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Sanjay Subrahmanyan at Sri Krishna Gana Sabha-Music that touched the soul

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There was a tingling sense of anticipation in the hall just before   Sanjay Subrahmanyan’s concert at Krishna Gana Sabha on Friday 25.12.15 ,commenced. The excitement was clearly palpable and as the curtains rose the applause that greeted the vocalist said it all. And this keen looking forward to the concert is not a new thing for fans of the singer .As a friend and die-hard fan posted on Face book – it is like a wedding in the family. Dressing to the nines, meeting with and travelling together with friends to the venue all add to the excitement.

Sanjay Subrahmanyan never ever disappoints his rasikas .And his concert on that day did much more than exceed expectations. It was a meditative start ( yes meditative ) with songs like Kamakshi Amba , Paramathmudu and an intensely moving Muruga Muzhumathi Pazhikum Arumuga  .This was followed by  Marivera Dikevaraiya Rama .Know the feeling  when one is in a favourite sanctum ( which is for me the Karpaga Vinayagar at Egmore Chennai , Malaikottai Uchi Pilliar in Trichy and  the Lord of the Seven hills’ abode at Tirumala  ) and  you get goosebumps  as you are communing with the Supreme  and the tears are beginning to well up ? .That was the feeling that overcame me at that stage of the concert . Then we saw another facet of the singer with pieces that followed  like  Bhogendra Sayeenam and a Ragam Thanam Pallavi ( Oru Tharam Siva Chidambaram) .

Sanjay Subrahmanyan is an artiste who sees the music in his mind’s eye before and as he sings - which is why his hands and body too sing the music in tandem and   expressively so. He is in my opinion  a  very courageous singer  for  he  lets go of the familiar and  dares to go where  lesser  musicians fear to tread  . It is this approach I believe that has helped him find his unique voice. This  courage with intense practice has  translated into confidence .His virtuosity and years of sadhana  ( asura sadakam ) showed at every stage of the concert  .As he scaled up and down the octaves and his voice glided  along with effortless ease , as he essayed  the contours of a raga negotiating  the  elaborate twists and turns with absolute  sureness   , as he delved deep into the very recesses of the lower sthayi  and coaxed and drew out the notes  ,  as he zeroed in on a note and  held it   in absolute steadiness without the mildest quiver  ( for what seemed like an eternity) eventually becoming  one with the music ,the concert transmuted into a spiritual experience . One could  feel a  paradigm shift in the energies in that hall and   deep peace settling over the listeners  interrupted only by the spontaneous applause from the audience which could not contain itself . He evoked different emotions in the neraivals  as he began with a simple construct which slowly morphed into a cascade of swaras punctuated by surprise elements-  the contrasting sequences thrown in with  good  effect  and then a neat stitching up  at the end leaving the audience well pleased but  thirsting for more .The concert concluded with  Bharathiyar songs  ( Ninnaiye Rathi endru and Theertha Karai inile) and a Thirupugazh (Kaadhi Modhi) . The accompanists S Varadarajan, Violin , Palladam Ravi, Mridangam and Bangalore Rajasekar, Morsing   lent wonderful support   enhancing the experience .I had two regrets that evening .One, I felt like kicking myself for not taking my binoculars   - seated as I was in Row 20 and having to almost squint to see the singer and two- I was unable to catch all the words of the beautiful Thirupugazh .But that said, it was a concert that touched one’s soul.

Sudha Umashanker                                                                            

Nature and humankind ( my article in The Asian Age)

http://www.asianage.com/ideas/nature-and-humankind-000

The great floods of Chennai and after

The great floods of Chennai  and after 

There was something about these rains that was different. The way it poured for hours on end without any let up and the manner in which the rains came down in sheets and torrents as if the skies had torn open and clouds were bursting, seemed so eerie. Right then and there people were gripped by fear .For after all here in our city, a mere drizzle was enough to create   chaos and throw life completely out of gear.  This continuous downpour was something it could not handle for a variety of reasons. And then not long after  life came to a standstill .The city was brought down to its knees and as the news of  water logging and flooding and stranded citizens  broke out, the  magnitude of the calamity  hit home hard. Families were marooned, phones went on the blink, power supply was cut and large pockets were out of reach by any means.

                                                    

 There were health and other emergencies of all kinds -A pregnant mother at Mudichur  was in labour and crying for help .A 3 year old child in need of  urgent medical attention, a father with a 9 month old baby tweeting that he was drowning ,a friend who couldn’t reach her mother- in- law who was virtually trapped in Pallikaranai Marsh area and another Face book post about a 85 year old grandfather who boarded an auto to Nanganallur and went missing are a few of  the many SOS’ that were sent  . While many lives were saved   there were those that were lost very tragically .Like the Lt Col and his wife who drowned in their home. Orphanages, homes for mentally ill, schools for the hearing impaired and Govt and private hospitals were flooded and were asking for help to evacuate inmates and patients. Life saving equipment failed in one institution and there were close calls elsewhere .This crisis was a great leveller .It wasn’t just the poor or underprivileged or encroachers who were affected .It was people across all sections -the middle class who had invested all their life’s savings for a roof over their head unwittingly in an area which was once a water body and the rich and famous who lived in vulnerable areas. I felt deeply sad for people like my maid’s mother who watched in utter helplessness as her house got submerged and a cupboard full of brass and steel vessels    bought as trousseau for her daughter floated away before her very eyes.

The deluge forced one to think about life itself and its transient nature .If suddenly in the stealth of the night your house were to flood what would you grab? Your clothes or jewellery or  books or pieces of art   or footwear or the things in  your prayer altar or computer  or certificates  and documents like your  ration ,Aadhar , Pan cards , passport or your car  and in what order ?.(Guess we should all travel light through life)  And if you had to up and leave home where you would go? Would you feel comfortable   foisting yourself on somebody when you had your own home?

But swept by a wave of compassion and haunted by the images that they saw on their television screens and systems  people generously   opened their homes and hearts to even total strangers  The Army, Navy , Coast Guard , NDRF,  fishermen  ,  went beyond the call of duty  and did outstanding work .Scores of volunteers and  good Samaritans  did not wait to be asked but pitched in to do  whatever they could from wherever they were   -  from wading through the waters to deliver food and other essentials  to helping pack materials  and  looking up  family and friends of friends  in their vicinity  to  helping to charge mobile phones  to mobilising support  and tweeting and posting on social media - every little act of kindness of love    counted and made a difference . In fact it was all so overwhelming that those who didn’t do anything began to feel guilty.

Some ugliness surfaced as well .While all the TASMAC shops were open – perhaps they were needed for people to drown their sorrows (but as one Tweeter asked what if these people nursed a drink in their homes- guess there are two sides to appropriateness even in a tragic situation) there were reports of break- ins in some of the flooded homes. Messages were also received asking us to guard against suspicious looking people asking for shelter following confirmed reports that talked about a group that had looted the house of people who had offered them shelter in Kilpauk.

By day three   nerves were all frayed.  At the slight hint of rain people went into panic mode. With reports of a possible rough weekend citizens were preparing for the worst. Relief work was interrupted by wet weather and lack of light.

And  in utter desperation there were  calls for prayer , healing , chants and   positive energy .In a city where we are constantly praying for rain for once we had to do the reverse and beg and plead with the Rain gods to  stop .Maybe a crisis like this is sent by the Universe to make us open our eyes, our hearts, introspect  , course correct , to save what little is left of our water bodies , marshlands , our rivers and canals ( else there will be a heavy price to pay)   to clean up all the muck  and make a fresh start .

This time around how prepared were we? Did we heed the warnings three months ago that   this monsoon was going to be heavy. What lessons in Disaster Management did we learn from the Tsunami?  Mapping the state and city, generating a list of affected people should have all been child’s play in this IT savvy city .But was it? However  citizens  took the initiative to map unmotorable roads and used social media Twitter ,Face book and  What’s App  to its fullest capacity .Be that as it may this is how life is going to be .Unpredictable monsoons, floods and natural calamities will all be common place. This is the price we pay for going against Nature, for sacrificing our water bodies, our wetlands and allowing indiscriminate construction and dumping and clogging of our water ways.

The task ahead of the city is huge to put it mildly.   There is still a lot of water logging ( and cases of electrocution).Mounds of garbage are piling up .Diseases are breaking out in  relief centres .Reports say eight children have contracted chicken pox in a relief camp in Chemmencherry and other water borne and viral borne diseases are likely to spread .    Women in relief centres were hard hit.-pregnant women, menstruating women who were in need of sanitary napkins and suffering the ignominy of two toilets for five hundred people! The roads are all battered and there have been losses – property, livelihoods, school books, motor vehicles, electronic and white goods too humungous                to quantify.  Our dear city of Chennai needs to get back on track as fast as it can as do the people and it better be done before another calamity takes us by surprise.

Sudha Umashanker 

Lamps are of tremendous spiritual significance .  Sharing an article I wrote


http://www.asianage.com/category/author/sudha-umashanker

Plastic everywhere

While the monsoon showers are welcome  the mess that the city's drainage system  creates  makes you feel  that it is better we have  one long summer instead . Little puddles of water , mounds of rubble and  rubbish  and to make matters worse plastic carry bags floating around   do not make for a pretty sight . Some major steps have indeed been taken to reduce the use of plastic  . Banning of plastic carry bags at weddings ,  charging by establishments for the same etc .But there is one industry that uses a lot of plastic and that is the food industry . Take- aways use so much of plastic  and I shudder to think when  it will ever degrade .Time to go back to our banana leaves , butter paper and other eco-friendly packaging . Hotels  and restaurants should in the interest of environment protection  think on these lines .This is one area where we could do with a bit of innovation !

Frustration

Frustration  is many things ! A poor net connection , the water  supply running out when you are in the shower or the washing machine is in mid-cycle  and the weather playing truant when you have an event planned .
Frustration today was related to the Postal Department  . I am all praise for the Indian Postal service , its wide network and penetration into the farthest corners of the country , the personal rapport with the postman  etc etc . However try  getting online to check the status of an item  that was speedposted or sent by Regd post  to an overseas location and you are in all likelihood going to tear your hair in frustration .Information is usually available only upto the point  the consignment leaves the country .A toll free number was provided .But I was greeted with a "you seem to have dialled the wrong number "  I can kick myself for not scanning and emailing the document as a back- up plan .!!

How Ganesha got his elephant head

                                          Salutations to Lord Ganesha  the great scribe !

How Ganesha got His elephant head

Any undertaking for me is always begun with a prayer to Pilliar aka Ganesha, Ganapati, Gajanana .I thought it would be appropriate to begin this blog with an invocation to Ganesha my favourite God in the form of an article.

That Ganesha has an elephant head  - we all know .The elephant  represents  wisdom , strength , a phenomenal memory ( is unforgiving of wanton misdeeds)  , its huge ears  remind us that we need to listen more , it is vegetarian and a very benign creature .

But how did Ganesha get an elephant’s head? There are many different stories about the birth of Ganesha which throw light on this.

According to one He is the maanasika putra (mind- born) son of Shiva and was created by Shiva in response to a plea by the Devas to protect them as they were harassed by the demons. When Parvathi discovered that this lovely boy was born without her involvement, she willed that the boy’s head should be turned into an elephant’s head .However her love for the boy was so great that she declared that no undertaking by anyone would succeed unless Ganesha is propitiated first.

In another oft told story he was created by Parvathi out of the scrapings of the paste she had used to anoint herself before her bath after How which she breathed life into Him .Ganesha was told to guard the entrance while his mother went in for her bath. The little boy  took his job very seriously and did not even allow Lord Shiva to enter .In the tussle that followed Lord Shiva  in a fit of rage cut off the little boy’s head ( or to put it mildly  the boy’s head got severed from his body) When Parvathi returned from her bath  she was furious  and vowed to destroy the heavens and the earth .Shiva  somehow tried to pacify her and sent out his ganas to bring the head of the first living  creature they found sleeping with its head  facing   north .They happened to find an elephant in this position and brought its head which Shiva placed on the boy and breathed life into him.

There is yet another legend that tells us of Parvathi’s longing for a child and the severe penance she undertook for a year and all the tests she faced to prove the strength of her vow. At the end of it all she heard a divine voice telling her to look for her new born son in the chambers .All the Gods and Goddesses too rushed to Mount Kailas as did the nine planets .Lord Saturn refused to look at the child because of a curse from his wife that anyone who was the object of his gaze would be destroyed. The proud mother that Parvathi was she urged  Shani Bhagwan ( Lord Saturn )  to look at the newborn and lo and behold the head of the child  got separated  and flew into space .Lord Vishnu who saw what happened  went looking for a head and found a herd of elephants sleeping by a river and  brought the head of the one elephant- a celestial being  who was  waiting to be released from  earthly life and the little boy came to life.

We also read in some versions that the elephant was actually Airavata – Indra’s elephant.

Elephants are said to have been born from the cosmic egg or hiranyagarbha out of which the sun emerged .Brahma breathed life into the two halves of the broken egg .Airavata  and eight male elephants came from one half and eight female elephants from the other half. There are many more stories about Ganesha which I shall save for later

Sudha Umashanker