start off - margazhi 2010

In what other better way I can start telling about myself  _

More than passion, more than a yearning, it’s definitely something else, something more .. My vocabulary is of course limited . It’s been 6 years when classical music entered me right away cutting me in.

Something I always feel should happened much earlier.

I like carnatic music !! I love it indeed .

 For the bliss it gives. 

That I can sing along and find myself lost into it.

 From the attractive album covers to the all-glossy classical costumes, tamburas, mridangams...

From the sabhas that exude a combination class and devotion 

To the maamas and maamis who attend the concert!! Love em all J  

This Saturday concert was nothing less than a wow. I was indeed surprised when I attended this concert during the December season.

After seeing the sabha hall, the perfectly arranged decors on the stage – “why on earth didn’t they even ticket it?”

 Music is after all something more.

Before everything, thank you Praveen. It would not have been any better if it weren't for you.

We thought we should be there way early to the start, to “catch” the right places to sit, the concert being free. We reached the hall around 5 in the evening. Not realising that another veena recital has been scheduled then. People started pouring in (literally man!) 

And which kid wouldn’t want an extra bar of chocolate?

Mr. Kannan on the veena. Somehow I found his expressions so cute and chubby, when he was trying to acknowledge the mridangam artist as he was playing the beats. “aam, adhan adhan  ...”

All of a sudden, he was beaming with enthusiasm like never before: D

Realised quite soon when I spotted the photographer that side.

We wait for him to finish, he doesn’t. He says he feels blessed to play in the vicinity of shree kalekaambal and sree kapaleeshwarar. ‘Mylapore kapaleeshwarar temple’ did ring a bell.

Finally the screen drops. Not more than 10 mines, as we were busy quibbling about arjun’s message, the screen opens. And we drop our jaws to a silence as the ever charming lady welcomes us with a characteristic smile.

All clad in purple and gold, she started off – what I later understood was a marathon concert (at least for meJ) 

Times when the whole hall were tapping their hands in unison , counting the beats for the ragam thaalam pallavi  RTP , people reacting to the extra feel imparted to some lines with an “aaha .. cha”, makes the live concert unique .

 Then comes the thukkada session, she sings a sai baba krithi and everyone s already reached shirdi. ‘Reportedly’, arjun got goose bumps .

I was able to follow some of the popular songs like enna thavam seithanai . The maami at the back of my seat was getting high hearing this song. “enna oru line .. enna oru line” she kept on repeating.

Leaving us super saturated with madhura, she signs off. A lady immediately got up, did a pooja for the kalinga narasimhar over the stage.

Soon, the maamis crowded the exit with the usual and stereotypical questions

“Pudavai pala palannu irukke ” .     Obviously no post concert meet will attain completion without this comment – I felt.

 “Nalla elechiteel... Secret engallukkum sollakoodatha?” a 60 yr old in a very genuine tone. I dint choose to figure out why she wants to get lean any more.

“Necklace. . Eppo vanganathu ?”  “Pathu varusham munaadiya ? Innum palichunnu irukke ”

Slowly the young pop out with their autograph diaries . She fills the whole page with her wishes and sign , be it a foolscap note book or a small pad .  I have already got one the first time I met her two years back . 

Now all I wanted to was to ask her how the jazz fusion concert went the day before. And get a snap done for Praveen and arjun . Praveen honourably chose to click the pics rather.

 Finally a guy runs up to me with his email id asking me to send him the pic . Obviously he was also caught in the frame .

“Are you sure you will send it ? ”  He asked it more than 10 times in all different ways as we move out . I couldn’t help but smile . He was not at all any different from the all excited kid running around narada gana sabha, two years back, to find out from where sudha comes out and trying to teach geetha aunty how to take a photo .