Tuesday, October 7, 2008

The chit that prompted me to write the following:





I gave a concert the day before yesterday at Nerul,Mumbai. After the concert,I got a chit,in which someone had asked me to write about this concert on my blog.Well, that was indeed heartening and here I am, ready to give a detailed version of the concert on Sunday ! Also, there were atleast three others who came upto me,told me about their frequent visits to my blog and promised to keep in touch through this wonderful medium!

The moment I entered the Uttara Kamakshi temple, I got to see the wonderful display of dolls as part of their Navarathri celebrations. It was a great sight to see the rows and rows of lamps being lit and the dolls displayed at the other end.
(Collecting different kinds of dolls for Navarathri has been one of my hobbies-I shall very soon write on the same and describe the Kolu that I keep at home every year..)
As I was keenly looking at the Kolu there,the Vilakku Puja doll set there caught my eye ! (This is something new and I am sure to go hunting for it next year, to add to my collection !)

After this, we got to see a marvellous collection of very rare photographs of Kanchi Maha Periava. Being an ardent devotee of the great saint, I remained awestruck looking at the photos and had to gently remind myself that I had to go and commence my concert shortly !

With a sense of contentment (in Tamil, we say "neranja manasoda") I got onto the stage. I could see a great audience in front of me.There were lots of other devotees too,waiting in line, to have a darshan of Devi Kamakshi.

After about one or two songs, the skies opened up. Oh boy! was this an ordinary downpour?? No, it poured and poured for more than ninety minutes with thunder and streaks of lightning. What made the occasion extra special was that the concert was held on the open lawns, on one side of the main sanctum sanctorum, with only a roof above the stage and the audience! Both sides were open and due to the strong winds, there used to be an occasional cool drizzle coming on to my face too ! I remember this happening twice, once while I was singing Amba Neelayathakshi(Neelambari) and again when I was singing the Kamalamba Navavarna Kriti in Punnagavarali.

This kind of heavy downpour hardly distracted the audience. Not one person stirred out of his/her place in search of shelter- shows how committed they were..

Throughout the concert, I felt as if it were the Rain Gods blessing all of us from the skies- this was such a divine atmosphere, wish I could describe it more poetically !!!

It was around 9.15 p.m, when I sang "Chandiran Oliyil Avalai Kanden" in Chandrakouns. As I was singing, I looked at the moonlit,serene sky and could feel the intensity and deep emotion embedded in these verses. What a great composer Mahakavi Subramanya Bharathi has been !

In all, a great experience for me ! After the concert I reached the hotel around 11 p.m and could hardly sleep till 2 a.m- kept looking at the ceiling and my thoughts went back to the concert, the lovely atmosphere and so on. Was up by 4 a.m to take the 6 a.m flight. And here I am, back in (my dear) Chennai !

8 comments:

Sathej said...

Thats a nice post! Poignant - especially the concluding paragraphs :) Nice to know that your concert went well.Btw, TNS too sang Amba Neelayadakshi here in Chennai the same day :)
Sathej

Anonymous said...

Hey,

Thank you for making that "chit" comment. My wife is indeed surprised to see this kind of connection, at this age! So far, she was not so keen on reading blog....I hope, she will soon pickup my laptop and browse through...

And,thank you for complimenting us - The crowd of Nerul SIES. I must tell you - this is my third consecutive year of catching front row.....Indeed its a wonderful place, excellent audience and (no words to express!) Artists. Wow, we are not missing Chennai.

Thank you No 3: For that patience, even when it was pouring heavily - without distraction, you came back. "gun voice" as we say, was even more audible than that thunder showers.

Hats off.....Keep flying high.

Kameshwara Sharma

Gayathri Girish said...

Hi,
Thanks for your compliments ! I just wrote whatever I truly felt during the concert. And yes, I found the Nerul audience truly committed..

About me not being distracted by the downpour,thunder and lightning, I in fact enjoyed singing in this kind of atmosphere. Not once did I find it disturbing.

I was silently praying that I shouldn't experience an electrical shock from the mike and its attached wires which had got completely drenched :-)

Gayathri

Padma said...

What a beautiful description...Well thanks to my work i missed it...And after reading it here I am sad one more good opportunity lost...It was indeed kind of you to put in your experience here on rasikas request...I am sure people would have been glued to the seat because of your music...Keep writing and all the best to all forthcoming concerts

Anonymous said...

I was one of the lucky many who were present at this divine concert of yours at Nerul.
Oh yes ! the rasikas under the temporary shamiana vividly felt the vibrant vibrations of beautiful Mahisasura Mardhini , nee Kamakshi amman descending on to the pandal to listen to your renditions of Her praise, as composed by scholarly poets and musicians.
Really you deserve all Her Grace and rasikas greetings in all time to come !
Sukanya Viswanathan

Anonymous said...

wow, sounds amazing indeed. I can just imagine the environment. I wonder if you had sung Amritavarshini raaga, what the effect would have been.
Pushkala, currently in california

Unknown said...

Hi...This being my first comments to your post...
Yep i was one of those who had joined lately and it was worth getting myself drenched and hearing you sing...
I had two reasons to attend, firstly its being you, whom i have always been a good fan right from my 11th std and secondly it was my violin sir Mr. SVR playing over the violin..
I really enjoyed the Saveri Section...Do keep up the good work...and have you posted abt ur concert in BARC-Mumbai...in which i attended and was treated with Panthuvarali-siva siva...

Gayathri Girish said...

Hi Pravin,

I have not written separately about my concert at BRRS, Chembur which took place on the 9th of November.

But there is a post titled "Inspiring TV Interviews" (under label:My experiences) dated November 11th. This is about what I saw on TV soon after this above-mentioned concert.

Rasikas who attended this concert have given their comments under this post.

Gayathri