Coming from the village of Kuchipudi in Andhra Pradesh, Bhagavatulu Seetarama Sarma, took to music as a profession instead of dance.

His musical knowledge made the dance dramas of the legendary dancer Rukmini Devi at Kalakshetra, very exceptional. On the other hand, the knowledge he imparted to a young student, T. M. Krishna brought out the genius in him to become a well-known vocalist.

It was apt that the dance community at Kalakshetra and Seetharama Sarma's students came together to celebrate the landmark of the guru's fifty years in music. It was also the guru's 70th birthday!

Dancer Leela Samson, director of Kalakshetra, Chennai felicitated him on behalf of the institution. She remembered his contribution to the dance music of the institute's productions.

Senior dancer Prof. C. V. Chandrasekhar recollected the days of dancing to the tunes of guru Seetharama Sarma. He praised Sarma for his bhava ladden music compositionsand sollus.

But, for Sarma's music guru Prof. T. R. Subramaniam, the student's career as a dance musician was not all that he expected. He said straight from the shoulders that it was Kalakshetra that changed the direction of his brilliant student to the dance music. He added that had Sarma not joined Kalakshetra, he would have now been a senior and acclaimed performing Carnatic musician.

Perhaps, that is why Sarma warned his student T. M. Krishna not to sing for a dance programme. In his speech, Sarma expressed his gratitude towards Rukmini Devi and Kalakshetra for bringing out the best in him, shared the experience of teachinh young Krishna, beginning a gurukulam, Kala Peetam in a small way, which now has two other branches abroad.

Senior Kuchipudi exponent Vemapti Chinna satyam was also present on the occasion, though he was not in very good health.

An exceptional nattuvanar and composer, Sarma is now a sought after music guru. After the official felicitation, a long queue of his students waiting to receive his blessings told the audience how much the veteran loves teaching music.

His sishya, the well known young vocalist T. M. Krishna's short concert followed the felicitations.