In Gayathri Venkataraghavan's Gowrimanohari alapanai, in TMK's Manji, in Sanjay's Shubhapanthuvarali thanam, and in Neyveli and Charulatha Ramanujam's Keeravani thanam, there were moments where music almost tangibly touched the rasika's soul. In this concert, there were so many of these moments that the music and the soul no longer appeared to be different entities. Indeed, this was where all the musical rivers converged, where all the raga devathais convened, as TNK swivelled through the nuances of Bahudari, treaded gently through every contour of Thodi, played a neraval in Thaye Yeshoda that would certainly have drawn many a contented sigh from Madurai Mani in heaven, played a Neelambari in mandra sthayi that would have drawn tears from stone, and then, when the concert appeared to be over, there was a meditative journey through Sindhu Bhairavi. With his daughter understanding his mood very early in the concert, there was pristine harmony. With the soft support of Guruvayur Dorai, and his immense left-side playing, there was only one word to describe the whole evening. T.N. Krishnan's music has been sculpted most painstakingly, with the sculptor caring for it with fierce paternal love, quick to erase the slightest blemish or ailment, sculpting, resculpting, sculpting again, hoping to attain this one quality, and as this sculpture was unveiled this evening, not for the first time, the rasika gazed open-mouthed, awestruck, as though it was indeed the first unveiling of this work of musical art, taking in, unable to take in, the towering majesty of a statue glistening in utter and absolute
Perfection.