The Devarnama that I will never forget !

Year 1990. First year at college. Occasion : College Day Celebrations.

We, as freshers, were just hanging around on that day, trying to get accustomed to all the unfamiliar faces around us.

I was suddenly asked to go up on stage and render a song as a filler between two programmes.

It was a Purandara Dasar Devarnama that I chose to sing, in Raga Hamsanandhi. Borrowing a Sruthi Box from someone there, I started singing.

The moment I started singing, there were a lot of boos and woos from the students in the audience. Amidst all the din, I managed to finish the song and get off the stage.
I shed a few silent tears and for a moment, felt very insecure in that atmosphere. But the very next moment, I made up my mind that I would get myself noticed very soon and prove myself.

In the subsequent months, there were numerous important occasions at college, where I was asked to render the invocation song and things were totally different by the end of the first semester ! Students started enjoying the small bhajans and Tamil songs that I rendered during the College Assembly. I was soon identified as "singer" Gayathri belonging to I year, Maths Department ! (I was anyway S.Gayathri then and so this looked very apt :-) )

Very often, I bump into a lot of my college mates - be it in temples, malls or at the doctor's clinic. They immediately recollect the songs that I used to sing at college..
In retrospect, this particular incident in 1990 made me take a vow and my subsequent days and years at college were very enjoyable, fruitful and memorable.

Why am I writing all this now? - I sang this above said Purandara Dasar Devarnama at a concert two days back and my thoughts went back to this particular incident. Hence this post !