The season's buzz swings between two 'M's. Mylapore and Mambalam. On Thursday evening, the buzz was down a street off Pondy Bazaar. The buzz of shoppers of silks and gold jewellery may have drowned the nadaswaram that welcomed guests to Sri Krishna Gana Sabha on a street now dedicated to Maharajapuram Santhanam. But the rasika-faithfuls were there on time.
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As has been the case with the inaugurations that took place at other sabhas this week, the turn-out was thinner, giving the impression that rasikas are skipping the opening day's event which, in many sabhas are grand ones.
Teynampet P K M Ravi and his group was on stage playing the nadaswaram as celebrities made small talk in the lobby till the clock chimed the half hour after five. Krishna Gana Sabha, following its renovation that celebrates vintage architecture, is still a cosy sabha and the cane chairs here make it extra cosy as you sink into them for a kutcheri.
The chief guest was Dr. Kapila Vatsyayan, a scholar and writer based in Delhi, and with her on the dais were well-known dancer Leela Samson who is the Convenor of this year's Natyakala Conference which begins on Sunday morning (15 December). And the other guests on the dais were celebrated dance guru Adyar Lakshmanan and former Chennai Doordarshan Director, A. Natarajan, besides 'Nalli' Kuppuswamy, whose name adorns the hall.
The speeches may have been a bit long but then for a scholar like Dr. Vatsyayan, it was an occasion to be academic, philosophical and generic when she took the podium. The spotlight though were on two artistes - dance guru Udupi Laxminarayan who was conferred the 'Acharya Choodamani' birudhu and Bharatanatyam dancer Priyadarsini Govind who was conferred the birudhu 'Nritya Choodamani' this evening.
Priyadarsini Govind who has been on a long dance tour of Europe and then, of the USA, must have managed to fight off the jet-lag as she sat on the edge of her cane chair on the dais and acknowledged the praises showered on her by the guests. And when it was her turn for the acceptance speech, she was precise and formal as she read from a prepared speech.
She said that by some co-incidence, the many people whom she wanted to thank on this occasion, all started with the letter 'a'. Her Appa, who encouraged her but is no more, her Amma who showed her the way and shared the determination and has stood by her then and now, her archaryas (gurus), young dancer A. Lakshmanan who now works with her . . and of course, she had thank you's for her husband Govind, son of film producer Muktha Sreenivasan, and her two children, and her sister.
Udupi Laxminarayan remembered his mother and gurus who had guided him and he shared his experiences in the world of cinema where he worked till some 20 years ago. And when his daughter and his sishyas felicitated him on stage, he was all smiles.
It is a shame that guests get up and leave even as such formal functions are on. It happened at this function. Sadly, some of them on the dais seemed bothered with personal things.
For the awardees of the evening, there were a line of well-wishers - from Padma Subramanyam and Chitra Visweswaran to Srekala Bharath and Anita Guha. But one vidwan who never misses out on the inaugural evening at Krishna Gana Sabha, is maestro Lalgudi Jayaraman. He drops in quietly, takes the front row chair, and leaves the moment the show is over. Frail though he is today, Jayaraman was there on Thursday evening.
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