It has been said before. That the nation's highest civilian honour, 'Bharat Ratna', should be given to one of the seniormost Carnatic music guru, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer. This sentiment was expressed recently by violin maestro L. Subramaniam when he was holidaying in Kerala, his home state, at Onam festival time. "It is my Onam wish.

The Bharat Ratna must be bestowed on Semmangudi. The whole of south India, why, the whole country, will rejoice if that honour goes to him." Iyer is 95. Fit and sharp, he even attends the odd functions in Chennai. And speaks clearly.

What is your view on this?

Prize winning entry Yes. He taught MS Subbulakshmi which made her an all time great female singer of Carnatic Music. She has already been awarded Bharat Ratna. In fact it will be an honour to the whole of South India if Semmangudi is awarded the Bharat Ratna without any further delay. There is no point in giving this award posthumously as an after thought to please the South. He fully deserves it and is the only person fit to receive this highest honour for the yeomen service he has rendered by producing so many top ranking artists under his tutorship. May he live long and win many more laurels in addition to Bharat Ratna. B.S.Prithviraj Bangalore

Other entries

Of course he is definitely fit to receive the award as he has moulded so many sishyas who are at the top including Smt M.S.Amma who is already a Bharat Ratna recipient. I wish with full heart he should get it. C.Vishnupriya Bombay Semmangudi mama is undoubtedly the living legend of carnatic music.He is held in high esteem by all especially by Dr.M.S. Subbalakshmi, who is a Bharat Ratna holder. It would be a boost to carnatic musicians if mama is also conferred with the Bharat Ratna award. M.K.Ramamoorthy Bhopal, India Yes. Because his music has been 'na bhooto na bhvishyati'. He proved to the carnatic world that good music did not always stem from a good voice! A yugapurusha of carnatic music!! Ravikiran Bangalore It is an excellent suggestion from Dr. L. Subramanian that Semmangudi Mama be awarded Bharat Ratna. It is belated but let us hope that this is done at least now. R.Krishnan Guru of Gurus, with an unexcelled record of over 7 decades as a very popular performing artist, Chief Producer of All India Radio, Principal of a prestigious music college, a narrator par excellence of events/anecdotes connected with carnatic music (this prompted Mr.M.Karunanidhi to offer him secretarial assistance to record his memoirs) and a patriot. The conferment of this honour on him will be signal honour to carnatic music, musicians and rasikas. R. Somasundaram Chennai It must be given to Iyer only. He is a Sangeethabhishmapithamaha. Vijaykumar Bombay He is simply great. I pity our country for not recognising talented people like Shri Semmangudi. He deserves Bharat Ratna by all means. Pavan Ram Piratla Baltimore If the Bhishma Sangeetha Pitamaha dosen't deserve the honour then who does? India's greatest contribution to humanity is its carnatic classical music. Semmangudi is a living world treasure. Hari Subramanian Sydney, Australia