Akkaraikku Ikkarai Pachchai

Introduction

‘Ikkaraikku Akkarai Pachchai’ is a Tamil idiom which conveys the sense that just as the grass on the other bank of a river seems greener to a cow that is grazing on this bank, humans tend to imagine that what others have is superior to what they have, be it in material possessions or station in life. The same meaning can be found in the expression ‘The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence’. Am I trying to stand the Tamil idiom on its head? Not really. Please read on.

Akkarai

The Akkarai of my blog post is not the distant bank that was the object of the cow’s longing but the village Akkarai near the town of Suchindram in Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu. In the last thirty years, the village has been tagged to Carnatic violinist-vocalist Subhalakshmi who has made it famous. I have been fan of Akkarai Subhalakshmi (AS) for the last twenty years or so, first as a violin accompanist and then as a violin as well as vocal duet artist with her younger sister Sornalatha. On the 17^th, 18^th and 20^th of this month, I had the pleasure of listening to AS playing with three top vocalists in Rama Navami concerts at Mysore. The billing had Abhishek Raghuram, Kunnakudi M Balamuralikrishna and T M Krishna as the lead artists. But all those who heard AS play were left in no doubt that she was only second among equals. She kindly found some time on the 20^th for a freewheeling chat with me about her life, music and related matters. At my request. she agreed to a followed up telephonic chat on 29^th April. This blog is based on those two conversations.

Debut at the age of 4

At the outset, AS attributes all her achievements to her father and guru Akkarai S Swamynathan and his single-minded focus on his daughters’ musical grooming with her mother A Janaghi being the calming influence in their lives. Even at a very young age, her father initiated AS into vocal music and did not want her to ‘waste’ any time away from music. Hence, in the summer of 1988, he packed off AS, then a mere child of four, to his parents in Nagercoil after sending them a telegram about the arrival of their granddaughter next morning by an overnight bus from Madras. As the grandparents were away at a musical performance, the telegram was received by a neighbour. He informed the grandfather who was of course there at the bus stand to receive AS. She continued to train during the holidays with her grandmother who was a Harikatha exponent and music teacher. AS practiced singing with her at home. When she was to actually accompany her grandmother on stage, AS fell sick but insisted on going with her and being given a chance. Though reluctant at first, the grandmother finally relented and AS sang a few songs. She recalls that as her unscheduled but memorable musical ‘debut’.

Madras and Delhi

AS’s father who worked for the Indian Bank was posted in Madras during her early childhood. In 1990, he was transferred to Delhi where the family spent the next nine years. AS and her sister continued their training with their father. But in the Delhi of those days, not many concerts were being organised. The father was keen that she should not develop stage fear and so AS started playing the violin for renowned dancers like Swapna Sundari and Leela Samson who were knowledgeable about Carnatic music and travelled with them on their dance tours. In between, she and her sister Sornalatha who was also being groomed by their father, started singing vocal duets at local sabhas and temples.

The family used to come down to Madras during the Music Season to attend as many concerts as possible and also explore opportunities for AS to perform. In the summer of 1998, AS remembers giving a one-hour programme on Vijay TV, half-an-hour each for violin and vocal. The show was a great hit and she came to be noticed. Friends of the family advised AS and her father that with her talent, she needed to be in Madras and not anywhere else. Connoisseurs like T S Narayanaswamy started taking interest in her music.  

The 1998 Debut with Abhishek Raghuram

AS firmly believes that there is a divine hand that shapes our lives at every stage. In the winter of 1998, the family could not come down to Madras. Only AS and her father were able to make it. AS had already come to the notice of Mr. Venkataraman of the Mylapore Fine Arts Club and he fixed up for AS to accompany Abhishek Raghuram, then a rising star in Carnatic music, with strong pedigree. As it happened, AS was also featured for a concert at Vani Mahal on the same day/time slot. Venkataraman again came to their rescue and talked to the organisers of the latter programme to move AS to a different slot and the two teenagers came to give their first concert together. AS recalls that as the curtains went up, the audience welcomed Abhishek with thunderous applause but seemed disappointed that he was being accompanied by an unknown violinist. It was only after the second piece of the concert in Sahana that those who came to scoff remained to praise her! After that, there was no looking back!

Violin-Vocal Balance

To my query as to when her career also as a vocalist took off, AS says that it was a gradual transition which also had the hand of their father in it. She had become a much sought-after accompanist and had to travel a lot both in India and abroad. The strain began to tell and she had to refuse many opportunities. At that stage, the father suggested to his daughters that they should resume giving vocal duets on stage. Opportunities soon came their way and they quickly made their mark as vocalists. Sharing her thoughts on the matter, AS told me that proficiency in playing a fretless instrument like the violin helps a vocalist and vice-versa.

AS and Sornalatha are now popular accompanists as well as violin and vocal duet artists. Speaking for herself, AS says that she has become a little choosy in selecting her concerts. She found her role as accompanist becoming more strenuous if she played with a large number of diverse but talented vocalists. So, she confines herself now to a few of them. This enhances her creativity and comfort level. Apart from the three vocalists she accompanied in Mysore, she has also been playing for Chitraveena Ravikiran since 1999. Through him, she got the opportunity to play with mridangam maestros like Palghat Raghu and Umayalpuram Sivaraman as well as kanjira stalwart Harishankar for which is she is so grateful.

Violinists and Vocalists of Yore

When I ask her about past violinists she admires, AS mentions Lalgudi Sir with reverence. To her, he was the complete musician who exceled as a pakka vadhya, a soloist or in a duet with his family and as a composer. She admires MSG for his perfectionism, sadhakam, complete control over the instrument and the distinctive Parur bani. To my follow-up question on which of the past vocalists she would have loved to accompany, “All of them” is the unhesitating reply. In Delhi, her father had made AS ‘accompany’ leading vocalists whose radio concerts he would diligently tape for their use. Though she recalls many such vocal concerts, she is unable to pin-point any one vocalist as a favourite. “They were all the same to me, because I was ‘learning’ the violin those days and what was important to me was to imbibe the correct response to the singing of those legends, under the guidance of our father”, she says. 

Gender Bias and its Reverse

AS feels that gender bias in Carnatic music works in two ways. Quite a few male singers are not ready to share the stage with female violinists. Equally, some female singers prefer male violinists to accompany them. I ask her about T Rukmini. AS says that she had heard that T Rukmini had come up because of the patronage of broad-minded artists like Flute Mali.

Today’s Talent

AS admires the talented youngsters in Carnatic music today. She thinks that thanks to the multiple platforms and social media tools available to them, they get a lot of exposure at a very young age and are able to hone their skills much better through modern technology. At the same time, she is also aware of the pressures operating on them. She worries that after the ‘premature stardom’ they achieve, some of them may burn out faster due to the constant challenge of improving themselves, presenting something new and logging in more kutcheris. She feels that because of intensive competition and financial pressures, some young musicians may become concert-oriented before they develop their knowledge fully. She points out that these are signs of the times we live in and not specific only to the music field.

Summing Up

Reflecting on my two conversations with AS, I am left with a sense of having spoken with a complete, composed and contemplative artist who is a unique success-story. AS was very talented and came from a family of musicians, composers and teachers. That did not give her a head-start, since the family was not from Madras but from far away Akkarai and was not networked with the musical aristocracy in Madras. AS had to fight her own battles to overcome the disadvantages of her background as a first-generation musician and a female musician. Hers is thus the story of a close-knit family standing for each other and forging successfully ahead despite the odds.

Akkarai Swamynathan was shaped by his circumstances. Though he was multi-talented musically, he had to sacrifice his ambition of pursuing music as a career option and seek a banking job to take care of his family. So, he decided that his daughters would transcend the handicaps he had faced and conquer the musical world. And how well has he succeeded! I asked AS if she would describe hers as the Lalgudi or the Parur bani. Her clear reply was: “No. I do not belong to any of these banis. This is truly our father’s now. People even say it is the Akkarai bani. All credit to our father.” AS has students from all over the world. “Hoping to see them shine like us or more is our father’s dream. We will follow his footsteps to achieve that dream of his.’, she firmly says.   

In the context of my blog, ‘Akkarai’ can either denote the maha vidwans of yore or the superstars of today. The remarkable thing about AS is that while she venerates the ‘vidwat’ of the greats of yester years, she does not hanker after the past. She finds professional pride and pleasure in accompanying a few preferred vocalists and teaming up with her sister to give vocal or violin duets to appreciative audiences, as she continues to ‘grow’ as a musician. For her therefore, ‘Ikkarai’ is not all that bad! As an Ikkarai votary, she is content with the ‘now’, rather than long for the ‘then’ even though she may continue to draw inspiration from there.   

More importantly, to the grandparents of AS, ‘Akkarai’ was the village they came from. Thanks to the tireless efforts of the father and his two hard-working daughters, ‘Akkarai’ the village has been replaced by ‘Akkarai’ the violin bani in one generation. ‘Ikkarai’ is the world of music now where two female vocalists-cum-violinists have overcome the limitations of their geography and gender to silently launch the Akkarai bani in violin. It is in this sense that  I use the new idiom Akkaraikku Ikkarai Pachchai, the title of my blog! Take a bow, Subhalakshmi – and Sornalatha – for all that you have already achieved at such a young age under the guidance of your father!      

This is by no means the complete story of the Akkarai family. For that, I refer you in particular to the link: https://akkarai.in/akkaraisisters/ index.html.  

I realise that despite all her success, AS may not be as well-known as she deserves to be, to the readers of my blog. So, I want to conclude by giving all of you a sampler of the varied musical talent of AS and her sister. I have listed short clips of her/their concerts below. You have only to click on the names of the artists to watch the video and enjoy the music! Please take your time and savour the snippets at leisure.

1. Abhishek Raghuram – 1998 Concert
2. Abhishek Raghuram
3. Kunnakudi M Balamuralikrishna
4. Kunnakudi M Balamuralikrishna
5. T M Krishna
6. Chitra Veena Ravi Kiran
7. Akkarai Sisters (Nambi Kettavar Evarayya)
8. Akkarai Sisters (Ananda Thandavam)
9. Akkarai Sisters (Sindhu Bharatam)

S. Krishna Kumar

30^th April 2022

Bengaluru

Blog # 38

Binging on Mysore

Introduction

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines ‘binge’ as “an unrestrained and often excessive indulgence” and ‘binging’ as the act of going on a binge. Vilasini and I were introduced to the word in 2017 in the USA where we had ‘binge watched’ the TV series House of Cards and The Crown. The word has become more common in recent years with people talking about binge drinking, travel and even shopping as a push-back to the lockdowns and restrictions of the pandemic. Last month, when I received invitations for the Rama Navami music festivals in Mysore from my friend Himamshu, it suddenly dawned on me that Vilasini and I had not made a road trip or attended a live music concert since 2019. So, we decided to make up for lost time and do some ‘binging’ in Mysore.

The Road Trip

We left Bangalore a little after 8:30 on the morning of Saturday, 16^th April. With a stop over for breakfast, we had hoped to reach Mysore in about four hours. It actually took us five hours due to the massive highway upgradation that is going on along practically the entire stretch after Kengeri. Near all the major towns en route, new elevated bypasses are being built along fresh alignments that must have involved large-scale land acquisition. NHAI seems to be targeting Dasara 2022 for getting the Rs. 8,000+ crores project completed. We may be able to travel door-to-door from Bangalore to Mysore in under three hours by next year.  

Rama Navami Music

We attended four concerts, two each at Sri Bidaram Krishnappa Prasanna Seetharama Mandira (Ranjani-Gayathri and T M Krishna) and the Sri Ramabhyudhaya Sabha aka Moole Rama Mandira (Abhishek Raghuram and Kunnakudi M Balamuralikrishna). All the three male vocalists were admirably supported on the violin by Akkarai Subhalakshmi. They were in top form and all the concerts were enjoyable, except perhaps that of Abhishek which was a bit too gimmicky for our liking. But listening to the artists in the traditional temple atmosphere of Bidaram or the open pandal of Moole Rama Mandira was an experience. Having heard most concerts in the last ten years or more in auditoria like the Music Academy or the Chowdiah Memorial Hall, it was good to go back to more traditional listening environments. The majority of the audience consisted of young fans and younger disciples who sang silently with the artists and enjoyed themselves thoroughly. The sheer joy on their faces as they lapped up the music dished out by the singers was a sight to behold. Having grown up listening to concerts of the likes of MS and Semmangudi organised by the Malleswaram Sangeetha Sabha at the Rama Mandira between the East and West Park Roads, I felt happy that in cities like Mysore at least, that kind of an ambience is still available to those who want to get their music live rather than through YouTube or other electronic channels.

The Morning Walks

Rather than use the gym at the two hotels we stayed in, Vilasini and I decided to go on morning walks to explore the city. At the first hotel, the Puthali Udyana Vana maintained by the Mysore City Corporation was very close by. So, we walked there every morning. As we did our rounds, we found the tourist city of Mysore waking up. A number of Tempo Travellers were rounding up their passengers to leave the city and perhaps head to another city. The neighbouring Aishwarya Grand restaurant was doing brisk breakfast business already. Traffic was yet to build up on the wide Sayyaji Rao Road. It was nice to see the roundabout named the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Circle. How appropriate that Mysore, once a renowned education centre, should remember India’s first Education Minster thus!

Good Samaritans

For our walks on the last two days, we picked the Tavarekatte Road going to Chamundi Hills. It is popular among morning walkers and joggers. Here we met Lokesh and Ananth. Lokesh has been walking on that road for 35 years and comes back on his bicycle to feed stary dogs at multiple locations. Ananth, who took early retirement after two corporate jobs not only feeds the dogs but also attends to their other needs such as spaying, medicines, etc. Without bitterness, he says it is difficult to get the support of animal welfare agencies in the city without paying bribes. We also ran into the mother of Disha Kavery, a high school student in Mysore who had turned professional golfer recently. After dropping Disha off at the Jayaramachamarajendra Golf Club, she was taking a brisk walk instead of sitting idly in the car! We were pleasantly surprised that a lot of greenery had been preserved by the owners of farms, nurseries and gardens. Our walk was peppered with cries of peacocks from the adjoining jungle that all but drowned the sweeter sounds of the many species of birds that were flitting from tree to tree!

The Tourism Industry in Mysore

Since my postings there in 1980-81 and 1990-92, I have only been an occasional visitor to Mysore both while in service and thereafter. I had heard of the domestic tourist boom of the last few decades. In this trip, Vilasini and I experienced it firsthand. We could see hundreds of hotels in Mysore listed on sites such as Bookings.com. Every other property on major roads is a hotel. With the renewed interest in holidaying, more people are traveling and the hotels are full. We met families of traveling with grandparents, parents and children and from states like Punjab and Bengal. We met some families from Karnataka who were either on their way to or returning from places like Ooty.

Sadly, we do not have a system of capturing dis-aggregated, regional data but I am sure that the GDP of a city like Mysore must be growing at a fast clip, with a lot of new jobs being created in the tourism sector. This trip also gave us an inking into the massive challenge of skill and attitude upgradation that is called for. The managements of the hotels are finding it particularly hard to get replacements for the trained out-of-State staff who left during the pandemic and train the new ones on the job. But there is no doubt that many of our young women and women can get an opening in this industry and become upwardly mobile.                    

The Food

We had a leisurely and heartly breakfast every morning at the hotel from the generous buffet spread that was laid out. There were many healthy and unhealthy options and I at least did not always choose wisely and well. After a heavy breakfast, we did not want any lunch. And after the evening music concert, we were in no mood for a late-night dinner. So, we went out for evening snacks on a couple of days. One other days, we managed with what we could get at the hotel. Overall, compared to expectations when we left Bangalore, we surprised ourselves by being rather moderate in our food intake!

Binging

We had left Bangalore thinking that during the next six days, we will be binging on music, food and other tourist distractions in Mysore. In the event, none of that happened. Instead, we binged on Mysore itself. The city has its own identity and character which Vilasini and myself saw in all its unspoken glory. Taking up music first, it was not the kind of binging that I had done in Chennai during the Music Season years ago, sometimes logging in three or four concerts in a day hopping from Sabha to Sabha. In Mysore, there was only the evening Rama Navami concert to attend and it unfolded leisurely over three to four hours. Most attendees knew each other. As Gayathri said after their concert, music just happens when talented artists are in the presence of an appreciative audience in a divine ambiance!

It then dawned on me that one does not binge in Mysore but on Mysore. If you were on a ‘been-there-done-that’ kind of binge trip, Mysore has many attractions. On the other hand, if you want to savour the city and its old-world charm, there is plenty that too on offer. At the Moole Rama Mandira, Rama Navami concerts have been going on since 1890. The Bidaram Krishnappa temple celebrated its 106^th Heritage Ramanavami Music Festival this year. Pedigree such as this is hard to create or match. Every top musician and most budding artists have performed at these venues. That is why attending concerts at these places is a unique experience.

It is all the more remarkable that these two institutions have been able to keep the festivals going through sponsorships and small donations from ordinary people. They are not the only ones. Sri Prasanna Vidya Ganapathi Mahotsava Charitable (SPVGMC) Trust, popularly known as Vontikoppal 8^th Cross Ganapathi, has hosted the best Carnatic musicians during their annual music festivals for the last sixty years. The Wodeyar kings were great patrons of art and culture in the State of Mysore. Living institutions like Sri Ramabhyudhaya Sabha Public Charitable Trust, Sri Bidaram Krishnappa Prasanna Seetharama Mandira and SPVMC Trust who are quietly bringing the artists and the rasikas together to keep classical music alive and well are the true inheritors of that glorious Mysore tradition. May it last long!

S. Krishna Kumar

22^nd April, 2022,

Mysore

Blog # 37       

Thiruvady Charanam

Introduction

Thiruvadi is a compound Tamil word which is a combination of ‘Thiru’ and ‘Adi’ meaning sacred feet such as those of a deity or a saint. But in this blog, I use Thiruvady, the Anglicised variant of Thiruvadi, for the post is about Vijay Thiruvady, Botanist and Historian with whom I, along with some twenty others, had the pleasure of going around Cubbon Park on Sunday, 3^rd April ’22 from 7 to 9:30 AM. For the record, the walk was organised by the Bangalore Club for its members and I was the guest of my school-mate and dear friend Bhupat who is a member.

Vijay Thiruvady

Vijay needs no introduction. He has informed and inspired thousands of Bangloreans through his Lalbagh Walks. Vilasini and I had discovered him there more than ten years ago. We were so blown away by his mastery over the subject and his way of communicating it that we must have gone back at least half-a-dozen times with family and visitors from within and outside India. Hence, I was mentally prepared for the Cubbon Park Walk. But what I saw was vintage Vijay, mellowed by the passing years no doubt, but brimming with facts and insights about architecture and administration that I found utterly fascinating. Unlike some of the guests, I chose not to record on my phone what Vijay told us that morning. Therefore, this blog is more a recap of the impressions I was left with rather than an accurate recounting of all that Vijay said. I have tried to paraphrase him as accurately as I could from memory and added some information available on Wikipedia and other online sources. Here goes!

Statue of Queen Victoria (1906)

The walk started at the Statue of Queen Victoria. This sculpture is 11 feet in height and made of a single block of marble, mounted on a granite pedestal 13 feet tall. The statue shows the Queen wearing the Order of the Garter robes decorated with tassels and roses. She is carrying a sceptre and an orb with a cross. Vijay pointed out how many Indians visit London, see the Victoria Memorial outside Buckingham Palace built by the British sculptor Sir Thomas Brock and come back without knowing that the statue of Queen Victoria in Bangalore was also done by the same celebrity sculptor. The statue was shipped from England and arrived in Bangalore in July 1905. The then Prince of Wales unveiled the Statue on 5 February 1906.

The statue was an important landmark. To the east of it was the British Civil and Military Station and to the west was the territory of the Maharaja of Mysore who, along with the residents, had contributed funds for building the statue. Vijay pointed out how church services in the two areas were in different languages, with Tamil being prevalent in the area under British jurisdiction. I told Vijay that this territorial divide continued even in education till many years after independence and that students from St. Joseph’s and Central College in the same city would get their degrees from Madras and Mysore Universities respectively!   

Sir Mirza Ismail (1883-1959) and the Tree Wealth of Bangalore

Vijay told us that the road in Cubbon Park running parallel to Queen’s Road has valuable Mahogany trees. The Park itself has many species of flowering trees. He pointed out to us the many Jacaranda, Peltophorum and Tabebuia trees with their distinct purple, yellow and pink flowers. He said that Dewan Sir Mirza Ismail was responsible for the extensive planting of Peltophorum in Bangalore, for he was in love with the carpet of bright yellow flowers under that tree. Vijay also related the fascinating story of Krumbiegel, the Superintendent of Lal Bagh and the ‘Maharaja’s German Gardener’ who was responsible for planting the boulevards of Bangalore with sequentially-flowering trees. Bangalore is the only city in India with this distinction. Vijay also drew our attention to other interesting flora such as the Cannonball Trees, Fig Trees that are efficient water-harvesters and Rain Trees that provide good shade.  

The German Connections

As an aside, Vijay said that though a botanist by training, Krumbiegel’s was appointed as an architectural consultant to the government, despite protests of the British Resident.  During the Second World War, Germans in India were declared as enemies and Krumbiegel had to be held in an internment camp. The Victory Hall in Cubbon Park was built in 1945 by the German architect Otto Koenigsberger, an early pioneer in green buildings. He rejected suggestions to add domes and clock towers to the structure to conserve resources and energy. Sir Mirza Ismail worked out a modus operandi to overcome British objections – the names of Krumbiegel and Koenigsberger would not figure in the foundation stones or plaques! Intended as a Club for the Armed Forces, Victory Hall became a theatre after Independence. I recall that during my school days, the SSLC examination results would be first published in the notice boards there! Vijay also shared the interesting fact that the name of Koenigsberger was suggested to Mirza Ismail by his uncle and theoretical physicist Max Born who worked at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) for a short while at the invitation of C V Raman. Max Born went on to win the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1954. Had he continued at the IISC, we would have had a second Nobel Prize in Physics with an India connection!    

Attara Kacheri (1868)

This is the erstwhile name of the building that now houses the High Court of Karnataka. It was so called because it housed the 18 departments of the then Government of Mysore. It is a two-storeyed structure surrounded on all sides by porticoes and verandahs which ensured that the rooms had good light and ventilation. The building is plastered and painted with red ochre. Construction of Attara Kacheri began in 1864 and was completed in 1868. It is in the neo-classical style with Ionic columns and Grecian tiles. Our group did not go to the Attara Kacheri, perhaps because visitors may not be allowed there.   

Cubbon Park (1870)

It was established in 1870 as a ‘lung space’ attached to the Attara Kacheri in the Central Administrative Area. It was first named as Meade’s Park and renamed as Cubbon Park after the Commissioner Sir Mark Cubbon. In memory of Chamarajendra Wodeyar who ruled Mysore State from 1868 to 1894, it was renamed Chamarajendra Park in 1927. According to Vijay, the park is a unique British gift to India. Earlier, the various Baghs were private gardens for the pleasure of the rulers and their families. The park as a public space to which the ordinary citizen would have access emerged only during the British period.

Vidhana Soudha (1956)

Even for someone like me who had worked from Vidhana Soudha, Vijay had some interesting perspectives to share. The first was that Vidhana Soudha was the then-Chief Minister Kengal Hanumanthaiah’s architectural response to the colonial style embodied in the Attara Kacheri. Wikipedia confirms this and records that an official committee had observed that Hanumanthaiah “…was driven primarily by the desire to vanquish visually the Attara Kacheri building, a symbol of imperial power, in length, height and majesty.”

Vijay said that Hanumanthaiah intentionally built Vidhana Soudha across from the Attara Kacheri at a slightly higher elevation. The chief architect was BR Manickam, assisted by Hanumantha Rao Naidu. In it, one can note neo-Dravidian templates as well as Indo-Saracenic and European design styles with a central dome going up 55 metres above ground level. Vijay spoke of the temple architectural nuances present in the columns, brackets and chajjas as well as the Rajasthani-style balconies. 1,500 sculptors and 5,000 laborers are reported to have worked on the building. Vijay told us that while the skilled masons came from Tamil Nadu, the bulk of the workforce consisted of prisoners from the Central Jail. After the Vidhana Soudha was completed, they were pardoned and set free. We avoided going to the Vidhana Soudha, again perhaps for security reasons.

Bandstand (1917)

It is an ornamental eight-pillared iron structure built in 1917. According to Vijay, the bandstand could well have been fabricated in India. But it was imported from Macfarlane & Co. to show off the dominance of Britain. Initially, the best regimental bands played there mostly for the soldiers and local residents. After Independence and with the growing popularity of Indian film music, many local ‘orchestras’ would perform there on Sunday evenings and regale the floating audience with popular hit songs. During my school days, I have myself been to some of these shows.

Lieutenant-General Sir Richard Hieram Sankey (1829-1908)

Most of us know Sankey as the person after whom Sankey Tank is named. Vijay reminded us that he was a distinguished soldier-engineer who had excelled in both fields and even taken time off to work overseas. Sankey was commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the Madras Sappers in 1846, rose to the rank of Major General in 1883 and retired in 1884 with the honorary rank of Lieutenant-General. He had seen action during the 1857 Indian War of Independence and the Second Afghan War (1878-80). In 1864, he was made the Chief Engineer at Mysore where he constructed many roads, buildings, tanks and canals. He was transferred to the Royal Engineers in 1862 when India came under direct rule of the British crown and went on to serve in Madras. Given his experience with hydrological systems in Mysore, Sankey was invited by the colonial governments of Victoria and South Australia in the 1870s to advise them on water supply and flood control. Vijay confirms having read Sankey’s reports at the Public Library in Melbourne. Besides the Sankey Tank (1860), he gave Bangalore the St. Andrew’s Church (1864), Cubbon Park (1864), Attara Kacheri (1868) and the Museum (1877). A remarkable Irish man and an inspirational career!

Lieutenant-General Sir Mark Cubbon (1775-1861) and his Statue

Mark Cubbon was a British army officer with the East India Company who was the Commissioner of Mysore State from 1834 to 1860 who “…through action in all spheres of governance helped develop the economy of Mysore.”, according to Wikipedia. He resigned on health grounds in 1860 and died in 1861 at Suez on his way back to England for the first time after he came as a cadet to India in 1800. His equestrian statue was unveiled in 1866 and placed in the parade ground initially. It was later moved in front of the Attara Kacheri (the present High Court of Karnataka) where it became a well-recognised feature. In June 2020, the government moved it to the Cubbon Park where it now stands facing the Public Library. Vijay is quite cut up that the relocation was done without consultation and proper planning.

Seshadri Iyer Memorial Hall/Statue/Public Library (1908/13)

Vijay decided that for want of time, our group would not be able to walk to the Public Library. He gave us an overview about it from across the road. K Seshadri Iyer was the longest-serving Dewan of Mysore State from 1883 to his death in 1901. Vijay regaled us with accounts of Seshadri Iyer’s many contributions to the building of modern Bangalore, including how he had sent engineers from Mysore to study the world’s first hydro-electric unit at Niagara Falls and replicated it later at Shivanasamudram to supply power to Kolar Gold Fields first and then to Bangalore. Lord Curzon, the then Viceroy, took the lead to have a memorial hall and a bronze statue built in his honour by donating Rs. 500 which was more than matched by the people of Mysore. Sankey designed the building with its central portion being higher than the side structures so as to give it an elevated look. The open verandahs ensured that there was enough natural light inside the building. The memorial and the statue were ready in 1908. The Viceroy and Governor General of India Lord Hardinge unveiled them in 1913. Vijay cited this wait of five years to show how the British were very particular about getting the highest dignitaries to honour the memory of those whom they respected! In 1914, the then Dewan M Visvesvaraya decided that a library would be started at the memorial and accordingly, the State Public Library opened there on 1^st May, 1915.

Chamrajendra Wodeyar Statue

Chamarajendra Wodeyar was the Maharaja of Mysore from 1881 to 1894. His statue which was unveiled in 1927 is located near the tennis stadium with a fountain in front of it. This was our group’s last point of call and Vijay made it memorable with an unbelievable true story. Fearing trouble, a wing of the Nepal royal family with three brothers and a dotty sister had moved to Bangalore during Dewan Mirza Ismail’s time. The sister who loved her birds was unsure of the family taking care of them after she was gone. So, she called on the Dewan and offered him Rs. 5,000 if he would have her birds taken care of. Being the shrewd man that he was, Mirza Ismail called her back the next day to say that he would do it for Rs. 8,000 which was the amount he required to put up the fountain in front of the statue of Chamarajendra Wodeyar! Vijay told us that the original fountain was a very majestic one.

Thiruvady Charanam

Thiruvadi Charanam is surrender to the sacred feet of God or to that God itself. Thiruvady Charanam is my salutation to Vijay Thiruvady for the great job he is doing to get Bangaloreans interested in their history, architecture, flora and personalities. His tells his story in a composite, easy-going way. He does not presume prior knowledge of any of these subjects on the part of his guests. He looks at the trees and is reminded of the people who were responsible for them finding their way to Bangalore. He points to a statue and tells you why and by whom it was sculpted or erected and who unveiled it. It is all a seamless flow of interesting facts, juicy tidbits and new perspectives. Speaking for myself, I enjoyed myself thoroughly and came away with deeper insights into the men and matters of the city Bangalore and the State of Mysore of that era. If in the process, this recap blog has become too long, it is not Vijay’s fault. I take all the blame for getting carried away! 

I convey my greetings and best wishes to friends from various States of India who are celebrating their New Year today!

S Krishna Kumar

14^th April, 2022,

Bengaluru.

Blog # 36

Reflections on a gentle man

Introduction

He was younger to me by two years and three months. His given name was Vijaya Kumar which was affectionately abbreviated to Viji very early on. So, he was Viji to me and our sisters, friends and family. As the years passed and the family grew, he became Viji Mama, Viji Chithappa and eventually Viji Thatha. The entire family was deeply shocked to learn that Viji passed away on 12^th March in Thane, Maharashtra. Though he had been beset with one health issue after another since July 2021, the end was very swift and unexpected. Condolences poured in from all over. And everyone recalled what a kind and gentle person Viji had been throughout his life!  

Early Life

As our father was in a transferable job with the defence accounts service, Viji and I spent the early years of our life with our maternal grandparents. Our grandfather had been in the Army and later in the health department of the Madras Presidency. Towards the end of his career, he was posted in Yethapur in Salem district to set up a leprosy sanatorium there. After retirement, he settled down to private practice in Attur, which was the Taluk headquarters with reasonable amenities. Viji and I were born in Yethapur and did our initial schooling at the R C School in Attur. Our parents were in Meerut and we grew up under our grandparents’ care. Babu Chithi, our mother’s youngest sister looked after us fondly. Years later, Viji and I visited the R C school campus with our families and took a lot of pictures. Viji of course continue to go to Attur during his postings to branches in Salem and other districts.

Bangalore Years

My father was transferred from Meerut to Poona in 1954. He did not stay there long and was posted to Bangalore the very next year. Our parents shifted there with our sisters and Viji and I moved to Bangalore in 1955. We joined St. Joseph’s Indian High School (SJIHS) in January 1956. From then on till I graduated from the St. Joseph’s College in 1965 and Viji in 1967, we were together at the same educational institutions.

Cricket, reading and music were a common bond between us. We lived in a rented first-floor home in 7^th Cross Malleswaram where Viji and I created three cricket venues for ourselves. The first was the narrow corridor inside the house running from the hall to the back terrace past the kitchen on one side and the store and the bath room on other. Closing the hall door, Viji and I would play under-arm cricket there on holidays or when we could not play outside. We used rubber balls from the Bata shop on Sampige Road. Remarkably, I don’t recall any broken glass panes from all those years of cricket. The second was the narrow passage below the staircase leading to the outhouse at the back. Here, Viji and I would occasionally be joined by close friends and neighbours. The third was the pathway to the staircase from the main road. This involved the ball being bowled from across the road and risked losing the ball in the compounds of neighbours. Viji and I of course played most of our tennis-ball cricket at the iconic Malleswaram Play Ground. Viji was more serious about cricket than I was and went on to play for his college and the Mysore University, where he did his post-graduation in History. He was a sound opening bat. Our cousin recalls that the Mysore University cap that Viji had gifted him many years later was one of his proud possessions for a long time! During those years, Viji and I also watched a number of cricket matches, often against visiting overseas teams at the Central College Grounds.

Our early reading was mainly of short stories from and novels serialized in Tamil weeklies. Later, we shared a liking for authors like Jayakanthan whose works Viji was really fond of. During our college days, I read more English novels but Viji went on to discover many other Tamil authors. Both of us liked Bernard Shaw and Oscar Wilde and Viji was very fond of many of their aphorisms.      

As in sports and reading, Viji and I found our liking for music together. It started with Tamil film songs but got cemented through Carnatic music. Those days, All-India Radio (AIR) brought out Vanoli, a magazine that listed all the programmes for the next fortnight. We would get it delivered at home, along with numerous other magazines and newspapers. Carnatic music programmes were of particular interest to our parents. But it was Viji who would painstakingly underline the concerts scheduled in far-away stations like Trichy, Vijayawada and Kozhikode at even odd hours in the day so that we could listen to them if we were free.

Viji and I discovered Carnatic music through Tamil film songs. M K Thyagaraja Bhagavathar (MKT) was an early favourite. It was through his Radhe Unnakku Kobam Agadhadi, Maname Nee Eesan Namathai and Kavalayai Theerpadhu Nattiya Kalaye that we grew to identify and love ragas like Senjurutti, Kunthalavarali and Nattaikurunji. When we were old enough to attend concerts, our tastes converged. We both loved Begada that M D Ramanathan sang frequently. Shanmugapriya was another favourite. Like my father, Viji loved the raga Ranjani so much that he even named his daughter after the raga. Viji and I enjoyed Madurai Mani Iyer and Somu. Viji loved O Rama Ninnamam and Enda Kavi Paadinaalum sung by the latter. MLV, Radha-Jayalakshmi and Balamurali were singers that we listened to the most both on AIR and at the annual Rama Navami music festival at Seshadripuram.

The Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) years

Viji joined IOB in 1971. His first few postings were in Bangalore where he worked in retail banking initially and in the regional office later. He moved to Bombay in 1979 to spend the next thirteen years there. He specialized in trade finance, becoming a strict, yet sought-after Manager who helped many an export-oriented industry in the small and medium-scale sector. In 1992, Viji was posted to Namakkal where his extensive involvement with agricultural and rural credit began. With Namakkal as the base for his family, Viji served in a number of districts like Salem, Trichy, Tanjore and Coimbatore till his retirement in 2008. While he was the Manager of the Annur Branch of IOB in Coimbatore district, he had an opportunity to visit Samkulam, our family’s ancestral village and the first S of the SSS clan!   

I was always amazed at Viji’s experiences as a banker. He was self-taught and learnt the intricacies of banking on the go. I remember him telling me about various export finance and refinance circulars that had to be properly interpreted to ensure that the borrowers benefitted from the various schemes and yet did not pull a fast one on the Bank. In Namakkal, Viji came into his own. With his empathy for the downtrodden and ability to engage with them at a personal level, he became a friend, philosopher and guide to many of his borrowers. He made the poultry units to see the need for investing in feeds. The borewell drilling industry benefitted by his advice on fleet management. In case after case, he would use his discretion as Manager to help a student, pensioner or retail account-holder. He was effective in recoveries too and by persuasion and follow-up rather than coercion. After each of the many conversations with him during those years, I was left admiring Viji’s deep understanding of the workings of the economy at the micro-level. His knowledge was not bookish but experiential. His insights into what ailed the banking system were his own and not taken from some report or the other. Though he was now and again a victim of the many ills of the system, Viji was never bitter and always proud of the services that public sector banks could effectively deliver.

Viji married Seetha who was a popular teacher at NPS, Rajajinagar in 1978. Seetha’s parents, siblings and extended family were a very friendly lot with a strong Basavangudi connection. They took a liking to Viji, not the least because he could speak Kannada fluently. He was close to all of them till the very end. 

The Retirement Years

After his retirement in 2008, Viji lived in Namakkal where his wife was a much-respected teacher and administrator at a leading private school. His daughter Ranjini had married Ganesh in 2006 and lived in Trivandrum initially and Kochi later. Namakkal being only an overnight train journey away from either of the two places, Viji was able to be with his daughter at short notice to be of help to her or be with his two granddaughters Adwita and Anvita whom he doted on.

Namakkal was also just a few hours from Bangalore by train. Seetha and Viji would join us often for Deepavali or when our children visited us from  USA and shower the grandchildren with gifts and home-made delicacies. We too used to go Namakkal and make road trips to places like Madurai, Mysore and Chettinad among others. Our last holiday was in Delhi in March 2020, just before the pandemic forced a national lockdown. Viji was very happy that we could spend a little time with our cousin Suloch who was ailing and her son, Jaishankar, India’s External Affairs Minister.      

Those were the happiest years in Viji’s life. At Namakkal, he had a lot of time on his hand to read his morning newspaper at leisure and go for his walks in the evening, catching up with old friends among fellow-walkers. At Kochi, he enjoyed the time with Adwita and Anvita who were fast growing up into two very bright and charming girls. The family enjoyed eating out and Viji joined them with pleasure. Seetha was able to join them during her longer school breaks.

2021-22

In 2019, Ganesh moved to Thane in 2019 on promotion. Ranjini and the daughters joined him next year. But Covid-19 upset their plans of moving into an apartment and setting up a new home. It was only in January 2021, after Viji and Seetha joined them, that they could find a spacious and well-ventilated apartment and move in. Viji and Seetha had planned to stay for six months and help the family settle in.

Things went according to plan initially, though the children continued to be deprived of in-person schooling. But from July 2021, Viji suffered a series of health setbacks that required frequent hospitalisation. First it was the heart and then the kidney. In between, Viji came down with Covid-19 too. But he came out of all those challenges after a lot of suffering and pain and was slowly on the road to recovery. Or so we thought. Suddenly on 8^th March, Viji had breathing difficulties and had to be rushed to the ICU. The doctors noticed a contraction of his trachea and felt that they could address it though a laparoscopic procedure that was scheduled on the 11^th. But Viji suffered successive heart attacks on the 10^th and 11^th and breathed his last the next day.

Seetha and Ranjini had taken care of Viji untiringly during the entire period, fighting back their own Covid-19 bouts and hospitalisation. Ganesh was there always to rush Viji to the hospital or to consult a specialist. He juggled his work schedule ungrudgingly to be available to Viji at short notice. He truly was the son that Seetha and Viji would have been proud to call their own.

During these months, telephonic chats between Viji and me became shorter and less frequent. But on the few occasions we did speak in recent months, Viji was quite chatty. He would talk less about his own condition but more about hospital systems or the precarious lives of caregivers who come away from their rural settings to large urban clusters like Thane to take care of the elderly and the sick. Viji was also constantly advising his daughter to bear this suffering with fortitude and get exposure to life in a metropolitan setting in the years ahead. Things moved so swiftly between 8^th and 12^th March that nobody could see the end coming.

Did Viji have a premonition of his end? During his recent hospitalisation, Viji had spent time talking to Seetha, Ranjini, Adwita and Anvita about life after he was gone. He wanted them to be strong and adjust to life without him. Whether this was out of weariness or sense of foreboding, we can never know. 

If there is one regret that I have it is that I had not seen Viji after our short but memorable holiday in Delhi in March 2020. During the last eight to nine months, ever so often, Vilasini and I contemplated going to Thane to see him, only to tell ourselves that he would soon be better when we could pay him a longer visit. Even on 12^th March, when we found him lying in his ICU bed, we believed that he would miraculously respond to us calling out his name repeatedly.

With Viji’s passing, a large part of the lives of the two of us, that was the shared memory recalled during intimate conversations, is forever gone. Much as we were conflated as Viji-Kumar since our childhood and had a number of common traits, we were different from each other. Viji was more tolerant of and gentle towards others than I ever was. He read the news and was better informed about what was going on, while I was more into views and opinions. He was in many ways my nobler alter ego. It is that I have lost forever!

Good bye, Viji. After the pain and suffering you had to bear in the last nine months for reasons that we cannot yet fathom, medically and otherwise, you are now in a better place from where you can continue to shower your unconditional love and affection on your immediate family and all of us, your friends and admirers! Om Shanthi!

I close by referring to a Purandara Dasa song that was Viji’s favourite, perhaps because its underlying message resonated with him!

Aadaddella Olithe Aayithu

Whatever happened was for the best!

Those who are interested may click on the links above to hear the song and appreciate the lyrics.

S. Krishna Kumar

3^rd April, 2022

Bengaluru

Blog # 35