Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | Friday Review | Cinema Plus | Young World | Property Plus | Quest | Folio |

He was their perfect role model, always focussed on truth, goodness and beauty — the ideals of the institution.

NOSTALGIA: The special assembly under the banyan tree where veterans shared their memories

The boy explains, “His pronunciation is wrong.” The examiner agrees, but adds gently, “Child, let me teach you another sloka. ‘Satyam bruyat, priyam bruyat, na bruyat satyam apriyam.’ (Speak truth, speak pleasantly, don’t speak unpleasant truth).”

This childhood memory of dance guru V.P.Dhananjayan pays tribute to Sankara Menon (1907-2007). Born into a wealthy, influential family in Kerala, Sir was a first rank holder in his M.A. (Presidency College, Madras). His teachers predicted a brilliant future for the outstanding researcher in marine biology. But science lost to art when the young man was drawn into a circle of seekers of other goals. George Arundale, the president of the Theosophical Society, made Sir the first Headmaster of the Besant Memorial School.

Sankara Menon became Rukmini Devi Arundale’s best friend, philosopher and conscience keeper. He was her associate from Kalakshetra’s beginnings “with a single pupil, a single teacher, and a tree”. As Secretary, Joint Director and Director, he fostered its growth into a national art institution, prevented its collapse after Rukmini Devi’s death, and ultimately, monitored its takeover by the government. Only one thing remained unchanged through the long decades. ‘Sir’ as he was called with love and reverence, remained self-effacing, guiding everyone without seeming to guide. He never raised his voice. But when he spoke, everyone listened. He was their perfect role model, always focussed on truth, goodness and beauty — the ideals of the institution. They were not words to him, but a way of everyday life.

Kalakshetra celebrated Sankara Menon’s centenary with a gathering of students, alumni, teachers and friends on Saturday last.

The bhajan group leading the procession of Sankara Menon’s picture.

Leela Samson, Director, Kalakshetra, referred to his erudition in Sanskrit, English, Malayalam and French, which awed scholars, but was no bar to easy interactions with the young people around him.

R.V.Ramani, Secretary, Kalakshetra, singled out equanimity as Sir’s most striking attribute. Unflustered by disasters, Menon found ways of tackling every hurdle. “When Rukmini Devi died, we had to fight ill-wishers from within and without, and predators who wanted to take over the institution. He was a solid sheet anchor and saved Kalakshetra from disintegration.”

Dance guru Adyar K.Lakshman recalled Sir’s enthusiasm for playing volleyball with students, and requesting vidwan M.D.Ramanathan, or dance artiste Sarada Hoffman to give little evening recitals. “We loved those soul-satisfying kutcheris. Sometimes Rukmini Devi (who longed to be a musician!) would sing, and I played the mridangam.”

Besant School alumnus Jagannatha Rao spoke about Sir putting education without fear into practice. His success was due to the fact that he embodied the principles he advocated.

The speeches were interspersed with songs sung by the students and teachers of Kalakshetra, composed by the veteran gurus of the institution. They included Papanasam Sivan’s song on Annie Besant (‘Devi Vasante’ in Vasanta) and S.Rajaram’s kritis in Bilahari and Sriranjani on Sankara Menon. A rare ambience of gurubhakti was created by the presence of Kalakshetra alumni — Bhagavatulu Sitarama Sarma, N.S.Jayalakshmi, S.R.Janakiraman, C.V.Chandrasekhar, Adyar Lakshman, the Dhananjayans, Balagopalan, the Narsimhacharis, Kala Ramesh Rao and others.

The concert by Vijay Siva, accompanied by R.K.Sriramkumar and Mannargudi Iswaran, rose to the occasion. From the opener ‘Nada Tanumanisam’ through ‘Talli Ninnu’ (Kalyani) and ‘Sri Rajagopala’ (Saveri) the grandeur was underlined by a prayerful mood. The ragamalika rendition of Rukmini Kalyanam from the Narayaneeyam glowed with ragabhava and artha bhava.

The next morning, the flower-decked portrait of Sankara Menon was carried in a bhajan procession round the Kalaskhetra campus, by students old and new.

Old timers gathered under the banyan tree to exchange memories.

Shanta Dhananjayan recalled Sir’s deputing her, then a senior student, to care for a new comer, a special child. “It shaped my thinking and feeling about life.”

C.V.Chandrasekhar remembered Sir’s commiserating with him on having to dissect frogs in college, against the tenets of ahimsa taught in the Kalakshetra campus.

All the speakers believed that their ‘Sir’ had influenced them for life. Each was convinced that he was that unique being: a truly ‘good’ man. His scholarship had not frightened them, but instigated them to learn more. If Rukmini Devi inspired awe, Sir inspired love. He could explain complex ideas in the simplest terms. He had time for everyone. He was a wonderful listener.

Radha Padmanabhan, who helped care for Sir and the two Kalakshetra teachers when they were bashed up by housebreakers in their old age, spoke for everyone when she said, “Human beings are valued not so much for their great actions and sweeping achievements, but for their little, unremembered acts of kindness, and of love.” Sankara Menon was special, because he was that kind of man.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail