IvargaL sandithAl.. (If these people met)

[kvchellappa]

Pasupathy’s post in Nostalgia..language and Literaure - Tamizh
http://s-pasupathy.blogspot.in/2016/06/78.html
Translation (sort of)

Sangeetha Sangathikal (Musical snippets)

(Pasupthy’s foreword: This is a saradu (yarn?) that appeared in 1956 in Anandavikatan in the serial ‘If these met..”
The touch of Kothamangalam Subbu is prolific in them.
I believe that the permission of the artists was secured for some of the jokes that appeared in them.)

Our special correspondent’s saradu

Sangeetha Bhupathi, Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer (MVI) is sitting in the verandah of his house in Nungambakam, chewing betel leaves with relish and singing Arabhi to heart’s content. A car pulls to a stop outside the gate. Sangeetha Ratnakara, Ariyakkudi Ramanuja Iyengar (ARI), gets down and enters the house.

MVI: Who? Oh, is it Anna? Welcome, welcome.
ARI: I dropped in just to pay a visit to Muthanna.
MVI: See that. I am five years younger.
ARI: May be in age, but in music are you not Muthanna?
MVI: No, after Muthanna of Jagannatha Bhaktha Sabha, there is no room for another Muthanna. Be that as it may, what car do you own now?
ARI: What about car? I am myself a big car. Iyengar!
(He takes a little snuff and sniffs it).
MVI: What brand is the snuff?
ARI: I am a performing artist, you see. I use only Officer Pattanam brand. Let it be. Was your sixtieth birthday celebration conducted as laid down?
MVI: No complaint. With the grace of Thyaga Brahmam, all the disciples took due care of it.
ARI: If others have sishya pillais (disciple boys) you have your pillais (boys/sons) as sishyas. Take our china Kondu. He is alone enough for the success of the function.
MVI: I said that we should have an ordinary function, but he did not listen. He insisted that it must be a three day affair. Above all, the crowning glory was your singing at the function.
ARI: Never mention that. Are you not a senior artist?
MVI: No, no, you are senior.
ARI: What does it matter if one is senior or junior, we are ‘so near’, is it not? I had to go to Shoranur on the 9th. There was a concert. That is why I had to leave after singing in our function on the first day itself.
MVI: Concert in Shoranur? Is Iyengar not in his sixty-sixth year now?
ARI: So what? Six plus six is twelve. That is it. Will our music become old because we have become old?
MVI: You are right Iyengar. If we sit idle, it makes us feel uneasy. If you start to sing, the inertia flies away.
ARI: That is all Pazhayathu (old), Iyerval, pazhayathu.
MVI: Not mere pazhayathu (the rice left overnight soaked in water), say pazhayathu and curd. What about you? Do you take idli and coffee?
ARI: Pazhayathu here also. I will get up at tree in the morning. I will sit in the thousand pillar hall in Srirangam and do sadhakam. I will wash the teeth, bathe and then go to my guru Namakkal Narasimha Iyer’s house and eat pazhayathu. Imagine the effect.
MVI: Does it need be told? OK, why remember it now?
ARI: How come you ask like that? Can we forget the pazhayathu (tradition?) Our music is pazhayathu (ancient), tradition is pahayathu (old), you and I are also pazhayathu (old, traditional). Your lineage is Thyagabrahmam, Maha Vaidyanatha Iyer and Umyalpuram Swaminatha Iyer. My lineage is Thyagabrahmam, Patnam Subramanya Iyer and Poochi Iyengar. In that way both of us are still clinging to the pazhayathu unchanged.
MVI: True. We still retain our tuft also. Does it not tell all?
ARI: Thank god, you did not mention that our music itself is preserved in our tufts.
MVI: Why doubt it? If in the midst of a concert, we unfurl the tuft, shake it and tie it back, will not kalpana be strewn?
ARI: Why only kalapana? From Maharajapuram tuft, a jasmine blossom also will be strewn.
MVI: Iyengarwal, I want to ask you something. You were on top in those days and are on top these days also. What is the secret for it?
ARI: Oy, I do not touch cards at all these days. Do not unnecessarily tease me.
MVI: No, I do not mean it. In your sAriram (voice) there is a kammal (hoarseness), you see..
ARI: There is kammal (ear ornament), that is why many take it on their ears. (In Tamizh it puns as wear on the ears and listen).
MVI: I know your wittiness. But, tell me how you keep your voice trim.
ARI: Iyerval, can you ask thus? Your voice which was amenable to four and a half kattai (pitch)..
MVI: That is missing. I am searching for it.
ARI: O, I understand now only.
MVI: What do you understand? You mean, the knack of my getting applause? What to do? The voice does not cope with my imagination. So, I lift both my hands and show some of my pidis in gesture. The audience also will explode into an applause.
ARI: Also there is the beauty of enjoying the music as it happens.
MVI: Iyengar, you are too unfair. You rely on the mike and sing to half kattai and break the knuckles of the accompanists. These days one has to play on the mridangam after wetting it. In a few days’ time, the boys will follow you to sing in lower kattai and run riot.
ARI: Is music not for relaxation? Does it amount to music only if one tears one’s vocal chord shouting like in Harischandra play?
MVI: It depends on one’s voice. If in those days our Konerirajapuram Vaidyanatha Iyer sang in four and a half kattai, where was the scope for any other music? Even if it took half an hour for the voice to align with the sruthi, once it did it would be a treat. Staring from three o’clock and a half in the afternoon till nine o’clock and a half in the night, it would be like lion’s roar.
ARI: True indeed, but I think there is difference between those days and now.
MVI: Why, in what way were the rasikas of those days less? Before Thalai GnAyiru Somu Bhagavathar sang RTP, it would be daybreak, I believe. To hear it people would come ten miles with packed food, it appears. Talk of Brahmananda Paradesi. It seems once he was singing a poem of Thayumanavar in a street corner in Kumbhakonam. There was no crowd for the concert of Maha Vaidyanatha Iyer arranged in another part of the town at the same time. Maha Vaidyaanatha Iyer himself went to the spot, heard the song and exclaimed ecstatically, ‘This is sankarabharanam, a real ornament for Iswara.’
ARI: You have left out Langudi Sivaraman, haven’t you? I cannot forget the bhairavi and darbar he sang one day.
MVI: Yes. He was one who mesmerised people like us, was he not? He would be wallowing in the drain dressed in a small cloth. But, those days S G Kittappa would ache for his music. For all that, Sivaraman’s need was two idlis and a cup of coffee in the morning, and two annas for kanja in the evening.
ARI: There were some rare beings in music. Pushpavanam comes to mind even now.
MVI: Why not? Aha, who can get that sweetness of voice? The world was entranced in his music like in Krishna’s flute. Take for instance the accompaniments those days. A fiddle Govindasamy Pillai, mridangam Azhaka Nambi Pillai, kanjira Mamundiya Pillai! How can we forget Thirukkodikkaval Krishniyer?
ARI: How can we? Forty four years have rolled by in a jiffy. My first performance was in 1912. It was a marriage in the house of a VIP in Kandanur. Konerirajapuram Iyerval concert was arranged. Do you know who the accompanists were? Thirukkodikkaval krishniyer was on the violin, Azhakanambi on mridangam, Dakshinamurthy Pillai on kanjira and Sundaramiyer on ghatam. It was over at twelve noon. The elders pushed me to the same stage to sing. My guru, Poochi Iyengar, was also there. Then, it was Krishniyer who encouraged me, “Ramanuja, come forward,” and made me sit in the middle. It was the blessing of that great man that is responsible for all my fame.
MVI: My first performance also was in 1912. That perhaps was an auspicious year. The coronation of Emperor George also took place that year.
ARI: He was George Bhupathi. You are Sangeetha Bhupathi. He has retired after his darbar. But you are continuing your darbar. That too, you have created a bani called Maharajapuram bani.
MVI: What about you? Is not Ariyakkudi bani blazing forth everywhere now? An evarimata, entharo mahanubhavulu, Janakiramana, not to forget to mention Subrahmanyaya namasthe specially.
ARI: Oy, if you enumerate in that vein, people will get the impression that I have not sung any Tamizh song.
MVI: Why do you get jittery so soon? You have sung thevaram, thiruvachakam, pasuram, Kavi Kunjara padam, Arunachal kavi Ramayanam and the like too. The song you sang ‘MAngAy pAlundu malai mel irupporkku thengAy pAl Ethukkadi kudambAy’ still rings sweet in the ears.
ARI: When we talk of songs and singers, how the time flies will not be noticed. I heard that our education minister Subramaniam also spoke in the function.
MVI: O, you missed it. He spoke that gurukulavAsam is the best.
ARI: The former times were suitable for gurukulavAsam. The vidwans were in villages. If they practiced for four hours, the neighbours would not object. Now, even if you tune tambura a little louder, they write a complaint.
MVI: Gone are the days of guru and sishya. They were times when reverence and loyalty prevailed. Then, the disciple derived happiness in washing the clothes of guru.
ARI: Now, we do not wear washed dhoti, do we?
MVI: Those days if the guru says to the sishya, “your singing is not bad,” ..
ARI: Why, instead of it, now they give degree, diploma, certificate and all. Ask our Musiri.
MVI: It is all very easy now. If you have eight items, you can shine with it.
ARI: Do you men four dhotis and four towels?
MVI: Not that. I mean that if one masters eight songs, one may become a vidwan. A half hour slot will be available in the radio. Did you notice another feature? Even listening a concert has become quite easy. Like getting medicine with a chit from the pharmacy, one enters in the middle of a concert, passes a chit saying ‘sing nagumomu’, and slips away after it is sung.
ARI: If everyone follows this practice of giving a chit each, what will happen?
MVI: What will happen? Only litter will remain on the stage.
ARI: Someone may write, ‘sing NI nAma,’ also, is it not?
MVI: If the performer does not sense the mood, he has to pocket it also.
ARI: Let that rest. Tell me about marriage concerts. Keeping us like toys in Kolu, their walking crisscross and the children shouting is insufferable.
MVI: What to do? If you decline, they do not leave you. They give the money in advance.
ARI: Is it not sadhakam (favourable) to us?
MVI: What, what?
ARI: We can keep doing sadhakam (practice) on the stage, you see.
MVI: Henceforth it may be worthwhile for the vidwans who have received awards from The President to have a self-discipline as to where all they can sing. By the way, were you not the first one to receive an award from The President?
ARI: What of that? I saw your getting first and then your disciple. Is that not a feather in your cap? Guru-sishya must be like that, is it not?
MVI: Everything is the grace of Thyagabrahmam. Seenu invited me to Thiruvanathapuram and honoured me greatly. He fell prostrate at my feet. Tears welled up in my eyes. Now also he was with us during the sixtieth birthday celebration.
ARI: The pride of claiming Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer as your disciple alone is enough for you. Will any number of celebrations be equal to it? You are fortunate. May I take leave? The taxi is waiting for long.
MVI: My God, did you come by taxi? Alas, it is waiting so long. The charge must have shot up.
ARI: Nothing to worry. It is to the account of the sabha. I will take leave. Your hundredth year celebration also must be as grand. On that day also I must sing. That is my wish.
MVI: Everything is the grace of Thyagabrahmam. But, before that I will attend Iyengarwal’s hundredth birthday and sing.

[kunthalavarali]

Thanks for providing link to the post.

I remember several other musicians (SSI, GNB, MMI, MTC and others) were featured in this "imaginary meetings". Though imaginary well researched presentation.

[Ramasubramanian M.K]

Great KVC!! Having been exposed to these giant stalwarts on their Off-stage comments, during my growing up years I can vouchsafe this is vintage. An anecdote re: MV's singing in Trivandrum.

MV was pestering SSI for a long time to have an introduction to the Maharaja and Maharani(Sethu Parvathi Bhai). SSI arranges a meeting as well as a concert before the Durbar. SSI knowing MV's stubborn penchant for only Thygabrahmam and the trinity's krithis,tries to 'finesse" the situation by urging TMT to "teach" MV a few Swathi Thirunal songs. Accordingly TMT teaches MV(which he agreed to with great reluctance but yielded to SSI's pleadings lest it endanger SSI's standing with the "Crown"!!).TMT teaches him Sarasaksha in Panthuvarali(because MV knows a couple of songs of Thyagaraja--Ninnu Nera,Vade Ra etc ). MV coolly listens. On the concert day in the Durbar MV starts his concert with the usual varnam etc. He starts Panthuvrarali Raga alapana and does a masterful job. SSI pleased that his Guru has acceded to his request,tries to relax--after the Violin interlude,MV starts Vadera much to the consternation of SSI. After the concert SSI laments MV's conduct--MV says ONLY THygarajakrithis are worth singing as I am from the Sishya parampara!!!! Luckily the Maharani did not take any umbrage as she was not aware of the 'prep" work done by SSI!!!!

You may ask How do I know this(Maharani's attitude)????--SSI served under the Maharani for 15 more years!!!!!

[arasi]

Ramesh,
One good thing leads to another. Hope you get to read more vintage stuff on the forum and get the urge to share your priceless experiences about musicians with us. Pasupathy is an endless source to inspire us.

Thanks to KVC for sharing this with the non-tamizh rasikAs who can't say, 'nAn tamizh nATTavan and can read tamizh'.

[Ramasubramanian M.K]

Arasi: Now you have got me going!! I will post a couple of anecdotes about MV. MV was an aristocrat of a Musician--a dandy in every respect.I have accompanied my parents to his house in Nungambakkam--I still remember Jambulinga Naicken St (forumites close to the MV lineage correct me on this!!). The food or coffee or betel leaves that he served was always the best--the conversations by the second would be brimming with "put-downs" of fellow musicians,observations about Institutions,Secretaries and the general public--no one would be spared including his sons Peria Kondu and Chinnakondu(MVSanthanam).

His loyalty to the Thyagraja tradition--much more than even Dikshitar or Syama Sastri-was legendary-- because of the lineage--Maha Vaidyanatha Iyer,Umayalpuram Swaminatha Iyer(both Semmangudi Narayanaswamy Iyer--SSI's elder brother who was given in adoption to one of SSI's aunts and MVI were both sishyas of Umayalpuram Swaminatha Iyer--the school disavowed most of the Vivadi krithis of Thyagaraja--SSI used to derisively call some of these ragas as "Singapore" ragas. Now younger forumites may legitimately question whether such fanatical adherence to a "tradition" that had not been fully established in the early part of the 20th Century was justified. That was the milieu amongst contemporary musicians of those times and the urge to explore new vistas was frowned upon. Ofcourse MV was more rigid in this respect than even ARI who was senior to him who equally was devoted to his lineage but diversified in his concerts later,

More later---

[Pasupathy]

As I vaguely remember , MVI introduced several 'new' Tyagaraja kritis during Tyagaraja Centenary Year.... like 'Abishta Varade' ( Hamsadhvani ), which , I think , most scholars now believe is not by Tyagaraja! Someone can correct my account.

[kunthalavarali]

I suppose MVI did sing at the Navarathri Mandapam (NM). I remember reading somewhere that once at the NM he was accompanied by DVN, PMI and PSP. If it is correct he must have sung whole lot of ST's composition. It would have indeed been music for the Goddess (literally).

[RaviSri]

MKR, very nice anecdote about Swati and MVI. Another one about Swati and Tiger. The latter was a substitute for some other musician at an AIR programme dedicated to Swati Tirunal. Sarukkai Gopalan was Director, AIR and T.Sankaran was Depy Director. Tiger asked T.Sankaran as to what he should sing. TS told him that it was already announced that it was to be a special Swati concert, upon which Tiger said, "Dey Shankara, puli pashichAlum pulla tinnAdurA (roughly, 'the tiger won't eat grass). Swati TirunAlAm Swati TirunAL" and proceeded to sing Shyama Sastri compositions. Gopalan and Sankaran could do nothing except wring their hands in frustration at this blatant violation of AIR "rules".

SSI's aversion to vivAdi ragas not withstanding, he used to sing varALI, nATa and vAgadIshwari often.

[rshankar]

RaviSri - Sarukkai Gopalan - was he related to bharatanATyam dancer, Ms. Malavika Sarukkai?

[Pratyaksham Bala]

Post #110 of -
http://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic ... &start=100

[rshankar]

Thanks PB! I forgot about that earlier post...thank you!

[sureshvv]

This was an anecdote narrated by TNS at one of his kalakshepams...

ARI and MV were both invited to this thyagaraja aradhana event and were seated in the front leading positions. ARI decided to let MV take the lead and said, "avar naalum therinjavar... mudhalla paadattum" to which MV replies with a guffaw.. "enakku anjum theriyum da"

[kvchellappa]

GNB-MMI

http://s-pasupathy.blogspot.in/2015/04/52.html

Snippet - 1
Subbudu on GNB
When GNB rose in the music sky fifty years ago, the old stalwarts of music were in jitters. For, GNB was a genius. He never had narrowness of mind. He did not sing the same old tunes, did not pass time with just twenty krithis, approached ragas and krithis aesthetically and created a great revolution in the world of music. His voice resembled nadaswara sound. It could straddle four sthayis. His voice could articulate his imagination.
He was a patron of music. He shared his music munificently with one and all who sought it from him. His disciples were a legion. No other great vidwan had this mindset or flair. It does not need evidence. It is open truth.

Snippet – 2
In the issue dated 22-7-56, a new humorous column commenced in Anandavikatan. Its caption was ‘IvargaL sandithAl.’
Let us first look at what writer Sridhar (Bharanidharan/Merina) and the late Gopulu said about it.

“One can say that there was no one in those days who did not read the column ‘IvargaL sandithAl.’ It was pinnacle of a satire that brought a new definition to the print media. I was amazed at the magical wizardry of the editor (Vasan) in getting four or five scribes to produce a draft, editing them drastically, chiselling and chastening them, imparting a flow and connectivity in them and churning an article.” Sridhar in ‘Vikatanil NAn’ in the diamond jubilee number.

“That period saw a downward swing for Vikatan. Then, Vasan began to take direct interest in the affairs of Vikatan with a view to bringing a new sheen to it. He would attend office daily and conduct a meeting with the editorial committee. He would give his ideas to improve Vikatan. He would solicit the views of everyone. Then was born this idea of ‘IvargaL sandithAl.’ In this series many interesting imaginary meetings took place describing what would happen if two opposite poles met and what they would talk, starting with Rajaji and EVR. They met with resounding reception by the readers.”
Gopulu in the series ‘Chithiram pesudaDi’ in Amudasurabhi 2007.

Pasupathi’s note: the first one was EVR-Vinobha meeting. It was followed by Rajaji-Kamarajar, Annadurai-Sriprakasa, Sivaji-MGR and so on. About twenty articles were published, I think.
In the series, articles on music and dance also appeared now and then. I post one on GNB here. This is also a tribute to his friend, Sri Madurai Mani Iyer.

Anandavikatan article
A saradu by our special correspondent
(A riksha is proceeding through Luz Church street in Mylapore. Sri Madurai Mani Iyer (MMI) is going to beach in it. A Ford car coming in the opposite direction grinds to a halt with a sputter. Opening the door, Sri G N Balasubramanian (GNB) gets down. Seeing it, MMI also gets down from the rikshaw).
GNB: Namaskaram Mani IyervAL. Seeing you, I intended to stop. Reading my mind, the car itself has stopped.
MMI: That is my good fortune.
GNB: Today is your birthday, is it not? It is Oct 25 today.
MMI: Adede, even I did not remember. Since you look into astrology, horoscope and the like, you have it in memory.
GNB: Where are you proceeding in the rikshaw?
MMI: Going to beach just like that. Where are you bound?
GNB: I was told that there is a house vacant in Egmore. I have been going to inspect it.
MMI: You have to change the house once a month, is it not?
GNB: A cuckoo hops from one branch to another as it sings. A musician likes sancharam!
MMI: Sancharam with you is not ordinary, it is fast paced, is it not?
GNB: Mani IyervAl you must not mention it. How many years senior to me you are!
MMI: Not at all. I was born in 1912 and am two years younger to you.
GNB: Senior or junior, we are so near.
(Both laugh).
MMI: Have you finished reading the last issue of Vikatan?
GNB: Come closer. That correspondent may be eavesdropping. OK, what is news then?
MMI: Come Novemeber, Tamizh Nadu will be carved out. Sri Prakasa is going to Bombay. Arrangement is on for Morarji to shift to the centre. It is not known who will be our governor.
GNB: I refer to musical snippets, but you..
MMI: O you asked about music, did you? Since the time you assumed charge as the producer of AIR, it is talked about that the young vidwans have a bonanza.
GNB: Pleased to hear it.
MMI: They also say that only your bani is on the air mostly.
GNB: Leave it. Mani IyervAL, when was your debut concert?
MMI: In twelve.
GNB: What! Was it as soon as you were born? (twelve is taken as 1912).
MMI: No, no. It was in my twelfth year in 1924. There was a kumbhabhishekam in Lavakottai. My first concert was on that occasion.
GNB: You are also like me. My first concert also was in Mylapore Kapali temple. But I was eighteen then. You have started in the twelfth year itself.
MMI: Even when I was five years old, I have heard my uncle Pushpavanam Iyer’s concert. He would start with Vatapi Ganapathim bhaje. In my ninth year, my father sent me to Rajam Bhagavathar to learn music. What I sing now is on the foundation laid by him. He was the disciple of Ettayapuram Ramachandra Bhagavathar, wasn’t he?
GNB: Yes, yes. Everyome used to talk about Ettayapuram Ramachandra Bhagavathar. Madurai Ponnusamy Pillai, Marungapuri Goplakrishna Iyer, Kanchipuram Nayana Pillai, Mazhavarayanendal Subbarama Bhagavathar all these learnt from him, didn’t they? That school was famous for singing swaram, I heard.
MMI: Everything is due to their grace. Otherwise, what swaram can I sing?
GNB: Did you not learn from Harikesanallur Muthaiyah Bagavathar also? We have the honour and fortune to preserve the music nourished by them with care. I would say that it is our blessing. But, look here, they call us modern vidwans, do you know?
MMI: That must be because we have removed the tuft and are sporting crop, not otherwise..
GNB: Not only that. Neither of us have done gurukulam for long you see.
MMI: For both of us, our fathers were the gurus. Those around then were gnasthas. We have mostly imbibed their music by just listening.
GNB: Indeed. Upstairs in our house, Sanjivi Rao would be pouring flute music always. Listening to it I would be mugging up Shakespeare. Otherwise my father would be cross.
MMI: Of course. Was he not headmaster of those days?
GNB: You give more than twenty concerts a month. How do you manage it?
MMI: That is recent. You will be surprised if you hear my story.
GNB: What is that?
MMI: I started concerts in 1924. In 1927 I lost my voice. Sruthi also dropped from five to four and a half; then four, two and a half, and two; then it plummeted to a half. When I started to sing, only air came from my throat. In the concert hall also there was more aeration as no one would be there in the audience.
GNB: Then what did you do?
MMI: Practice only. I started practising with sruthi of four kattai. The co-tenants would not snatch away my tambura, but go out on seeing me. They would return only after my practice was over. Struggling like this for long, I arrived in Madras finally.
GNB: OK, how is your city life?
MMI: Bale jor, bale jor pattaNavAsam.
GNB: What, Mani IyervAL, why do you sing film song?
MMI: Is there something special as film song? It should be pleasing to the ear and the idea must be agreeable to the mind. How does it matter what song it is? We must adopt what is good and reject what is bad.
GNB: I have forgotten films.
MMI: Is it not natural? If you play the role of Dushyantha, is not forgetting habitual?
GNB: You have a good memory.
MMI: I like everything. There is nothing I do not like. I will listen to film songs and also to the vina concert of Karaikkudi brothers.
GNB: They say that you are fond of Maharajapuram songs.
MMI: I regard him as my guru. His songs I love dearly.
GNB: In the same way I like Ariyakkudi songs. Each vidwan must know them. One day my father asked me to sing before him. He said, ‘Bale, Balu sings well,’ and patted me on the back. I remember it vividly.
MMI: Does your merit need mention? You have learnt from Madurai Subramanya Iyer. You have also taken lessons from Tiger Varadacharyar. You have obtained a diplomat also. It is a wonder that even after getting a diplomat you sing well.
GNB: What is the use of much learning? You must bring it out in your rendering, you see. That is what I learnt from Ariyakkudi. I feel veneration to him like Ekalavya.
MMI: You have pulled out the words from my mouth. I am happy with you about one thing above all. We can see it only in the vidwans of olden times. I see it today in you.
GNB: Which one? Snuff box or handkerchief?
MMI: Not that. I refer to your personality. When you take your seat royally on the dais with kunkuma pottu and diamond ring and dish out a few brigas, it would be electrifying. Look at anyone now, it is only GNB bani. They are all so elated to call themselves your sishya. I want to ask you something. I heard that you have decided to take as your disciple only the ones who are named Balasubramanyan. Is it true?
GNB: What am I to do? I get only Balus. You get Vembu.
MMI: Is he Vembu (bitter neem) for me? He is karumbu (sweet sugarcane) for me. What I wanted to say was that your father gifted education and you are gifting music. How many disciples lineage you have! Take Vasanthakumari for instance.
GNB: Everything is by the grace of elders. If I have to talk about you, I can go on for the entire day. Your singing Kana Kan Kotivendum of Papanasam Sivan alone is enough. Even if you sing only pa, pa, pa, da, da, da all day they lap it up. Let that be. It seems that once you fell on a bundle of leaves. When was it?
MMI: Why go into it? I was returning after a performance in Thiruvisainallur AyyAvAL festival. I was travelling in third class in the train and lying on the luggage plank above. I dozed off and in the jostling of the train I fell off unaware. On one side, there was a coconut baggage and on the other plantain stems. In the middle a bundle of leaves was there. I fell on the bundle.
GNB: Was it leaf? Like Mother Earth held Prahlada, the hands of the goddess of music have held you. Rajarajeswari has blessed you so that the entire world may hear your music. In any case, Mani IyerwAL, a good sishya lineage is set for you also. I heard the other day Savithri Ganesan sing. I was pretty pleased.
MMI: Though I do not have a large number of sishyas like you have, a number of them have cropped up who mimic me. I myself was stunned hearing them.
GNB: What is that?
MMI: They whistle like a train engine ‘E..E..E..Oo Oo Oo’ imitating me.
(Just then the driver informs GNB that the car has been repaired).
GNB: What Mani IyerwAL, the car is ready I believe. Why don’t you come with me for a ride?
MMI: My health being what it is, if your vehicle stops again, I will not be able to push it.
GNB: That won’t happen. If our vehicle aligns with the right pitch, no one can stop it. OK, namaskaram and goodbye. .

[Ramasubramanian M.K]

Great KVC--very authentic--GNB's frequent changing of houses was legendary. I myself have been to 2 of the houses he lived in--Santhome and on Kutcheri Road. He also changed cars frequently. An anecdote(I may have posted this in the GNB Biography(Vidwans and Vidushis Section). Pardon me for redundancy.

GNSir had advertised one of his old cars for sale. A prospective buyer--not familiar with Music or GNB's fame--approaches and asks permission for a test drive. After the test drive the prospective owner is very much upset with the car's condition and was irate at GNSir for trying to "palm off" a jalopy!
GNSir: How do you feel about the car?
Prospective BUyer: Agitated blurts out in Tamil--' ENNANGANUM CAR VACHIRUKKIRER?(What kind of a car you have and how dare you try to sell it off?
GNSr: What happened? What is wrong?

Buyer: ELLA PARTSUM ORE SATTAM PODUDHE!!(All parts are making noise)

GNSIR: YAR SONNA!! HORN AMUKKI PARUNGO. SATTAME VARADE( Who said so!! if you press the horn there would not be any noise!!).


An anecdote involving GNB and ARI. Once at the Music Academy(when the december festival was being held at the R.R.Sabha hall in Mylapore), GNSir and BABU Sir(Advocate C.K.Venkatanarasimhan who was Secretary of the MA) were in a heated argument over some trivial matter--both of them were good personal friends with each other-- ARI slowly approaches them(ARI was alway a curious inquisitive person in a positive way!) from behind GNB and asks What is happening? Why this fracas? GNB without turning around to see who made the remark says in Tamil"SUMMA IRUMGANUM!! ENGALUKKULLE AYIRAM IRUKKUM"(You do not interfere in this-- there may be 1000 things between the two of us).

ARI replies "ADUKKENNA AYNURU AYNURAI PANGITTUKKALAME"(So what!! You can split the 1000 into 500 each.)

On another similar occasion when two pople were conversing ARI intervenes and is brushed aside saying it does not concern him. ARI replies in Tamil" INDA ARIYAKUDI RAMANUJAMUM ARIYAAKUDIYA VISHAYANGAL IRUKKALAME:( Ariyakkudiya in Tamil translates to gaining knowledge) !!