The Navarathri Festival

This might be a slightly offbeat post, but nevertheless thought I would write about it, as promised in one of my earlier posts..

As early as September every year, I get very excited and active about getting the dolls ready for the Navarathri Kolu at home.

From my childhood we have had this habit of keeping a very grand Kolu at home and my mother always comes up with innovative ideas every year. During our school days, it would be theme parks and zoos, mythological stories and what not !!

This festival, according to me, is not just a mere display of dolls, if one wants to do a real good job of it. Its not as simple as some might think it to be..Lots of planning goes into it, its about collecting nice dolls over the years and maintaining them properly.

If one chooses to exhibit a thematic display, I think the real challenge lies in using the same sets of dolls in many different ways each year and showing one's creativity. After all, one can't keep buying dolls every year for every theme !

Buying the right kind of dolls is another art by itself. One has to look for nice features carved on the dolls, pleasant colors, the right sizes so that,when they are displayed, there is a sense of proportion and symmetry.

The real work is only after the festival, when the dolls have to be carefully packed, cartons to be labelled and safely stacked away.

I attempt a detailed and meticulously planned Kolu at home, with a different theme every year. My kids are equally enthusiastic and help me a lot in their own ways! My 6-yr old son proudly and promptly displays lots of his cars (of course only after I promise him that I would safely hand them over back to him later :-) ), his airport set, train set and his building blocks ! My 9-yr old daughter does a lot of crafts and handwork and she has a separate display of her work. This is of course in addition to the separate section of her (never-ending) list of Barbie dolls being displayed !!

I am sharing with all of you a few photos of this year's Kolu and also a few photos taken during Navarathri in 2005.

This year's theme was Arupadai Veedu of Lord Muruga. In addition to the traditional Kolu, we had kept all dolls pertaining to the Arupadai Veedu Kshetras, namely, Tirupparankunram, Tiruchendur, Palani, Swamimalai, Tiruttani and Pazhamudircholai :









The glass painting of Muruga and the peacock that you see here, done out of colorful ribbons was done by my daughter this year, specially for this theme:




The theme in 2005 was Ganesh Darshan. That year, we had displayed Lord Ganesha in different forms:



These forms of Ganesha on different mediums (like embossed painting, on foil, leaf Ganesha, Ganesha done with pulses and so on) were done by my daughter. She had worked hard on this for almost a year !:






This was the underwater Rangoli that she had done :




In addition to the display of dolls, Navarathri is a special occasion to offer our prayers to the Goddess, invite friends and offer Tambulam to ladies. This has been part of our Indian tradition for many many years now.

Next year I am planning to come up with an altogether different and exciting theme !

My recent visit to M.S.Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF):

Dr.M.S.Swaminathan has been one of my role models since the time I have known him personally- for his utmost dedication to his work.

He has done yeoman service in the field of Bio-Technology, Food security and supporting the lives of the poor in rural India. I am in no way qualified to even write about this great personality and each time I meet him, I look upon him with great respect. What dedication and passion towards his chosen field of work !

I have had the fortune of singing the prayer song on several important occasions at his Institute and each time I enter the campus, the faculty members are all there to welcome everyone with a beaming smile ! And one feels so much at home there!

A sentence or two about the Conference Hall, which is where these meetings are held and where I have been singing each time-this room has positive vibrations and the minute I enter the room, I can feel them ! As one sits there, the immortal music of MS Amma gets played at a very soft decibel level and I am sure everyone's mind gets calmed down on listening to Maithreem Bhajatha and the Meera Bhajans.

His field of work has always fascinated me and on each occasion, I have always made it a point to stay there for some time after my initial duty of singing the Prayer, listen to a bit of all the achievements of this great institution and then leave with all those inspiring thoughts fresh in my mind.

We are all endowed with different qualities,talents and traits- Dr.MSS is one person who has very beautifully, meaningfully carved out his life and this,along with his humility, are the qualities that have always inspired me.

I had recently been there to render the Invocation song for the Founder's Day celebrations and here are a couple of pictures taken on that occasion:

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 !

My special notebook of Basic Swara Exercises

A few days back when I was teaching my daughter to sing fundamental Swara exercises, I suddenly remembered having maintained a notebook of such exercises as a student, when I was undergoing lessons in violin from none other than Lalgudi Sri.Jayaraman !

With so much excitement I took the book and started reading it page after page(I still remember- it was only then that I had started using a fountain pen and hence was very excited about writing on each page with a pen :-)).

Now for a brief description of those memorable days:

I was very fortunate to have had foundation lessons in violin playing from the maestro.
We were living inside the IIT Campus and I used to take a PTC bus( Bus 5B)from IIT to T.Nagar. We were always supposed to play only with our own violins, so I used to carry it with great care for each class !

Class sessions not only included playing, but also sitting postures, holding the violin and the bow properly, proper facial expressions during playing and so on ! I used to shake like a leaf standing in front of him ! He always used to pose small riddles and mathematical puzzles and would expect immediate and accurate answers ! I continued lessons with Shri.Nagarajan (disciple of Lalgudi Mama) and once in two weeks, I had to play all the lessons in front of Lalgudi Mama !
These classes were an experience by itself !

After a few years, Lalgudi Mama directed me to Smt.T.Rukmini, saying that this would be more convenient for me, as I would not have to travel long distances for each class. He also added that he suggested this mainly because hers was the same style of playing as his.

Classes with Mami were always so nice ! Mami would first teach me to sing the song and then play the same on the violin. I still remember- before each class, whenever I entered her house, she would ask, "Ippo dhane school poittu vandhiruppa nee, tiffin edhavadhu saaptiyaa?" In case I said No, she would first force me to eat something and only then start class ! So much caring Mami would always be!

Well, these were the sweet memories which I recollected as I went through my Swara Exercises book !! With a smile I told all these to my daughter and resumed my classes for her.

Song 1- A Tevaram Hymn

Irrespective of the language employed for a song, it is always a delight to the singer (and the listener) when the singer is aware of the overall meaning and context of the song being sung. This greatly enables the singer to express himself/herself better and to reach out to the listener in a better fashion.

On several occasions, Rasikas have asked me for lyrics and meanings of songs.
I thought I could use this segment of the blog for the same.

I will periodically be posting songs,lyrics and meanings here. Please do let me know about your specific song requests too !

The first song would be a Tevaram hymn, about which a person had recently asked me.So here it is...


பண் : பழம்பஞ்சுரம் (சங்கராபரணம்)
தாளம் : ஆதி
(திருஞான சம்பந்தர் அருளியது)

உற்றுமை சேர்வது மெய்யினையே
உணர்வது நின்னருள் மெய்யினையே
கற்றவர் காய்வது காமனையே
கனல் விழி காய்வது காமனையே
அற்றம் மறைப்பது முன் பணியே
அமரர்கள் செய்வதும் உன் பணியே
பெற்று முகந்தது கந்தனையே
பிரமபுரத்தை உகந்தனையே

பருமதில் மதுரை மன்னவை எதிரே
பதிகமது எழுதிலை அவை எதிரே
வருநதி இடைமிசை வருகரனே
வசையொடும் அலர்கெட வரு கரனே

கருதலில் இசை முரல்தரும் அருளே
கழுமலம் அமர் இறை தரும் அருளே
மருவிய தமிழ் விர கனமொழியே
வல்லவர் தம்மிடர் திடம் ஒழியே


This beautiful Tevaram hymn makes use of "திரு யமகம்", wherein, the same word could have different meanings in different contexts.

To illustrate this usage, I have given the meanings of words which are used in consecutive lines of the above song, but which mean different things each time.

மெய் - திருமேனி, மெய்யருள் (lines 1 and 2)
கா+மனை - நல்ல குடும்பம், காமனை - மன்மதனை (lines 3 and 4)
பணி - பாம்பு, பணிவிடை செய்தல் (lines 5 and 6)
கந்தன் - ஸ்கந்தன், (உ)கந்தன் - மகிழ்ந்து விளங்குதல் (lines 7 and 8)

மன்+அவை - அரச சபை, அவை - ஆகியவைகள் (lines 9 and 10)
கரன் - செயலைச் செய்தவன், ஹரன் - அழித்தவன் (lines 11 and 12)

முரல்தரும் - உலகம் முழுதும் ஒலிக்கும்படிச்செய்த, தரும் - தந்திடும் (lines 13 and 14)
மொழியே - பாடல்கள், ஒழியே - ஒழிந்துபோகும் (lines 15 and 16)

Concerts in May 2008

Hi Rasikas and Friends,

Towards the end of May, I gave three concerts in Chennai at major venues. I thought I would share the reviews that appeared in this regard with all of you.

For friends who have missed out on these newspaper and online reviews, I thought putting them on my blog would help.

Concert at Vani Mahal on 25th of May under the auspices of Tyagaraja Seva Samithi :

You can go the following link to see a review of the above concert in the Hindu paper:http://www.hindu.com/fr/2008/06/06/stories/2008060651080200.htm


Concert at Srinivasa Sastri Hall on 29th of May: Thematic concert titled "A Garland of Priyas":

You can go the following link to see a review of the above concert:http://www.rasikas.org/viewtopic.php?id=5762


Concert at P.S.High School, Chennai under the auspices of Nadopasana on 31st of May :

You can go the following link to see a review of the above concert:http://www.rasikas.org/viewtopic.php?id=5779

A Novel Gift !

Hi Friends,

I am back after a gap of a few weeks..

Here is something different, that I thought I should share with all of you.

A few months back, I had been to a place in Karnataka for a concert. There was a person in the second row, listening intently to the concert and judiciously taking down something too ! I presumed he was a critic who was making a note of his observations.

After the concert he came up to me and gave me this beautiful gift !

A caricature in black-and-white of all of us on stage !!

A unique gift indeed !!

I immediately thought of sharing it with all of you and here it is !