A spooky ride

It was two minutes past eight and just as I entered Mandaveli station I heard the train honk and accelerate. I didn’t curse my luck instead calmly took the escalator trying to avoid the boisterous crowd descending the stairs. As I entered my eyes swept the length and breadth of the platform looking for the usual faces that traveled with me every morning. Surprisingly, I found none of them. May be there were lucky to get on the earlier train?

 

With 10 more minutes for the next train to arrive, I dragged the iron bench to the shade and fished out my pocket to catch up on the morning twitter trolls on my mobile. A few trolls later arrived the next train that looked pretty much empty. Could it be my good luck or did they increase frequency of the morning trains? I boarded the partially empty train where I found a few empty seats, some in the aisle and some by the window.  

 

I settled for an aisle seat and got back to reading trolls from Bakths. Before I realized, the train zipped through Kotturpuram travelled over Adyar River and rushed along OMR from Madhya Kailash and entered Thiruvanmiyur station, the beginning of the IT corridor. I exited the station looking for the next mode of transportation to do the last 8 kms of my daily triathlon.

The Tidel Park junction is both dangerous and annoying. Dangerous because there is no foot over bridge for pedestrians and annoying because the duration of the green light for traffic that proceeds from Tidel Park towards Thiruvanmiyur is 5 minutes. And when it turned green the pedestrian movement resembled the masaimara migration bringing all types of vehicles from cycles, motorbikes, autos, cars to busses to a screeching halt. 

 

Today, I sprinted through the intersection before the light turned green. The feeling of winning the race against time didn’t last long as there were no busses waiting at the other end to ferry me to work. After a few minutes of waiting I settled in for a share auto and occupied the window seat to enjoy the cool breeze, but spooky surprise sat on my left ruining my journey.

A middle aged woman wished me from the outside, boarded the auto, sat beside me and started to make a conversation. I didn’t remember seeing this woman before and was taken aback when she started to ask me personal questions. I gave her half-hearted replies to dissuade her from asking further questions. 

 

She didn’t carry an identity card nor did she introduce herself. With a few more passengers getting in the auto, she moved closer towards me. Her questions and gestures made me suspicious and I wondered if she is a transgender trying to get some attention. I scanned her from head to toe to confirm my suspicion. These days many transgender people carry themselves so well and are even better dressed than average women.

 

Soon her interrogation started to focus on my professional side: who I worked for and what time I left work in the evening. This made me even more suspicious left me wondering why am I being targeting this woman. Could she be a police officer in mufti? Or a biscuit bandit? 

 

I was really uncomfortable with the inquisitive stranger beside me and protected my identity by giving fake monosyllabic responses to her questions. Quickly securing my identity and belongings, I logged on to Whatspp to read a text from a friend in US who asked me to YouTube Michella Obama’s speech at the Democratic Convention in Philadelphia.

 

Sensing that I was in no mood to entertain her questions she started to share personal information and then went to talk about extending the MRTS service to Mahabalipuram. Is she being chased or followed by someone and is she trying to get friendly to escape him? Or is she a drug mule trying to offload stuff to me? I stayed focused on searching Michelle Obama’s video supporting the democratic woman presidential candidate who broke federal rules and used personal email and server for official and confidential communication.

 

As the auto neared my destination I fished for change in my wallet and once again she asked me the fare to my destination. Annoyed with her question, I politely asked her to check with the driver. I disembarked the auto with a sigh and relief, but then the woman started to follow me to work. I was ready to confront her on her identity and why she was tagging behind me, but then I decided to walk faster than usual to escape another volley of questions.

 

I went through the baggage screening and quickly jumped into an elevator that was going down, but then as the elevator reached the ground level and the doors opened she was standing there.

I was afraid she might get a hint of where I sat, so I alighted a few floors before my destination and took the stairs. I have never been followed by a woman this close and what started as a crowd-free ride on the train today quickly turned out to be a spooky auto ride.   

 

Once I settled in my seat, I Whatsapped my friend on how some ordinary women in the next seat on a public transport can get conversant with strangers and voluntarily seek and share personal information putting lives at risk.

Popular, yet rare!

The month of Aadi offers different kinds of therapy based on individual interests and inclination. For people with religious interests, temples with women goddesses turn into an attraction point, while for those inclined towards retail therapy, major brands and stores lure them with good discounts. Surprisingly, this Aadi also brought with it some Carnatic Music to the city that ended its dry and hot season a month ago. Brahma Gana Sabha and PS Institute of Art, Music & Culture came together to host this year's Aadi Isai Vizha at Dakshinamurthy Auditorium at PS High School on RK Mutt Road, Mylapore.

With good spread of programs and choices, Chennai residents had another good reason to give miss to temples, shops and sabhas on that Aadi Friday and instead head over to catch the first day first show of Kabali staring Rajnikanth, a matinee idol from 1970s. When I learnt that my evening call was moved to Monday, I decided to celebrate my weekend at Dakshinamurthy Auditorium listening to a woman octogenarian vocalist from Bangalore. 

 

It is rare to find vocalists who perform in their 80s and to find them in good vocal health is even more rare. A few years ago Parasala Ponnammal, a doyen from Kerala, God's own country stopped performing as her health didn't permit her to sing for 2.5 hours. Today, the only two vocalists who still perform and can draw a full house at their concerts are Sangita Kalanidhi Smt. Vedavalli and Sangita Kala Acharya Smt. Neela Ramgopal. Both these vocalists have earned their titles and laurels and the music they produce today is for the sake of art and not for money or fame. But, how many of us as listeners realize the value of music and set aside our prejudices about artists, their age and lineage to hear blissful music?

With many women in their early 50s complaining of knee pain and unable to sit crossed legged on the floor, Neela Ramgopal sat in cross legged position for 135 mins giving a wonderful manodharma sangitam. I've heard over 15 of her concerts at various venues in Chennai and Bangalore and I must admit that she rarely repeats songs and always educates and delights her audience with rare songs from various composers. When I left home that evening I knew it was going to be an educative evening, which began with Avvaiyar's Vinayakar Agaval and ended with a Purandara Dasar Nama. 

1. Paalum theli thenum - Kalyani - Vinayakar Agaval - Avvaiyar 

2. Neeve gathi yani - Kalyani - Varnam -Shyama Sastri

3. Muruga thirumaal maruga - Harikamboji - Thanjavur Sankara Iyer Nereval at Karunai kadale unnai kanavum piriyen

4. Panchashat Peeta - Devagandhari - Dikshithar 

5. Chenthane Sadha - Kuntalvarali - Thyagaraja 

6. Mamava Karunaya -Shanmukhapriya - Swati Thirunaal

7. Neeraja Sama - Jayanthasree - Oothukaadu Kavi

8. Ragam and Thanam - Bahudari.                                                                                   

Pallavi: Kandanadi avan yenakku sondhamadi; Valli Manalanadi (2-kalai Aadi Talam to sync up with the appropriate Tamil month). Swaras in Bahudari, Amruthavarshini, Nalinakanthi and came back in reverse order.

9. Apaduruku - Khamas - Javali

10. Kannada Virutham in Sindhubairavi followed by Tirupathi Venkataramana - Purundaradasar 

11. Thillana

If you look at the above list, all of the ragas are popular, while the songs are rarely heard in today's concert platform. It would be an interesting exercise to draw up a list of songs for the above ragas for a popular musician from Chennai, who often repeats them. May be this is one other reason why one must hear musicians who come from outside of Chennai and who have a different repertoire. 

Neela Mami's concert that evening was also an educative session for both non-percussionist and percussionist. Since some of the songs were new to them, they had to play watchfully and couldn't let their enthusiasm get ahead of the vocalist. Neela Mami understood the gaps in their learning and gave them appropriate cues to make it a team performance.

While media and friends were belaboring over the hype behind Kabali and its let down on print and social media, I was still lost in the tranquilizing music from the previous evening. Baradwaj Rangan, a cinema critic from the Hindu even hosted a video chat session discussing if it was a Rajinikanth movie or P. Ranjith movie and how the actor and director compromised their brand of cinema. While Rajinikanth and Ranjith may let you down, but never the great composers of Carnatic Music and Neela Mami with her wide repertoire. Art for the sake of money, fame, and idol status is ephemeral and different from art for the sake of art. It is easy to be popular, but difficult to be popular, yet rare!