Ksheerasagara Sayana

One of the most powerful renditions of this song set in Devagandhari by Swami Thyagaraja, I heard a couple of years back. I can never forget it. Each time I listen to this song, it brings back the ringing tones, perfect diction and command over the flow and the improvisations that seemed to tumble out without any artifice. Genius. Not to mention the least the devotion and expressions of the singer.

To this day, I hold that I have never heard a better rendition. Of course, the fact remains that I may have been bowled over by the singer. :) He was my grandfather.

Thatha had come home for amma had promised to take him to Thiruvananthapuram for Swami Ananthapadmanaba' s darshan. That day, an afternoon right after siesta. I bugged thatha who was sleeping to sing. I even remember the songs. My favorite that my grandpa sang was Samajavaragamana in Hindolam. But always partial to Devagandhari and Ksheerasagarasayana. Whoever the singer is. When thatha started this song, I just closed my eyes and listened.

What made the occasion more special was, when he finished singing I played the same song by BMK to him. When Thatha was at the Madras airport to fly to Thiruvanthapuram that very night, he met BMK in person and spoke with him. Even mentioned my name to him :)))) BMK was humile for a change and attributed all his successes to blessings of elders like my thatha. A very very special occasion for both me and thatha.

My anna said, "The pleasantest times I ever spent with thatha were the mornings and evenings by his side listening to him sing."

Thatha has been famous for a lot of other things amongst the family's kids. He once ran a knife through the carrom board because we were still playing at around 10:30 PM. :) Even more infamous for switching off the TV when we were engrossed under blankets watching "Rasathi varum naal"..the then super horror movie. The only thing he watched was NEWS in doordarshan. He made me stand outside one day when I returned home from TVS late at around 10:00 PM. He wanted to come and meet my manager :) Poor patti. She put up with a lot of his idiocies without which he would not be Raju thatha.

That voice. Which both brings smiles and tears to my eyes. Smiles because I remember being royally scolded and tears because belonging to his blood, I cant even maintain my shruthi.

That voice passed away out of this world quietly. One Morning. Thatha silently left us. He had been hospitalized for a week. Actually, he was admitted to the hospital the very night I left for the States. He was improving but suddenly he just decided that. I don't know.

I had the great blessing of being there to meet him alive. Prostate at his feet. Get his blessings. It was as though I was there by a miracle. I went to my mom's ancestral house as is the tradition. Spent kannum pongal there. Kannu podi, blessings, photos, smiles, hugs, kisses, lots and lots of food. Thatha was very very happy.

A very very strong person, extremely honest and outright (I remember his florid letters to my cousin's school teachers on one occasion or another), equally short tempered, tall with the Iyengar nose, never compromising on excellence, superb English, courage, thrift, fortitude and forgiveness. This is how I remember my thatha.

Getting 4 girls married despite family scorn for his poor situation in life(for which he was never responsible), meager pay, moving to Chennai from Ramnad, seeing his sons well settled.

I am proud of my thatha. He was the Man of my family. He is responsible for what we are today. He shaped my mother(called her Thangappa affectionately) and my father indirectly.

For me, both my maternal grandparents are still living. They are alive in my heart.

In those evenings when I get reminded of my happy and their dreaded holidays back at TP Koil street and later at Korattur, I relive every moment that I spent with them. The melancholy is both inviting and soothing. As I close my eyes and think, every moment is replayed as captured in my mind. It reminds me of the gloomy afternoon before the rain. It is both inviting and strangely happy. Beautifully dappled with melancholy. And then it rains.