Thursday, February 19, 2009

CARNATIC SUMMER BY V.SRIRAM

Carnatic Summer by Sriram. V ; Published by East West Books (Madras ) Pvt Ltd ; Pages 311 ;Price Rs. 295/
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Close on the heels of “Great Masters of Carnatic Music “ by Indira Menon, I have with me another book of the same genre. It is again about Carnatic musicians. The author has impeccable credentials. Sriram is currently contributing Editor of Sruti,the classical music journal. He is co-author of a Quiz book on Carnatic music and writes regularly on music in Indian Express and Madras musings. Along with Sanjay Subrahmanyan he is running a website on music.
He has culled out twenty Carnatic musicians of the 20th Century who were top performers marking a high noon in this art form entitling the book to be appropriately christened “Carnatic Summer ”. The introduction is a consummate summary of the history of this art from Sarangadeva to Purandaradasa. Kshetragna, Venkatamakhin, the benign Tanjore kings, the reign of the Classical trinity and the giants of twentieth century, some of whom we were lucky to hear.
We have a veritable galaxy including a dozen vocalists, four violinists, one Nagaswaram vidwan, one flautist and two percussionists. Their lives and lifestyles which had an impact on their art are succinctly covered. Since copious material is available on the major artists—like M.S , Semmangudi, Chembai, etc I shall concentrate on those about whom not much is known or written. Rightly has the author written, ‘If Carnatic music is still heard all over the world and makes an emphatic and grand statement of survival each year during the annual December session in Chennai it is because of these great men and women, powerful personalities who bore the art form aloft amidst crisis and threats.”

I shall begin with a story on Madurai Mani Iyer. He had a house on Luz Church Road just behind a bus stop which was called “Mani Iyer Stop”. During the time he resided there, the Paramacharya of Kanchi happened to pass that way with his entourage.
He stopped outside Mani Iyer’s house. The Paramacharya was well received and he asked for Mani Iyer and was informed that he had not yet bathed that day and was hence indoors as regulations demanded that nobody could appear before the seer before taking bath first. The Acharya called out Mani Iyer and blessed him saying that his music was his mode of worship and he need not worry about worldly rituals and observances. What great piety !.

Papanasam Sivan treated D.K.Pattammal as his daughter and he suggested that she should sing the song ‘Desa Seva Seyya Varir’. The song was enormously popular with Pattammal’s emotional rendering, Kalki’s lyrics, and Papanasam Sivan’s tune. In 1949,Vazhkai of AVM saw the debut of Vyjayanthi Mala plus Pattammal singing Bharata Samudayam Vazhgave. This rendition was accorded a national song status. Attending a Pattammal concert was akin to a slow boat ride, taking in the beauties of the roadside with the mind in a state of complete relaxation. Her music was deceptively simple and appealed directly to the heart.

Bade Ghulam Ali Khan visited Chennai in 1952 and took the city by storm. He developed great respect for M.L.Vasanthakumari whose performances he attended. Once on his way back to Bombay, the Khan discovering that M LV was also in the same train, moved over to her compartment and the two performed an impromptu jugalbandi to the delight of fellow passengers, taking turns in singing svaras between the tunnels in the Poona –Bombat ghat section!.

Dwaram Venkataswami Naidu was one of the greatest violinists of Carnatic music. He was extremely near-sighted almost to the point of blindness. Among many of his admirers were Sarojini Naidu, Harindranath Chattopadhyaya, S,Radhakrishnan and Rabindranath Tagore. So impressed was Tagore that he sang Rabindra Sangeeth to Dwaram’s accompaniment. Dwaram was the first violinist to be conferred Sangitha Kalanidhi in1941. To relocate him from Andhra to Madras a Sammana Mahotsav was arranged and a princely sum of Rs.35,000 was collected. Dwaram accepted this award provided Rs 2,000 was given to his guru, Venkatakrishnayya and another Rs 2,000 to a violinist who had written damagingly about him in the 1920s but was now sick and requiring help. Compassion was his hallmark.

During the 1954 visit of Yehudi Menuhin to India Dwaram attended his performance with Dr.P.V.Rajamannar. At the end of the programme Rajamannar took him backstage to introduce him to Menuhin. Dwaram wanted to touch Menuhin’s instrument and possibly play on it as well. But the latter did not agree. The upset Rajamannar arranged a concert of Dwaram’s the very next day and invited Menuhin to attend the same. At the end of the performance Menuhin was so amazed at Dwaram’s virtuosity that he walked up to him, took him by his hand and apologized for his brusqueness the previous day. The two spent the entire evening together and Dwaram was not only allowed to touch Menuhin’s violin but also play on it to his heart’s content.
T.Chowdiah believed that the violin was of Indian origin and cited the unusual sculpture in Agastyeshwara temple depicting a lady playing an instrument with a bow like the violin of today. Chowdiah abandoned the four stringed violin substituting it with one of seven strings and christened it sapta tanthi. On one memorable occasion, at the end of a spectacular performance by Ariyakkudi Ramanuja Iyengar, Chowdiah was so delighted that he hoisted the vocalist on his shoulders and danced a jig all around the concert hall.
The Chowdiah Memorial Hall in Bangalore is shaped in the form of a violin—a fitting tribute to one of the greatest violinists of India.

Another great violinist was Kumbhakonam Rajamanikkam Pillai. “Mummanigalum Manikkamum” was how the handbills would describe the concerts of G N B as vocalist, Rajamanikkam Pillai on the violin and Palghat Mani Iyer on the mridangam and Palani Subramania Pillai on the kanjira. The ruby in the above was the violinist. A very painstaking artist, it was a measure of his ambition to succeed that Rajamanikkam ascended the platform on a day when his wife was in the throes of labour back home. At the end of the programme a visibly pleased Muthiah Bhagavathar presented Rajamanikkam with a set of violin strings along with customary gifts. Nestling among the strings was a telegram which announced the birth of his child. In Tamizh, violin strings and telegrams are both referred to as Thanthi. This reflected Muthiah Bhagavathar’s sense of humour and penchant for punning. Among Pillai’s earliest students was the vocalist and film star M M Dandapani Desigar. Flute Mali had great affection for him and once Mali had come to perform but could not enter the hall due to milling crowds. Pillai gathered the 12-year old Mali, placed him on his shoulders and began striding towards the entrance. Using his enormous paunch as a rudder he shoved his way to the stage with admirable ease and deposited Mali on the stage. He was Mali’s violinist that day.

T N Rajarathnam Pillai was a bohemian character who dominated the Carnatic music world for half a century. He was unique in his rendering of ragas on the nagaswaram and he was one of the unsurpassed geniuses of his time. A man who lived king-size, he also had five wives and drank himself to early death. He got rid of his tuft and adopted the modern hairstyle and refused to follow the accepted practice of nagaswarm vidwans performing bare-chested and came in silk kurtas and shawls.

When Semmangudi was asked to list the great geniuses of Carnatic music, he thought of three names—Flute Mali, T N Rajarathnam Pillai and Palghat Mani Iyer. Mali was a child prodigy.
Mani Iyer’s teaming with Mali was historic and the two made great music for many years. The combination of the two geniuses and the music they produced together has been described as unparalleled
extra-ordinary and incredible. They were made for each other. Mali redesigned his flute, making its reed thicker and its bore smaller to produce a strong and rich tone. He used flutes with eight holes.

Mali was greatly respected by the seniors of the music world. Chembai who was fond of him played the violin while Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer accompanied them on the mridangam at a Tyagaraja Vidwat Samajam performance. When during a performance at the R R Sabha , Mali was disturbed by T L Venkatarama Iyer and Mudicondan Venkatarama Iyer chatting loudly in the front row, he publicly admonished them over the mike. And when they did not stop, Mali ended his own performance by playing the mangalam at once !. Mali was one of the victims of the ‘bottle’.

Palghat Mani Iyer was pure genius and he alone had the ability to weave a magic spell on his audience with his mridangam. Respect for him bordered on fear. Continuously researching on ways and means of improving the mridangam, he perfected the instrument as know it today. The long list of artists he accompanied includes every name worth its salt. He formed close relationship with GNB and Alathur Subbier. In 1966, the Madras Music Academy honoured him with the Sangitha Kalanidhi, departing from the tradition for the first time honouring a mridangist. Mani Iyer’s last words were that he had to leave for a concert of Ariyakkudi Ramanuja Iyengar with Dakshinamurthy Pillai accompanying him on the kanjira. Could be a concert for the Gods in their Heavens!.

An added feature is a comprehensive glossary noted for brevity and clarity.

The volume under review is indeed a goldmine, rich in anecdotes and presenting in one volume the growth of Carnatic music and capturing heights of glory with artists of a rare calibre and stature. All students and lovers of Carnatic music will profit greatly by carefully reading this valuable book.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

M.S.SUBBULAKSHMI

M S – A Life in Music by T. J. S. George; Published by Harper & Collins Publishers ; Pages 303 ;Price Rs 495/-
************

TJ S George is an Eminence Grise in the world of Indian Journalism, who began his career in “Free Press Journal “, rose on to become “Founder—Editor” of “Asiaweek” and is presently with the New Indian Express. George blazed a new trail with his highly lauded biography of V. K. Krishna Menon. Later on he wrote two more books –the first on the father of Modern Singapore—Lee Kuan Yew and Singapore. He covered the Hindi Film Industry with a captivating volume on “The Life and Times of Nargis.”

The book under review is George’s foray into the world of Carnatic Music and what better subject than the Magnificent and Serene M.S.Subbulakshmi ?. M S represents the highest achievement in Carnatic music by one who transmuted melody into bhakti.

Madurai, the temple town, connected with Agastya Muni, the seat and fount of “Sangams” was the place from where were born the “Mother” “M.Shanmukhavadivu” and the daughter “ M.S Subbulakshmi”. The “M” in the initials of both the names was more than a geographical formality. It was an umbilical chord that bound them with Culture.

Subbulakshmi attracted attention transcending music itself. She grew into an unique phenomenon in Tamil culture, combing the vitality of Dravida heritage with the rich resonance of Sanskritic traditions. M S honoured the ancientness of tradition, anchored her art on a spiritual basis and absorbed the best in others while developing her own distinctiveness.

M S was one of three children of Shanmukhavadivu, the other two being an elder brother M.S.Shaktivel and a younger sister M.S.Vadivambal. M S only had a pet name—Kunjamma or Kunju. Shaktivel became adept in playing Mridangam. Vadivambal, took after her mother and became a Veena player of promise. M S, however, excelled in Veena and Mridangam and got special attention of her mother. The first Guru to teach M S was Madurai Srinivasa Iyengar. Two others succeeded—Seithur Sundaresa Bhattar and Mayavaram Krishna Iyer. Subbulakshmi was a little over nine when her mother asked her to sing at gathering organized by a cycle shop—which eventually became the huge T V S ( T V Sundaram ) conglomerate. A talent-spotter in the audience approached the family with an offer of cutting a gramophone record—which was promptly accepted. The song H M V recorded under its Twin Brand was “Marakata Vadivu” in Chenchuruti raga, praising Madurai Meenakshi. The label on the record read :“ Song by Madurai Subbulakshmi, age 10 years.”. The singer says at the end of the song. “I am Madurai Subbulakshmi”.

Shanmukhavadivu used to take her two daughters for programmes in the courts of the wealthy and influential. One of them sought the hand of Vadivambal-- a millionaire Bhashyam Iyengar. Soon after the marriage Vadivambal died of pneumonia at the young age of 22. Meanwhile M S had moved over to Madras. A quick succession of events catapulted her to eminence. She won recognition in citadels of music and started making it big in the movies.

M S achieved laurels at 16 at the Kumbakonam Mahamahom in 1932. Here she was lauded by veterans like Tiger Varadachari, Muthiah Bhagavathar, Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar. Karaikudi Sambasiva Iyer told M S, “ Child, you carry the Veena in your throat”. She followed this up by storming the male bastion—The Madras Music Academy during 1932-33. At the young age of 17 M S had become a Musical Star.

Enter Thiagaraja Sadasivam. In the year 1936 when she was 20 Sadasivam who was 34—senior to her by 14 years entered her life. He was already married and had two children, whom M S brought up as her own. Sadasivam and M S got married in 1940 and lived happily for 57 years till Sadasivam passed away at his 95th year. George has eloquently summed up the connection between the duo. “Never did a couple fill each other’s life as completely as Sadasivam and M S did. Never did another husband visualize, orchestrate and control his wife’s career as decisively as Sadasivam did. Never did a man transform a woman’s life as totally as Sadasivam transformed M S’s. Without Sadasivam M S might just have been a face in the crowd, a great voice among several voices. With him she became “Queen of Music”, a title bestowed by Jawaharlal Nehru. If M S made melody, Sadasivam made M S. If music was M S’s career, M S became Sadasivam’s career. Never did a husband and wife owe more to each other than Sadasivam and M S did.”

The author leads us step by step to M S’s ascent to glory under the watchful direction of Sadasivam. He has devoted an entire chapter to M S’s foray into Filmdom and it makes wonderful reading. The husband carefully introduces his wife to the tinsel world with K.Subramanyam’s “Seva Sadanam”. This and the next venture “Shakuntalai” found M S an essentially classical singer. It was after the completion of “Shakuntalai” that M S would get married to Sadasivam. She acted in only two more films—“ Savithri” and “Meera” ( in Tamil and Hindi ). Sadasivam rung down the curtain on M S as an actor after “Meera”. She devoted the rest of her life to becoming a singer-saint as laid down by Sadasivam.

Some of the songs sung by M S in ‘Savithri” proved all–time hits. The greatest was “ Broohi Mukundeti” of Sadasiva Brahmendra in Kurunji raga. Sadasivam used to recount how artists and technicians in ‘New Theatres’ at Calcutta flocked to hear M S whenever there was a recording and they included K.L.Saigal. Kanan Bala, Pahari Sanyal and Pankaj Mulick.

They would request her to sing favourite songs . About “Meera” it was rightly said, “M S did not act. She became Meera herself in the film “. Sarojini Naidu appearing at the end of the Hindi version declared, “She is not an interpreter but Meera herself.”

Sadasivam had a close circle of great friends—Kalki Krishnamurthy, C.Rajagopalachari, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer. Rajaji had approved of and blessed Sadasivam’s marriage to M S. The couple came under the spell and protection of the Paramacharya of Kanchi who accepted the couple as his life-time bhaktas. He gave the highest tribute to M S—“Whatever she is, she is like Brindavan Tulasi “. The Sadasivams , in turn, venerated him as God. This equation underscored Society’s acceptance of M S’s transformation into an Iyer wife.

The remarkable attribute of M S is that her repertoire included compositions of Tulsidas, Surdas, Kabir and Guru Nanak. She spent a lot of time in learning thumris and khayals from stalwarts like Siddheshwari Devi of Benaras and Dwijendarlal Roy of Calcutta.

“Bhakti “ became the hallmark of M S. The art of singing which she perfected acquired a new direction by getting soaked in Bhakti which welled up in her heart every time she sang a composition or sloka expressing intense Bhakti for God. Her rendering of Suprabathams, Vishnu Sahasranamam, Bhaja Govindam and Hanuman Chalisa are actually representative of her oeuvre. MS single-handedly transformed the culture of morning prayers across South India.

Sadasivam made M S a world phenomenon arranging concerts at Edinburgh, Paris, Moscow culminating in the ultimate recital at United Nations. In the last venue she sang a Rajaji composition—“Kurai Ondrum Illai”—I have no regrets.

Mahatma Gandhi was so much fascinated by her voice that once he conveyed a request that she should sing for him the Meera Bhajan
“ Hari Tum Haro”. Unfortunately, she had not learnt this song and conveyed her regrets. Later the same evening another message came from Gandhiji that he would prefer to hear the song spoken by M.S than sung by anyone. Sadasivam arranged immediately for a composer and overnight she learnt the song, recorded it and sent the same to Bapuji. It was played for him on his birthday on 2nd October 1947. A few months later, the radio announced the shocking news of Gandhiji’s assassination. This was followed by the rendering by M.S of the Meera Bhajan. M.S swooned on hearing it and for over a year she would not attempt to sing “Hari Tum Haro”.

M S lived a full life with awards heaped on her from all over the globe. All these she placed at the feet of her Lord and Mentor Sadasivam. To everyone’s lasting regret the Bharat Ratna was awarded to her a little after Sadasivam’s passing away. It was an appropriate reward for his life-time struggle to keep M S always at a Pinnacle. Dr Radhakrishnan declared, “Her music is a gift of the Gods which she placed at the service of the Nation.”

One of the most poignant scenes in the book is the passing away of Sadasivam which will bring tears to the eyes of the readers. It is worth recalling in full. “On 19, November 1997 Sadasivam felt something he had never felt before—fluctuating fever and some breathlessness. Reluctantly, he agreed to go to a nursing home for a check-up. He would be back home in three days, he assured his family. The hospital diagnosed his condition to be pneumonia. On the morning of 21November, he asked for the three rows of Vibhuti to be applied on his forehead with customary punctiliousness. Coffee arrived from home as per his specifications—dark, hot and sweet, but sipping the brew was not easy, what with the tubes emerging from an oxygen cylinder claiming closer attachment. As the hours of discomfort passed desultorily, an aide noticed his eyes turning glassy. M S was sent for. As she entered the room, Sadasivam looked at her, smiled and held her hand. Looking, smiling and holding hands, his eyes glazed over and the breathing stopped. It was so quiet a passing that it took a few moments for those around him to realize that Sadasivam was no more.”

One word that frequently cropped up in the language of those who met M S in her later years was “Glow “. Everyone talked about how she glowed from within. She was one who had found “Serenity”. An aura of “Grace” surrounded her.

T J S George has enabled us to share that Glow to a great extent and his work deserves to be read by all rasikas, lovers of music and lay persons.

M.S.SUBBULAKSHMI


M S – A Life in Music by T. J. S. George; Published by Harper & Collins Publishers ; Pages 303 ;Price Rs 495/-
************

TJ S George is an Eminence Grise in the world of Indian Journalism, who began his career in “Free Press Journal “, rose on to become “Founder—Editor” of “Asiaweek” and is presently with the New Indian Express. George blazed a new trail with his highly lauded biography of V. K. Krishna Menon. Later on he wrote two more books –the first on the father of Modern Singapore—Lee Kuan Yew and Singapore. He covered the Hindi Film Industry with a captivating volume on “The Life and Times of Nargis.”

The book under review is George’s foray into the world of Carnatic Music and what better subject than the Magnificent and Serene M.S.Subbulakshmi ?. M S represents the highest achievement in Carnatic music by one who transmuted melody into bhakti.

Madurai, the temple town, connected with Agastya Muni, the seat and fount of “Sangams” was the place from where were born the “Mother” “M.Shanmukhavadivu” and the daughter “ M.S Subbulakshmi”. The “M” in the initials of both the names was more than a geographical formality. It was an umbilical chord that bound them with Culture.

Subbulakshmi attracted attention transcending music itself. She grew into an unique phenomenon in Tamil culture, combing the vitality of Dravida heritage with the rich resonance of Sanskritic traditions. M S honoured the ancientness of tradition, anchored her art on a spiritual basis and absorbed the best in others while developing her own distinctiveness.

M S was one of three children of Shanmukhavadivu, the other two being an elder brother M.S.Shaktivel and a younger sister M.S.Vadivambal. M S only had a pet name—Kunjamma or Kunju. Shaktivel became adept in playing Mridangam. Vadivambal, took after her mother and became a Veena player of promise. M S, however, excelled in Veena and Mridangam and got special attention of her mother. The first Guru to teach M S was Madurai Srinivasa Iyengar. Two others succeeded—Seithur Sundaresa Bhattar and Mayavaram Krishna Iyer. Subbulakshmi was a little over nine when her mother asked her to sing at gathering organized by a cycle shop—which eventually became the huge T V S ( T V Sundaram ) conglomerate. A talent-spotter in the audience approached the family with an offer of cutting a gramophone record—which was promptly accepted. The song H M V recorded under its Twin Brand was “Marakata Vadivu” in Chenchuruti raga, praising Madurai Meenakshi. The label on the record read :“ Song by Madurai Subbulakshmi, age 10 years.”. The singer says at the end of the song. “I am Madurai Subbulakshmi”.

Shanmukhavadivu used to take her two daughters for programmes in the courts of the wealthy and influential. One of them sought the hand of Vadivambal-- a millionaire Bhashyam Iyengar. Soon after the marriage Vadivambal died of pneumonia at the young age of 22. Meanwhile M S had moved over to Madras. A quick succession of events catapulted her to eminence. She won recognition in citadels of music and started making it big in the movies.

M S achieved laurels at 16 at the Kumbakonam Mahamahom in 1932. Here she was lauded by veterans like Tiger Varadachari, Muthiah Bhagavathar, Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar. Karaikudi Sambasiva Iyer told M S, “ Child, you carry the Veena in your throat”. She followed this up by storming the male bastion—The Madras Music Academy during 1932-33. At the young age of 17 M S had become a Musical Star.

Enter Thiagaraja Sadasivam. In the year 1936 when she was 20 Sadasivam who was 34—senior to her by 14 years entered her life. He was already married and had two children, whom M S brought up as her own. Sadasivam and M S got married in 1940 and lived happily for 57 years till Sadasivam passed away at his 95th year. George has eloquently summed up the connection between the duo. “Never did a couple fill each other’s life as completely as Sadasivam and M S did. Never did another husband visualize, orchestrate and control his wife’s career as decisively as Sadasivam did. Never did a man transform a woman’s life as totally as Sadasivam transformed M S’s. Without Sadasivam M S might just have been a face in the crowd, a great voice among several voices. With him she became “Queen of Music”, a title bestowed by Jawaharlal Nehru. If M S made melody, Sadasivam made M S. If music was M S’s career, M S became Sadasivam’s career. Never did a husband and wife owe more to each other than Sadasivam and M S did.”

The author leads us step by step to M S’s ascent to glory under the watchful direction of Sadasivam. He has devoted an entire chapter to M S’s foray into Filmdom and it makes wonderful reading. The husband carefully introduces his wife to the tinsel world with K.Subramanyam’s “Seva Sadanam”. This and the next venture “Shakuntalai” found M S an essentially classical singer. It was after the completion of “Shakuntalai” that M S would get married to Sadasivam. She acted in only two more films—“ Savithri” and “Meera” ( in Tamil and Hindi ). Sadasivam rung down the curtain on M S as an actor after “Meera”. She devoted the rest of her life to becoming a singer-saint as laid down by Sadasivam.

Some of the songs sung by M S in ‘Savithri” proved all–time hits. The greatest was “ Broohi Mukundeti” of Sadasiva Brahmendra in Kurunji raga. Sadasivam used to recount how artists and technicians in ‘New Theatres’ at Calcutta flocked to hear M S whenever there was a recording and they included K.L.Saigal. Kanan Bala, Pahari Sanyal and Pankaj Mulick.

They would request her to sing favourite songs . About “Meera” it was rightly said, “M S did not act. She became Meera herself in the film “. Sarojini Naidu appearing at the end of the Hindi version declared, “She is not an interpreter but Meera herself.”

Sadasivam had a close circle of great friends—Kalki Krishnamurthy, C.Rajagopalachari, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer. Rajaji had approved of and blessed Sadasivam’s marriage to M S. The couple came under the spell and protection of the Paramacharya of Kanchi who accepted the couple as his life-time bhaktas. He gave the highest tribute to M S—“Whatever she is, she is like Brindavan Tulasi “. The Sadasivams , in turn, venerated him as God. This equation underscored Society’s acceptance of M S’s transformation into an Iyer wife.

The remarkable attribute of M S is that her repertoire included compositions of Tulsidas, Surdas, Kabir and Guru Nanak. She spent a lot of time in learning thumris and khayals from stalwarts like Siddheshwari Devi of Benaras and Dwijendarlal Roy of Calcutta.

“Bhakti “ became the hallmark of M S. The art of singing which she perfected acquired a new direction by getting soaked in Bhakti which welled up in her heart every time she sang a composition or sloka expressing intense Bhakti for God. Her rendering of Suprabathams, Vishnu Sahasranamam, Bhaja Govindam and Hanuman Chalisa are actually representative of her oeuvre. MS single-handedly transformed the culture of morning prayers across South India.

Sadasivam made M S a world phenomenon arranging concerts at Edinburgh, Paris, Moscow culminating in the ultimate recital at United Nations. In the last venue she sang a Rajaji composition—“Kurai Ondrum Illai”—I have no regrets.

Mahatma Gandhi was so much fascinated by her voice that once he conveyed a request that she should sing for him the Meera Bhajan
“ Hari Tum Haro”. Unfortunately, she had not learnt this song and conveyed her regrets. Later the same evening another message came from Gandhiji that he would prefer to hear the song spoken by M.S than sung by anyone. Sadasivam arranged immediately for a composer and overnight she learnt the song, recorded it and sent the same to Bapuji. It was played for him on his birthday on 2nd October 1947. A few months later, the radio announced the shocking news of Gandhiji’s assassination. This was followed by the rendering by M.S of the Meera Bhajan. M.S swooned on hearing it and for over a year she would not attempt to sing “Hari Tum Haro”.

M S lived a full life with awards heaped on her from all over the globe. All these she placed at the feet of her Lord and Mentor Sadasivam. To everyone’s lasting regret the Bharat Ratna was awarded to her a little after Sadasivam’s passing away. It was an appropriate reward for his life-time struggle to keep M S always at a Pinnacle. Dr Radhakrishnan declared, “Her music is a gift of the Gods which she placed at the service of the Nation.”

One of the most poignant scenes in the book is the passing away of Sadasivam which will bring tears to the eyes of the readers. It is worth recalling in full. “On 19, November 1997 Sadasivam felt something he had never felt before—fluctuating fever and some breathlessness. Reluctantly, he agreed to go to a nursing home for a check-up. He would be back home in three days, he assured his family. The hospital diagnosed his condition to be pneumonia. On the morning of 21November, he asked for the three rows of Vibhuti to be applied on his forehead with customary punctiliousness. Coffee arrived from home as per his specifications—dark, hot and sweet, but sipping the brew was not easy, what with the tubes emerging from an oxygen cylinder claiming closer attachment. As the hours of discomfort passed desultorily, an aide noticed his eyes turning glassy. M S was sent for. As she entered the room, Sadasivam looked at her, smiled and held her hand. Looking, smiling and holding hands, his eyes glazed over and the breathing stopped. It was so quiet a passing that it took a few moments for those around him to realize that Sadasivam was no more.”

One word that frequently cropped up in the language of those who met M S in her later years was “Glow “. Everyone talked about how she glowed from within. She was one who had found “Serenity”. An aura of “Grace” surrounded her.

T J S George has enabled us to share that Glow to a great extent and his work deserves to be read by all rasikas, lovers of music and lay persons.