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 !