M.S.Ammas birthday

[PUNARVASU]

radhikarajnarayan, thanks for bringing out the hidden treasures! blessed is your mom for whom the 'gAnakkuyil' sang! You seem to have so much to offer
not only for our listening pleasures but also reading pleasures.Pl. continue.

[arasi]

Radhika,
Thanks for sharing those touching scenes from the life of someone who starred as Meera, which was only the beginning. She led a life akin to that of Meera (no wonder the gheewali fell at her feet) which will be inspiring to many who listen to the incidents in her life. Posterity will be amazed too when it hears of the grace with which she lived her life.
What is unimaginable is that ego which figures large in the lives of many performers, envy and tantrums stars are prone to--were all absent in this extraordinary woman.
Music is an easy path to divinity. Yet, how many have achieved it among professional musicians? The trappings of the trade takes them away and away from that blissful state. That is where one marvels at MSS. MMI, DKP and MLV, to name a few. They did not give up that nobility which music had gifted them. In spite of hurdles and reverses of fortune, they still stayed with their music. Yet, MSS shines brighter--she had TS to keep her away from the rude practicalities which others had to deal with. In that, the gem did shine brighter because of all the people who loved her music, TS was the one who made it his mission to keep her preciousness intact. Of course, she did not have a mean bone in her body so that she would challenge him or find fault in his way of managing her music. For those who think that she was restricted (which is not a fancy notion, after all), they also have to remember that her freedom to evolve as a spiritual person and to find the freedom of her musical, spiritual self was also possible for her because of him!

[rajeshnat]

Radhika
Very nice recollection from gurgaon gheewAli. That shows indeed how much she was even known in rural north indian belt.

Arasi,
Your last post is simply superb. Very apt choice of words giving the gist of both MS and TS. It makes me wonder that you can atleast write atleast one english krithi and gnanam can notate that too.

[cmlover]

arasi
The way MKR is narrating the story TS/MS form an ideal couple like VaLLuvar and vAsuki (you may know very well the story of his asking her to keep a needle by his side while eating!) or agastya and lopamudra (the traditional aasirvada mantra). Most men would like to have an obedient spouse like MS (even minus the talent). Then life is heaven (for them!). Unfortunately it is very rare to find women who espouse those values (even so if they are highly talented). I thought you are on the side of the modern women with progressive views on women liberation

Hence I find your statement

For those who think that she was restricted (which is not a fancy notion, after all), they also have to remember that her freedom to evolve as a spiritual person and to find the freedom of her musical, spiritual self was also possible for her because of him!

is an oxymoron

Sorry MKR for the digression

[arasi]

Moron, I am prone to be (helps at times!), but is it really an oxymoron, what I have been saying? Let's suppose it is, but that was the great alchemy in their relationship. Romeo's cold fire, feather of lead, and so on. With rasikAs always going for food analogies, vEppam pU paccaDi comes to mind. vEppampU with its curing qualities, mixing with the sweetness of the rest, also symbolizing life on earth, the chemistry of one's own self and in that of the relationships with others. It was her tavam. She made discoveries as she went along, is my guess. She had an inner strength which guided her, I would think--and allowed her to grow.
You are the the expert who has studied and have dealt with an awful amount of marital situations in your profession. Correct me if I believe that every relationhip is different and complex. Even those unlettered in psychology (after watching Oprah for a while!) can come up with questions like: what? was she a doormat then? an enabler?
When I say it was a match made in heaven, I mean by that their nourishing each other in their own way. Without her, he would have been lost. Without him, she might have become a star, but not the grande dame of music, spirituality and such goodwill.
Both were motivated in bringing out the best in each other, knowingly or unknowingly. Again, my guess.
We as rasikAs see their accomplishments--her music (he could have stopped her from singing, once he sensed that she was going to be bigger than him with her fame). He did the opposite. His love for her, for music, for pursuing a life long project (which was her) made it happen.
She brought out the best in him too. He must have had a spark of a desire in his heart to distribute wealth to the needy. She fanned that inkling into a great fire and sang her heart out to achieve it. They were both interested in and cared for the bigger picture. Though I still don't know the details (the Nungambakkam days), they did accept humbler circumstances because they cared more about humanity than about themselves and just their near and dear ones. It made them stronger. I have no inner information about their life together, but if there were times when she might have felt intimidated, it as not just gratitude which motivated her to remain silent, as some seem to believe. I think it was because she was strong and graceful.
Yes, somehow, she does not come across as the kind of oppressed women that bArati had in mind and the ones we still have around us. Perhaps because she rose above it all, she showed it all in her music and her humanity--which made him adore her even more, I am sure!
You are right. We should not forget that until recently, it 'was' so that even great men were unaware that women had their own needs but were around, only to take care of 'their' needs!

MKR, you have to excuse me too, for this long post in your fascinating narrative.

CML,
What are friends for! You got what you wanted, a good teaser that you are
I am not defecting bArati, mon ami! Coming back to oxymorons, yes, cold fire, feather of lead, but how her fire glowed, his too,and how deftly like a feather she floated about with her music, and how he anchored her by lending his weighty support!

[cmlover]

Arasi
That is a record long post from you. My intention was not to put you in a spot but to vindicate you. Just to show that even progressive women with avant-garde ideas who know both East and West well enough would accede that woman liberation is not about asserting the superiority or equality of women but to compromise in the interest of the good of the Family and that of the Community. MS had fully realized that TS had no selfish motives and was acting on common interests and she had total confidence in his ability to make the right decisions. TS was an astute business man and a good judge of human character and it paid off! There were no external signs of a repressed woman in MS in her public appearances because there was no repression. Except for aging there was not a furrow in her angelic face arising from any family discord. Though MKR's characterization of TS shows him to be outwardly tough and autocratic, in fact he must have been very liberal and tolerant in his personal views. How can a Freedom Fighter be an autocrat? That is an oxymoron!

MKR
Do tell the story at your own pace. Now that you are planning to jump to 1977 you are jumping ahead skipping the important phase of MS coming back to the MA. She is the first woman to break that 'male bastion'. That should answer Rajesh's query about the recognition of MS by the CM elites. Of course by then the old guards had disappeared and CM had a new tolerant face, accepting that CM is more than the Trinity and that sex/language bias is no longer an option! If you don't know the facts do skip that phase...

[arasi]

CML,
Turns out that I was the teaser
Anyway, a freedom fighter also has egalitarian ideals and ideas--and equality in relationships isn't a bad thing when it is not expressed as if based on a rigid rule but with an understanding that everything that you say and do reflects that ideal.

[cacm]

TS was an astute business man and a good judge of human character and it paid off!
Dear cmlover,
YOU are RiGHT partially; T.S. was a good judge of human character & good businessman etc OUTSIDE of his family circles. Actually T.S./M.S. moving out of Kalki Gardens to a small house near Valluvar Kottam etc as well as Kalki itself closing down was due to T.S. being let down by persons close to him to whom he had voluntarily given power & in retrospect was very POOR judgement on his part. I will not go into details here but depending on what M.K.R. writes on this I might respond further......VKV

[cmlover]

What goes up must come down! This is turning out to be a real life drama. Let us leave names off the record. But hear the fascinating details. In spite of perhaps a financial collapse, of course MS's star was always on the ascent as far as we know unquestionably. We will let MKR tell the story and you chip in wherever it is appropriate.

[cacm]

M.S. was not subject to the usual Einstein-Newtonian laws of Gravitation like us mere mortals!- to pharphrase Nehru-. Her star was ALWAYS on the ascent despite all sorts of efforts! VKV

[Ramasubramanian M.K]

Wow!! What an astute assessment from Arasi/CMLover/VKV re: Mami/Mama's relationship vis-a-vis Women's rights etc.Mami could not simply understand WHY anyone would wish her to be assertive when Mama had been vindicated on every issue that she had raised re concert planning,sense of proportion in raga alapana,swara prastharam,pallavi singing etc. Mama did restrict Mami's attendance of other artistes' concerts--but this was due to more of his desire not to create needless flutter in the halls as any visit by Mami did in those days--she would attend SSI' concerts however and at times much was made of this--YES--Mami would have definitely liked to attend more concerts of other artistes-young and upcoming because she was never content with whatever she had done and if listening to these concerts(even if most of them may not have been of much help to her in terms of technique or Manodharmam) would help her understand the emerging trends in listenership or enlarge her repertoire,it would have been useful. But Mama compensated for this "gap" in her learning process thro tutorship by the likes of KVN,Balasaraswathi/Brinda/Muktha.
Mami ofcourse was the GREATEST student that any Teacher would wish for.

Another trivial episode where Mami had certain apprehensions abot something that Mama had made a regular fixture in her public appearances long after she had "retired" from the active concert circuit. For any ceremonies--given the proliferation of Sabhas especially in the Nineties,Mama would accept invitations for Mami to preside and kick-start the program with the traditional Kutthuvilakku. Like anything that Mami did-be it on the concert stage or off it--this was seized upon and I believe facetious remarks seem to have been made to the effect "MS should be called Kuthuvilakku Subbulakshmi" because that is all she seems to be doing these days-Mami took these seriously and asked my mother(by now three or four conversations/day AFTER one-to-one meetings between them would have taken place!!!) --My mother as is her wont would simply pooh-pooh the whole thing and say Mama knows what is best for you-so do not pay heed to these stray remarks by unknowns.This will also end up with a mini-lecture to Mami as to WHY she should not trust everyone who carries these tales and these acts of lighting the !amp do not detract from her musical accomplishments. Still not satisfied,Mami in one of her weaker moments would raise this issue with Mama and get an ear-ful from Mama -Mami filled with remorse(needless because this was no big deal) would tell my Mom that Mami you were right and I should have listened to you and not take this seriuosly.

So what you see is that despite her reaching the highest pinnacles of fame and recognition,she could be easily influenced by well-meaning friends and that is one of the reasons Mama had sometimes kept her in "Glass Case" as it seemed to most of the people who were all in their own way were desperately eager to "worm" themselves into Mama/Mami's company.

Sorry I have to run now--I shall resume the Pre 1977 events-especially the shutdown of the Kalki Gardens.I am not privy to the blow-by-blow events(because I was in NY most of the time and the annual visits of 2 to 3 weeks did not give me much of an opportunity to probe deeply--although given my total career absorption in the Media Industry in the US and reasonable familiarity with the Indian Media Industry I had ideas that may have been helpful--but I was in awe of Mama so much besides Mama may not have heeded my advice--transient as it would have been>

However I am not sure if the downfall was.

. due to any acts of disloyalty by his henchmen as VKV implies

I wil address this dating back to the fifties--post-Kalki Mama's death and Mama's overextension(Swarajya,crusade against the Congress at the behest of Rajaji and a host of other distractions that blinded Mama to the changes in the Tamil magazine world that his loyalists had been warning him about but Mama ignored it because he was so self-righteous in his assumption that his noble and
socially-redeeming content that he offered thro kalki-Rajaji's writings,Pramacharya's writings etc etc was far superior to the escapist and populist content that rising stars like Kumudam offered. Add to this a whole host of other labor issues(that he reduced to a simple gratitude-laden,paternalistic attitude towards labor that was not perceived in the same manner by the Labor)--all built upto a crescendo that short of "gutting' the whole business model that had worked so well for the thirty years since Kalki's launching ,there was no hope for a resurrection.

Subsequently to Rajendran's credit(ably carried out by his daughters),he resurrected the magazine--new equipment,slight reorientation of the content,better labor relations,better business management(full-time)-the magazine has seen a revival--while growth has been weak,Rajendran's stewardship has certainly "righted the "ship"!!.

More on this later!!!

[cmlover]

Ha! Changing of the guards... Those are the signs of the times as we are seeing as to what is happening to America in the world affairs. As the old Gandhian guard TS was out of touch with his times and hence he fell! Am I right?

[Ramnath Iyer]

Dear Mr MKR,
One of my life long wishes had been to meet and get the blessings of Smt MS which unfortunately never happened. Through this thread I am able to fulfill this wish at least partially. Thanks a lot for for sparing so much of your time to write about MS and TS. The other day I was listening to a rendition of MS singing the Dikshitar kriti ‘bhajare’ in kalyani with KSN accompanying her on the veena. This is a recording I had downloaded from Mr Reuben’s collections on the internet. As the track fades, one can hear MS amma saying ‘pallavila kadaisi sangatidhan pesaveyillai (could not render the last sangati in pallavi well). To me this candid words coming from a musician of MS’s calibre shows how truly humble she was and how she strived for perfection.
Please keep the posts coming. Eagerly looking forward to the rest.

[Ramasubramanian M.K]

CMLover: You are right in your surmise that failure to adapt to changing market conditions spells the downfall of any business enterprise--needless to say that an enterpreneur-driven and dominated enterprise like KALKI is no exception.

Forumites I beg your indulgence in this detour into a discussion of business practices in the Media world--nothing could be farther from this forum's main theme--Music and Musicians and Musicologists.It is just to illustrate how fallible the most enterperneurial and innovative
business magnates can be if they perceive wrongly--- in hindsight no doubt --their principles and convictions that have served them so well during their lifetime are being challenged and debased by seeming well-wishers .
Let's not forget that it is precisely Mama' s hard-charging business techniques that helped Kalki get on par with Anada Vikatan(Mama used to humorously dub AV as Ananada Kadan)--which had a lead of fifteen years over Kalki. He had to loosen the stranglehold that AV had in the distribution chain--agents and distributors,newsstands.All of them were severely under-capitalised to begin with and would play Kalki against AV in their weekly remittances of magazine sales--several of them did not even have deposits to protect Kalki against defaults and outright scammimg--Mama against the advice of his Circulation staff would overrule them and extend credit and built a staunch loyalty amongst the agents that served Kalki well in the long run.I have personally witnessed in the late Fifties when circulation staff members would insist on cutting off the distributor/agents in Tanjore or Trichy for their overdue arrears of circulation revenues and Mama would counsel patience--sometimes he would pick upthe phone himself(always starting off with his by-now classic Nan Dhan Sadaaaaasivam pesaren--with a long accented Dha and would "charm" the agents to relent and speed up their remittances.Mama will follow up with a gentle admoniton to his staff that if we alienate our distributors who are the backbone of circulation in India those days-subscription revenues were small in the total circulation picture-however great our content may be and however undercapitalised they may be (which may not be the magazine's fault) we need to find ways and means to tide over our cash flow situations thro' good liaisons with the Bankers to ease some terms albeit for a short
period



--to which the staff would mutter under their breath"What do you think we have been doing!!).The point is that he was, not oblivious to the business realities and expected the same dynamism and resourcefulness from his staff--there were some who were extremely resourceful ,and some were not. But with Kalki Mama's death,Mama had to shoulder the entire burden(Mee.Pa Somu's tenure as Editor-n-Chief was brief--Kalki's stature made it imposible to find a worthy successor.Yet Mama managed admirably till the early seventies.The demographics were changing and given the low barriers to entry for new entrants to the magazine field,the advertisers had misgivings about the reach of their ads to their targeted audience thro what they perceived to be a stodgy media like Kalki
To the credit of the staff,they warned him about the difficulty in generating ad revenues--especially during the Diwali Malar time--when the glossy production costs(price not being sufficiently high to offset the costs)needed substantial ad revenues to offset the costs.Add to this TV was making its foray amongst the Advertisers--with Print magazines in general were having difficulty in maintaining their share of the Ad budgets--Kalki being no exception.

Perhaps to an arm-chair management Consultant like myself(!!) this was the time to bring in an outside dynamic CEO --a turnaround expert but unfortunately this was not the "norm" in India in those days. Besides Mama was in his seventies and was not much inclined to radically alter his philosophy. WHAT transpired after the concatenaton of events leading upto the shutdown of the Magazine
to this day I do not know.I could have asked the principals but did not .Suffice it to say this is not unique to Kalki or magnates like TS.Take the case of Rupert Murdoch or Sumner Redstone(all aging enterpreneurs who have chewed out CEO's during their long careers and are somehow still managed to stay on top because they "love" their baby so much). Mama had by now turned stoic chastened by the influence of Paramacharya and Bhagwan Satya Sai Babha.
Mama had one of the best records in his benevolent attitudes towards Labor--I remember the foreman of the PRINTING PRESS(RAJABATHER) WOULD BE A REGULAR IN THE DAILY LUNCHEONS UPSTAIRS IN THE FAMILY QUARTERS ALONG WITH OTHER DIGNITARIES AND PROMINENT PERSONS--WITH MAMA PERSONALY ENQUIRING ABOUT THE WELFARE OF THE FAMILY ETC.

Great men are also inclined to expect reciprocity of their goodwill from those they managed for their benevolent management and when this is not there they feel like the "ET TU BRUTE THEN FALL CAESAR" moment!!
Throughout these ordeals Mami kept her head up and did not secondguess Mama's judgement nor did she ever express any skepticism to those close to her about Mama's' seeming intransigence--easy to dismiss this as her lack of worldly wisdom but she too was persuaded by her own stoic nature--a classic epitome of equanimity and grace under pressure.
Back to the main thread of the narrative later---

Ramanathan Iyer--thanks for your encouraging words--Would it please you if I say that YOU and several other forumites (who have genuine regard for Mami but have not had an opportunity to meet Mami to express your feelings)WOULD HAVE BEEN PRECISELY THE FAN FOLLOWING THAT MAMI WANTED DESPITE HER POPULARITY AMONGST THE HIGH-AND-MIGHTY!!!.i CAN IMAGINE WHAT SHE WOULD HAVE SAID TO YOU IF YOU HAD MET HER AND MENTIONED YOUR COMMENT ABOUT HER MISSING A SAN.GATHI IN KALYANI KRITI
O APPADIYA--NEENGAL NANNA FOLLOW PANNI IRUKKELE--ALWAYS COMPLIMENTING THE RASIKA BUT TAKING CARE NOT TO DRAW
ATTENTION TO HERSELF OR WASTE TIME WITH ALIBIS BLAMING THE SUPPORT OR SOME OTHER EXTRANEOUS FACTOR!!

[cacm]

M.K.R.,
YOU have perfectly stated what Mami would have told Ramanathan Iyer! VERY UNCANNY...... Even the last time I met her she was discussing with Ramnad Raghavan about Ramnad krishnan's unique approach & innivovative contributions. A TRUE SCIENTIST who happened to be a GREAT ARTIST also! Fortunately Atma intervened & saved her energy by ushering us out as she was ready to discuss any musical point to any extent!VKV