendors and those whose establishments were earmarked for demolition were encouraged to move to a new location where facilities were built and made ready before the shift, so as to ensure minimum dislocation in trade and therefore revenue to the Government. A vast stadium was also converted into a shopping complex as part of the project. In addition, those who drove to work in the area were encouraged to take bus transport and if that was not possible, were given parking facilities at some distance from the river. What is important is that shuttle buses were provided from the parking lot to the downtown area near the river-front.

The project is of course not anywhere near completion and will take a few years more. But the Government’s vision is to transform Seoul from a grey city filled with concrete to a green one. Walks and pathways along the river, with special access for the physically challenged are on the anvil.

The Government in Chennai needs to mull over these points if it is to take a leaf or two from Seoul. The MRTS has already truncated the Buckingham Canal and rendered it useless as even a storm-water drain, leave alone as a navigable canal. Pillars to support elevated roads are being planned on the Adyar and the Cooum. Contrast this with what is happening in Seoul. Can we not hope for some futuristic and holistic thinking?

Ariyakkudi T Ramanuja Iyengar

“Iyengar” in Carnatic music has always meant Ariyakkudi. He was hailed in his times as the ‘golden mean’ of Carnatic music and as the senior most among all musicians. He stood for dignity and presented music that was brevity personified and yet had condensed in it all that was essential for a good performance. His was a rich voice, deep and with a tremolo that added to its timbre. A greatly respected guru, he left behind several disciples many of whom became popular musicians. He set Andal’s Tiruppavai to music, besides composing a few tillanas himself. He was in short an all rounder, a ‘compleat’ musician.

Ramanuja Iyengar was born on May 19th, 1890 to Tiruvengadam Iyengar and Chellammal at Ariyakkudi village. The father was an astrologer and from a reading of his son’s horoscope predicted that he would shine in music. He was initially apprenticed under Pudukottai Malayappa Iyer and later under Namakkal Narasimha Iyengar when the latter was residing in Srirangam. When he was around 16, Ramanujam heard the great star of the times, Ramanathapuram ‘Poochi’ Srinivasa Iyengar perform at a concert and became his student. He did gurukulavasam and at the age of 23, at a wedding in a Chettiar family at Devakottai, had his debut concert. A concert opportunity at the Tiruvayyaru Tyagaraja Aradhana came in the following year and from then on there was no looking back. Ariyakkudi however never gave up learning. Legend has it that he practised the veena under the guidance of the Karaikkudi Brothers so that he could perfect his gamakas. He also learnt songs from Veena Dhanammal and many attributed his short but comprehensive alapanas to being influenced by her style.

Ariyakkudi created a concert style for himself which involved beginning with a varnam, singing many songs, short raga alapanas preceding some of them, niraval and swaras again within limits for many pieces, followed by the ragam tanam pallavi which again did not last more than half an hour at most. He followed the rtp with many small pieces from the Tiruppugazh and other Tamizh works. He also invariably sang tillanas composed by his guru at the end of the concert. This pattern soon became the rage and it was soon demanded from all other musicians as well and is followed religiously till date.

Ariyakkudi reached the top of his profession by the early 1930s. The stage at that time had emptied of stalwarts such as Madurai Pushpavanam Iyer, Konerirajapuram Vaidyanatha Iyer and his own guru Poochi Iyengar. Audiences loved his new style of singing, his winsome personality and his dignified humour and flocked to his concerts. Beginning from then, he remained at the top of his profession till his passing in 1967. By the 1930s, his busy concert schedules necessitated his leaving his family comprising wife Ponnammal and daughters Janaki and Lakshmi in his native village and migrating to Kumbhakonam then pretty much the centre for culture and music. By then a fairly large number of disciples had apprenticed themselves under him and they took care of his needs. In particular, three disciples of his B Rajam Iyer, KV Narayanaswami and Madurai N Krishnan were to become really famous. The household ran on the pattern of the traditional gurukula and most disciples involved themselves in daily chores in addition to learning music from the master.

A top ranking artiste such as he naturally got the best of accompanists, but over the years it was Papa KS Venkataramiah who played the violin most often for him, though Kumbhakonam Rajamanikkam Pillai, T Chowdiah and later TN Krishnan and Lalgudi Jayaraman also accompanied him. As for mridangists, his choice was well known – after Pudukottai Dakshinamoorthy Pillai it was always Palghat Mani Iyer, unless an alternative was unavoidable. Mani Iyer and Ariyakkudi comprised an exclusive mutual admiration society and the association was to remain intact till Ariyakkudi’s death.

Ramanuja Iyengar was a man who believed in dignity and stood for by his principles. During the Tamizh Isai movement of the 1940s, he, despite being a voluntary and perhaps one of the earliest proponents of Tamizh songs, refused to bow to the diktat of the Tamizh Isai Sangam that all concerts in Madras Presidency ought to comprise Tamizh songs alone. This meant he stood aloof from the influential Sangam and several of its powerful members all of whom were his patrons. They relented in the 1950s and accepted that songs in other languages could also be sung during concerts organized by them and he then performed for them. He later became Principal of the Music College run by the Sangam. In later years he also had such stand offs with the Music Academy, the RR Sabha and the All India Radio. Ultimately he won on almost all counts; such was his personality and crowd pulling power.

Ariyakkudi was widely feted wherever he went. He received several prestigious titles such as the Sangita Ratnakara (1932, Vellore Sangeeta Sabha) and the Gayaka Shikhamani (1946, Mysore Maharajah). In 1938, he was invited to preside over the annual conference of the Music Academy, Madras and in 1942 when the Academy instituted the title of Sangita Kalanidhi, he, like all past presidents of the Annual Conference was invested with the same. In 1952, he and Karaikkudi Sambasiva Iyer, became the first musicians to receive the Govt. of India’s Presidents Award (now the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award). That year he was honoured in a different way by the Paramacharya of Kanchi. The seer expounded the inner meaning of the Muttuswami Dikshitar kriti – Shri Subramanyaya Namaste in a exclusive session lasting an hour and more. Ramanuja Iyengar, who was known for his rendition of the kriti, felt that this was the highest honour he could ever receive.

The Paramacharya had earlier initiated Ariyakkudi into an interesting project, that of setting Andal’s Tiruppavai to music. He began the activity in 1945 and completed it in 1950 and performed for two successive days at the Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha in Triplicane and the concert bill of fare on both days comprised Tiruppavais alone. In the same year, his 60th birthday too came about and was celebrated with special felicitation programmes all over the country.

Ramanuja Iyengar moved base permanently to Madras city in the 1950s and his house on Devanathan Street, Mylapore was so famous that the bus halt there was referred to as Ariyakkudi by commuters and state transport employees alike. He was to live there for the rest of his life. In 1963, a grand function took place at the Rajaji Hall, Madras on his completing 50 years in the service of music. The Maharajah of Mysore presided over the function. Ramanuja Iyengar began suffering from ill health in 1966 and after a brief but painful illness passed away on 23rd January 1967 at his residence. It was as if a large tree that had sheltered Carnatic music under it, had suddenly been axed. The Ariyakkudi bhani however survived thanks to his numerous disciples and so has the concert style he created.

In 1990, when his birth centenary was observed, TS Balakrishna Sastrigal composed a ragamalika in his praise and this was made popular by Ariyakkudi’s disciple KV Narayanaswami. A postage stamp commemorating Ariyakkudi was later released. Today, this maestro lives on in our memories, thanks to numerous recordings of his that have survived. His continuing popularity shows that he was an artiste of the highest calibre and class. He was also a fine human being who in the process of living well, never wished ill of others.

This was a sleeve note written to accompany a 3 CD pack of the maestro released by Charsur Digital Workstation

An old Higginbothams Ad

I found this ad stuck to the cover of a book in a second-hand shop. The book, Mayne’s Hindu Law was of the 1878 edition which is the 1st one. I did not need the book, but bought it just for the ad! The shop in the picture must be the earlier outlet before the store moved to its present location in 1904

Other Cities Show the Way on Heritage

Madras that is Chennai may be home to many firsts but when it comes to heritage it is quite clear that other cities of India, including smaller ones such as Ahmedabad and Hyderabad, have stolen a considerable lead over it. That at least was the picture that emerged at a seminar on Conservation of Heritage Buildings and Precincts in the Chennai Metropolitan Area, organised by the Chennai Metropolitan Development Corporation.

While the home team, as represented by members of the Heritage Conservation Committee and the CMDA did not exactly cover themselves in glory and restricted themselves to mouthing platitudes, representatives of civic bodies and planning agencies of other cities presented with considerable pride what had been achieved at their end.

Ahmedabad’s record was clearly the most impressive. Not only was that city the first in India to establish a heritage cell within the Corporation but it also listed as many as 2000 buildings listed as heritage structures under various grades and these were brought under specially framed rules of the Corporation in 2008. The entire walled city, which spans an area of 5 sq km has been declared a heritage precinct and extensive documentation is now ongoing on the various pols, perhaps the earliest instance of a gated community, that dot the city. In order to promote public awareness, the Corporation under a specially designated officer in charge of the heritage cell, has been conducting heritage walks for over 15 years. These are entirely run by volunteers. This has resulted in enormous enthusiasm among the owners of some of the heritage buildings along the route and they have even printed brochures on the histories of their respective properties. One of the awed participants in the walk one year was the French Ambassador to India who initiated a collaborative exercise between his country and the Gujarat government to revitalise the walled city. The Corporation, realising that owners of heritage buildings are often hard-pressed for funds to carry out renovations, has signed up with HUDCO and the latter organisations offer loans to owners at reduced rates of interest. In order to enthuse the younger generation, books have been brought out for children on the city’s heritage. There is continuous contact with media and documentaries have been made on the city by National Geographic and other channels. All these steps have enthused the real estate lobby, traditionally viewed as anti-heritage. Some of the developers are adopting heritage buildings and maintaining them at their own expense.

In Mysore, the Department of Archaeology, Museums and Heritage is working on getting six towns – Bidar, Bijapur, Gulbarga, Kittur, Srirangapatna and Mysore as heritage precincts. Heritage rules have been drafted and an amendment to the Urban Town and Country Planning Act is amended to effect a Heritage Act. Within Mysore town, 200 buildings are listed and there is an effort ongoing to restore the surroundings of these buildings with period iron seats, lamp-posts and grilles. Steps are being taken to get UNESCO to extend its protection to some of Mysore’s famed intangible aspects of heritage – the Dussehra, the Mysore mallige (jasmine), sandal, silks and others. The department has an enviable budget of Rs 100 crores to carry out its tasks.

Kolkata has 917 listed heritage buildings under four categories. The city passed a Heritage Act in 1997 and this was later extended to cover the whole state. The Kolkata Municipal Corporation has Director-General in charge of its heritage cell. This cell has the right to declare a building as a heritage structure. The KMC clearly lists out rights and responsibilities of owners of heritage buildings and also funds their maintenance under grants based on applications whose merits are adjudged by a committee. Property Tax is charged at reduced rates for heritage properties and such buildings are often allowed to change their status – for example from residential to commercial to enable better revenue generation. The entire central business district of Dalhousie Square is now being taken up for restoration and the School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi is studying it.

The capital city of Delhi has a plethora of monuments and also as many as 16 civic bodies, government departments and institutions that claim jurisdiction over several of the heritage buildings. It took a battle of 10 years for the New Delhi Municipal Corporation to notify its list of 100 heritage buildings but the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, which has the larger share of historical structures is yet to do so. But there is a clear route for protection of most structures with the Urban Arts Commission playing an important role.

Hyderabad has 151 listed heritage buildings and 30 precincts, including its famous rock formations. This city was one of the first to have a heritage movement, as early as 1975. The Heritage Conservation Committee was formed in 1999 and together with the Hyderabad Urban Development Authority, it is now involved in putting up informative plaques at various locations in the city. Efforts are on to declare the Charminar area a pedestrian zone.

All speakers listed certain common problems- the problem of funding was one and it was pointed out that the benefits owners of heritage properties get by way of tax waivers is a pittance compared to the money they will earn by redevelopment. This is a major issue and there is no clear answer to it. The much-touted transfer of development rights is not the panacea it is believed to be and there are several problems associated with its administration. Lastly, no city except Kolkata really has a heritage act and so a sudden rethink by any government can mean that protection could be withdrawn from all buildings.

While these issues do exist, what is clear is that other cities have stolen a march on Chennai. Can our CMDA and HCC make up for lost time?

A Tamil Tribute to Muttuswami Dikshitar

The Tamil Isai Movement

To Carnatic music audiences of today, Tamil is as musical a language as any of the others in which compositions were created – Telugu, Kannada, Sanskrit or Malayalam. Yet there was a time when the language was considered unsuitable for Carnatic music. The belief, widespread till the 1940s, did not come about suddenly. It was an offshoot of the history of South India. Several music lovers were concerned over the secondary status given to Tamil and it was left to the business baron Raja Sir Annamalai Chettiar to correct this wrong. He, through the Music College of the Annamalai University of which he was the founder, called for a conference to discuss the status of Tamil as a music language.

It was at this juncture that an announcement appeared in The Hindu dated 28th July 1941 under the caption “Encouragement of Tamil Songs”. The Annamalai University Syndicate had “approved a scheme for the composition of new Tamil songs and the popularisation of old songs”. The announcement stated that “a conference of votaries of music in this part of the country will be held .. in August and all that songs that will be sung there will be in Tamil only.”

On August 3rd, 1941, Tiger K Varadachariar, Principal, Music College, Annamalainagar wrote to The Hindu, giving details of the conference, scheduled to begin on the 14th of August, in which several prominent musicians were participating. The conference began with a concert by Ariyakkudi Ramanuja Iyengar accompanied by Kumbhakonam Rajamanikkam Pillai and Palani Subramania Pillai. The Subjects Committee of the Conference convened at 1.00 pm that afternoon with T Lakshmana Pillai presiding. The list of attendees was a veritable who’s who of Carnatic Music. Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavatar dominated the show and ended it with a discourse on the “Greatness of Tamil Music and its Songs.”

The conference concluded on the 17th of August and its resolutions were published in The Hindu dated 19th. The second of three resolutions sparked off a major controversy. This read “The Sangeetha Sabhas (are) to arrange kacheries in such a way that the songs were in Tamil and that only a minor portion of the kacheri was devoted to songs in other languages.” Several musicians and music lovers felt that this spelt an end to the songs of the Carnatic Trinity and other great composers. Curiously, Ariyakkudi who had until then been singing more Tamil songs in his concerts than any other musician, strongly opposed the resolution too.

The Music Academy and the Indian Fine Arts Society became the rallying points for those opposed to this agenda of Tamilisation. Bitter battles were fought in the press with columns, articles and letters appearing in The Hindu and in Tamil magazines such as Ananda Vikatan and the newly founded Kalki. The latter’s eponymous editor was a staunch supporter of Tamil Isai. On 19th June 1943, Raja Sir Annamalai Chettiar founded a new body to propagate Tamil songs and at the instance of Rajaji named it the Tamil Isai Sangam. It was to have branches in several towns including Madras, Madurai and Devakottai. In December 1943, the Sangam held its own music conference, in parallel to those of the Music Academy and the Indian Fine Arts Society. Artistes such as MS Subbulakshmi, MK Tyagaraja Bhagavatar, KB Sundarambal, GN Balasubramaniam and Madurai Mani Iyer, sang for the Sangam. This caused much resentment at the older Sabhas, but with time attitudes softened on both sides and each came to respect the sentiments of the other. The Music Academy increased the percentage of Tamil songs in its concerts and the Tamil Isai Sangam relaxed its rigid attitude that only Tamil songs could be sung under its portals.

During the early days of the movement, a challenge often posed to the Tamil Isai lobbyists was the absence of a large repertoire of Tamil songs with authentic notations. The works of early composers largely survived as lyrics, sans music. Several top-ranking musicians then worked on setting these songs to tunes. The works of Subramania Bharati, already very popular owing to the ongoing struggle for the country’s freedom, began to be frequently sung in concerts. Composers such as Anai-Ayya, who were contemporaries of Tyagaraja began to receive their due in concerts. Papanasam Sivan, who was making a name for himself as a music composer both in the world of films and classical music became a very popular name. Mayavaram Viswanatha Sastry was another composer who did yeoman service to the cause of Tamil songs. He had been discovered by the Music Academy in the 1930s when he won the first prize for a competition on songs with a nationalistic theme. He went on to create several Tamil songs and emerged a vaggeyakara of the highest order. Yet another Tamil Isai find was MM Dandapani Desigar. Hailing from a family of Oduvars, he became a Carnatic musician who not only set several existing Tamil songs to music but also became a composer. He later headed the Music Department at the Annamalai University. Some others whose creations became popular at this time included the composer Koteeswara Iyer and the lyricist Periasami Thooran. In addition, songs of the Azhwars and Nayanmars began to be set to music. Guruvayur Ponnammal, a singer of yesteryear and better known now as the sister of the mridangam maestro Guruvayur Dorai, set to music the poems of the savant Ramalinga Swamigal.

The Tamil Isai Sangam built a handsome edifice for itself in the Esplanade area of Madras in the 1950s. Fronting it is a statue of its founder. The auditorium remains a popular venue for fine art performances even today and each year in December, it hosts the Tamil Isai Sangam’s music festival where lecture sessions are held in the morning and concerts at night. Today, the Sangam is almost the sole body espousing the cause of Carnatic music in North Chennai.

Sanjay Subrahmanyan is an artiste who apart from his excellence as a singer is known for his extensive repertoire of Tamil songs. In this album, we feature a concert of his that was performed at the Tamil Isai Sangam in December 2009.

This was written as the sleeve note for the Charsur release of a live concert of Sanjay Subrahmanyan’s at the Tamil Isai Sangam during the December Music Season of 2009

Short and Snappy dated 1st November 2010

Of Horns, Red Lights and Government Cars

A friend who has recently returned from a foreign clime was recently sharing his experiences with the Man from Madras Musings. The city that he visited belongs to a country much richer than ours, having become wealthy thanks to oil. And that city too has traffic jams, just like what we have in Chennai. It also has a large Indian population. Yet says the friend, what surprised him the most was the way our people behave themselves on the roads there. The complete silence that prevailed at traffic signals made for a very peaceful experience says MMM’s friend. On hearing this, MMM could not help but reflect on the sad way in which we conduct ourselves, especially at traffic hold-ups. Those at the rear think that by tooting continuously on the horn all bottlenecks will ease. And once the traffic light changes to green, it is the driver of the vehicle that is right at the back who is the loudest, encouraging those ahead to move on so that he does not miss his turn before the lights change. Not that such an eventuality deters our friend. It is probably only in Chennai that vehicle users assume that they have a few seconds extra time to negotiate a junction after the lights have turned to red. All that needs to be done is to accelerate to the maximum extent possible and charge ahead. And in case others have not noticed, the simple tactic of keeping the hand firmly pressed on the horn ensures that such a racket is created that everyone moves out of the way.

The cars with red lights are a class by themselves. The drivers of such vehicles believe that they have only lane for themselves – that on the extreme right side. And they keep their foot only on the accelerator, the brake being very rarely used and as for the hand, it is firmly pressed on the horn. And what with the swirling red light, the glowering security guards and the auxiliary vehicles, it all makes for a frightening combination. And taking of red light, the only ones such vehicles recognise are the ones on themselves. The other red light, which exists at traffic signals and which is supposed to turn green to allow vehicles to move is not recognised by these VIP cars at all. Such lights are meant for the common man/woman, not for demi-gods who go around in vehicles with red light bulbs flashing at the top.

As if these trappings of office are not enough, we now have designations and the official status of the panjandrum inside the vehicle prominently displayed on the outside. That is for those around to recognise who is inside and move away in deference. But some of these plaques make MMM suspect their genuineness. The other day he saw one that simply bore the legend “CHAIRMAN”. But of what it did not say. Could it be that some private sector mogul had decided to adopt the same tactics as our Government servants?

But all that pales into insignificance when compared to the vehicle which sports an additional legend that states that the vehicle is on urgent Government duty. As the two words are completely contradictory and together could be classified as an oxymoron, MMM has never believed that such vehicles could really be rushing off to attend an emergency of sorts. And his suspicions were confirmed when the other day he did see such a vehicle rushing ahead. MMM followed, and then discovered that the vehicle belonged to a Government department that dealt in fish. Perhaps it was carrying the catch of the day and needed to deliver it before the fish began to rot.

Gifts Galore

But let us turn to cheerier topics. It is that time of the year when the festival of nine nights is celebrated and women from all over town are zipping hither and thither, in response to invitations for kolu, the display of clay dolls. The good lady who has committed to staying by the side of the Man from Madras Musings through thick and thin (and surely sick and sin) is among these frequent flyers and while MMM is all for her travel (provided he is not asked to chauffeur her), what he objects to are the gifts that are given on these occasions. One household gave plastic combs, another distributed buckets. A third gave kumkum containers made of metal which when opened carelessly could give a vicious cut with every danger of leading to tetanus. To what purpose such excrescences? MMM is waiting for the day when CDs containing pirated versions of films will be given as gifts.

The story of a book

A hallowed institution of the city is due to celebrate its sesquicentennial a couple of years from now. The Man from Madras Musings learns that there is considerable speculation as to whether a book will be brought out to commemorate this. MMM also wonders if any attempt will be made to bring out a volume of the same standard as the one that was produced to commemorate the same institution’s centenary. Copies of that publication are almost impossible to get now with even the institution’s library copy having gone AWOL. Having come to know that measures are afoot at the institution to acquire a copy, MMM alerted the powers-that-be of a second-hand bookshop that possessed one. The purchase was made and it was only then that it was discovered that this copy was that institution’s official library copy and had been disposed off as unwanted some years ago. Surely what you win on the swing you lose on the roundabout. But so much for our sense of history. MMM also learns that this is a malaise that is sweeping across several of the city’s libraries. Books that are not borrowed often are deemed unwanted and sold as waste paper. That some of these may be priceless reference volumes is not being thought of by anyone.

Road repairs

What do you do when your road is battered after the rains and you are unable to convince the PWD or the Corporation to do anything about it? The Man from Madras Musings hears that the residents of an upmarket road had been trying their level best to get someone in authority to come and check out the abysmal condition of their thoroughfare. Nothing happened till a VIP (and a very very high up one at that) grandchild had her ear-piercing ceremony at a hotel on the same road which meant doting grandpa was also on his way. Within no time road rollers were summoned, gangs worked three shifts and the road was smoothened to perfection. Now for all of you out there who live besides pot-holed roads, here is your chance. Get together and build a five star hotel and then get VIP grandchildren to celebrate events there.

The absent rain

Pot holes remind the Man from Madras Musings of the rains of which there is very little at this time. A communiqué from the Met Department, as reported in the papers, blamed it all on lack of clouds. Trust them to come up with something original.

The Sad State of Bharath Insurance Building

After the High Court of Madras ordered that the building cannot be demolished, the LIC has decided to take the matter to the Supreme Court. In the meanwhile, thanks to the botched up attempt at demolition by LIC, which led to the court case in the first place, the building has been without a roof for several years. But such is the strength of the construction that it is still standing. And it is for this structure that the Corporation has gladly given a worthy of demolition certificate! The Heritage Conservation Committee appointed by the Government of Tamil Nadu continues to hibernate