We did not have time to catch our breath.
The annual music and dance season here in Chennai had closed on January 1 (unofficially) and Tiruvaiyaru beckoned.
The saint Thyagaraja aradhana ( Jan.2 to 6, 2010) continues to be a unique event whichever way you look at it. For some it is a pilgrimage, for others a place to rejuvenate, for some others to keep a date with it.
Tamil Nadu is doing a lot to its roads. But they have been redeveloped in parts.
A road trip to Thanjavur at this time can be a horrible experience. You may offer the discomfort as your tribute to a saint. Avoid the road off the National Highway that lads through Sethiathope, Neyveli and Vadalur. Avoid the road through Vridhachalam. The best is through Perambalur-Ariyalur. You land straight into Tiruvaiyaru.
A particularly beautiful stretch that we discovered by accident ( because we took a different turn) is the Kumbakonam-Thanjavur route via Umayalpuram.
It was late when we drove into the bustling town and headed straight to the campus of the saint-composer's samadhi. The sight is a familiar one to those of us who are regulars. To the first timer though, the campus could resemble a grand mela.
I particularly like the creatives that local craftspeople and technicians do for this event. A giant image of the saint-composer created with hundreds of small, coloured bulbs, two giant welcome arches created from dry banana fibre, cloth and shining 'jigna' materials. . . dozens of banners of all sorts of sponsors greet you.
3000 people listen to kutcheris
The colourful pandal is bathed in very strong light and on Monday, January 4 at about 8.45 p.m. there are more than 3,000 people in the pandal listening to Anuradha Krishnamurthy on stage. Now, Anuradha has that added glint of being an actor too and a film-crazy community loves to have stars in its midst. But I don't think everybody in that pandal was there to catch the stars. For families of Tiruvaiyaru, this was an evening of music . . .
I caught the flowing waters of the Cauvery in the febble moonlight and wondered how beautiful it would be to place lighted lamps on the banks and above, shut down most of the lights in the pandal and encourage the musicians to pay their musical tributes. . . .
Ravi from Coimbatore, a regular here for the past 5 years said it would not happen. Ravi attends all the major music festivals in India and he has booked a ticket to the Tansen Fest. "This fest is also held in the open air and they use Bose speakers, "said Ravi. "It is ticketed alright but the atmosphere is great."
So why can't we try to make the Tiruvaiyaru aradhana special too, I ask Ravi as the high decibels tear our ear drums even though we are outside the pandal. "It has to come from within,"he said.
Saxophone vidwan Kadri Gopalnath in all his finery gets on to the second stage and waves to rasikas even as stage organisers request Anuradha to sing another song - she smiles, closes her eyes and launches . . violinist Kanyakumari joins Gopalnath on stage and in minutes they are ready for their offering . . artistes are given 10 to 15 minutes, a few more if they are vidwans.
Outside, in his little office tavil vidwan Haridwarmangalam A K Palanivel seems elated. He is the secretary of Sri Thiyagabrahma Mahotsava Sabha (Regd) (G. R. Moopanar is the president).
"We may have our committees and teams to prepare for this aradhana but we never have an issue about getting artistes to come here and offer tributes. They do it all on their own," he says.
We miss vidwan Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan in different ways. He had his way of running the show and once shooed us away for shooting a kutcheri without his permission and smilingly welcomed us the next morning to the pandal. The man is no more; his son drops by at a space from which the Vaidyanathan family run a Trust.
A gentle round of applause and mild cheers floats through the pandal when Sudha Ragunathan takes the stage . . .T. M Krishna was scheduled but there is no sign of him. . .
Concerts go on till midnight every day. We explore the small stalls adjoining the samadhi campus. Women Self Help Groups cannot meet the demand of hungry rasikas. We wait for some adais and chapattis.
Kalyanasundaram has had his tiffin. A retired railway guard who resides in West Mambalam in Chennai, he tells me he has been attending the aradhana for the past 40 years. "The music is good but the sanitary conditions are bad," he says.
Hundreds of rasikas are regulars at the aradhana year after year. As we leave the place we meet rasikas from Andhra Pradesh heading to a lodge down the road. They will wake up early to join in the unchavrithi procession that starts from the saint composer's house Thirumanjana Street, a kilometre away.
Misty morning in Thanjavur
Mist envelopes Thanjavur on Tuesday morning (January 5). The landscape to Tiruvaiyaru from the town has changed, pockmarked with shaved fields, plotted land and new buildings, workshops and shacks and uncleared garbage on the roadside.
We reach the pandal just as the group of nadaswaram artistes complete the procession that started at Thirumanjana Street. The abhishekam of the moolavar at the shrine is on and the pandal gets filled up quickly. A K Palanivel is the master of ceremonies and he sets off his brother artistes in the nadaswaram section to play on. . .
The outdoor broadcast vans of All India Radio and of Doordarshan will broadcast the aradhana live today, bringing it to the rooms of lakhs of rasikas around the world ( the broadcast is now on the DTH platform).
As the clock strikes nine, artistes, rasikas and others join in the singing of the first of the pancharatna kritis. Local dailies circulate song books which contain the kritis in Thamizh with notes underlining them. It encourages even policemen to sing along. . . .
This is indeed a smooth, simple tribute to a man who led a simple life but left behind hundreds of songs in Carnatic music for people to enjoy. But I wonder how elevating this experience could be if all the artistes learnt how to tune in in a mass singing concert. How can this be done better?
The aradhana is over in an hour. 10 a.m. Rasikas who love star-spotting rush to the inner enclosure to get a closer look at their favourite artistes. Others crowd around the nadaswaram artistes who take the floor. Outside, the salesmen at the shops try to catch the attention of the huge crowd while families catch up with friends and relatives.
A huge queue snakes its way into a reception hall where lunch is served free. We head to Thirumanjana Street, to take a look at the the composer's house . . .the original was perhaps a fourth of a tiled street house - it was not well maintained save for the images of Lord Rama and of the saint and deepams and wall pictures. But the accoustics were great - singing here was an experience.
That old portion has been pulled down and a cemented, grand space is still under construction. Heritage enthusiasts like me will not be happy with whatever comes up now.
Next door, Kausalya, former Principal of the local Music College and the members of another local Trust greet people at a sumptuous Thanjavur lunch.
Rasikas, relatives and even paupers can dine.
A traditional end to the aradhana.
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