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Down the musical lane
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Not just Mylapore, Purasawalkam too has had its fair share of musical memory. Many stalwarts have stayed here and sabhas have conducted concerts regularly in this old suburb.
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D.K.Pattammal...she too lived in Purasalwalkam.
OVER THE years, whenever I've been to concerts in Mylapore, I have faced reactions ranging from disbelief to contempt when I tell people I don't live in Mylapore. Hence, I must explain the Purasawalkam connection with music. When I talk of Purasawalkam, I shall of course include Egmore.
In 1927 when the All-India Congress session took place in Madras, Lady Napier Villa, the house in Purasawalkam that belonged to my great grandfather was thrown open to Congressmen for the duration of the session.
Many music concerts were organised to coincide with the Congress session. These took place in Egmore where the present T.B. Hospital is situated. In one of these concerts, Dwaram was introduced to the Madras audience for the first time.
As for the sabhas that served the people of Purasawalkam, there was the Jaganatha Bhaktha Sabha, the Egmore Dramatic society and the Purasawalkam Sangeetha Sabha. The Purasai Sangeetha Sabha's cutcheries took place in M.CT.M. School. One of the first cutcheries organised by them was G.N.Balasubramaniam's. M.K.T. Bhagavathar attended this concert and stayed on till the end. The hall was packed because of GNB's popularity and MKT's presence.
Sabesa Iyer, Musiri's guru, was a resident of Vellala Street, Purasawalkam. Incidentally R. K. Narayan also grew up in Vellala Street. Sabesa Iyer was my peria paatti's guru. Since he was a senior and respected musician his remuneration in 1916 was Rs. 100 a month plus rickshaw charges! My grandmother and her younger sister learnt music from the grandson of Thachoor Singarachariar, the composer of the Vasantha Varnam. He lived in a street behind the Gangadeeswarar Temple Tank in Purasawalkam and his house was often referred to as the "arasa mara veedu", because of the tree that stood outside his house.
The inimitable GNB.
My athais, and later I learnt music from the great grandson of Thachoor Singarachariar. Our guru taught us Thachoor Singarachariar's composition in Kalyani "Devi Meenakshi". Our cook who was a theatre and film buff called it the "drama paattu", because at Othavaadai Theatre in Walltax Road, Devi Meenakshi was sung before most of the plays began.
D. K. Pattammal lived in Pankajakshi Street in Purasawalkam before her marriage and she would take a rickshaw to Lawder's Gate to teach some students.
M.S. Subbulakshmi also lived in Thana Street, Purasawalkam for some years. Today there are hardly any houses left in Thana Street. It is lined with shops on both sides. Eminent Sanskirt scholars like Keezhacheri Swamy and Setlur Narasimhachariar Swamy also lived in Purasawalkam, the latter in Audiappa Mudali Street. At the request of my peria thaatha D. Ramaswamy Ayyangar, who was an ardent Vedanta Desika devotee, Setlur Swamy composed a song on Desika — "Sevikka manam poondaen, Nigamaantha Desikanai". This was set to tune by our Guru in Bilahari.
R.K.Narayan grew up in Vellala Street.
The famous musicologist P. Sambamoorthy Ayyar lived in Dewan Rama Ayyangar Road which is one of the roads linking Poonamallee High Road with Lawder's Gate. My father and his friend used to go to his house very often and learnt a lot about music from him. Banni Bai, the famous Harikatha exponent was our neighbour for many years. We even had a book written by her on Bangalore Nagarathnamma. She had a phenomenal memory. Some years back, Vintage Heritage, an organisation devoted to screening old classics, screened "Santha Chakku Bai", in which Banni Bai starred as the wicked mother-in-law.
Banni Bai was one of the invitees to the screening of the film. She recognised my father who was in the audience although she had not seen him for many years. She enquired after every member of our family and what was amazing was that she remembered the name and age of every single member of the family!
M.K.T. Bhagavathar was a student of Alathoor brothers. But when he became busy in films, he couldn't go to Trichy to continue his music lessons. So he urged Alathoor brothers to come to Madras and he rented a house for them in Aravamudhu Gardens, which is a small lane off Poonamallee High road, next to Dasaprakash Hotel. Serugalathoor Sama who sang the famous song "Naatakame Ulagam" in the MKT film "Chintamani" lived in a street adjacent to the Egmore overbridge. Nagercoil Mahadevan, the hero of AVM's "En Manaivi" also lived in Egmore.
Banni Bai... she had an amazing memory.
He was as famous for his fair complexion as for his music. Every month on panchami, concerts are organised at the Srinivasa Perumal Temple in Purasawalkam. We have heard stalwarts like K. V. Narayanaswamy there.
So, there is a Purasawalkam connection to music.
SUGANTHY KRISHNAMACHARI
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