Introduction to Subbulakshmi

It was somewhere in the year 1971 or 72 , when i was in primary school , I got introduced to a voice that captivated me and has remained the most cherished one - the nectarine voice of M.S. Subbulakshmi.

I was playing Football during the PT period and i got hurt. There were abrasions on my shin and my knee. The P.T.Master ordered to get tincture applied from the First Aid Room. The wound was hurting but the stinging sensation of tincture would be more dreadful . I was hesitant but a repeat order got me step my foot towards the school . The first aid room was close to the entrance of the school and it was opposite the Principal's room.

Our Principal ,Mr.Seshan , was fond of music and a LP record invariably played in his room. I approached , a peon and asked him to apply tincture. He opened the bottle, drenched a cotton ball with it and bend down to apply . I closed my eyes tightly , clenched my fist and try to concentrate on something else. That is when i paid attention to the music coming from the Principal's room. It was sweet voice and was singing a song called " Chakar Rakho Ji, mane Chakar Rakho ji" . I could not figure out what chakar meant and didn't understand language. It seemed funny and at the same time very pleasant. While i was still in these thought , a gruff voice came in " chalo  ho gaya " . It was the peon . The tincture was applied and i didn't even feel it.What could have happened , i wondered ! . Didn't he apply , it was there , what could have soothed this pain . It should me that singing voice and nothing else.....Boy that voice was so powerful to capture my total attention and absolutely soothing , whose is this ?

I waited outside the principal 's room and waited for him to look at me . The next song got over and playing side was also over. he got up to change the side of the LP and that is when he spotted me. I was frightened at his sight but slowly picked up courage and asked him who was the singer. That was M.S. Subbulakshmi singing Meera bhajans. Like an engraving on the rock , the voice & the name got registered in my mind .

Our house was full of carnatic music and the radio played it all the while and i could have heard her all along. But it was this episode which got me introduced to her voice, the one that mesmerized me and will continue to do that and hopefully will be last one to be heard before i become extinct.

Growing up with Pradeep 3

It was sometime in Dec 2001, 2 or 3 patients of mine relapsed in a row and one of them had died. I was very upset and wanted to go for a long drive. Pradeep , Patti and I set for a whirlwind tour of the Nilgiri mountains. On saturday morning we started from home reached back sunday evening in between we touched - coonoor, ooty, mudumalai , mananthavady, kapletta vythiri ,biderkad , gudalur,ooty .

When we were at Mudulamulai we went to see the famed : Jungle resort " run by hindi film actor Mithun Chakraborty. I just parked the car and went to look to out for a loo for patti. That is when I heard our boy, pradeep shout out ecstatically _ enna Saar ithu ( what is this) repeatedly. He waved me to come to where he was standing and excitedly saying the same phrase . Did he spot a Zebra . No. What he saw was a bevy of Firang girls , barely in their teens in bikini swim suits. They were enjoying a swim and this guy enjoyed seeing them . Seeing so many of white skins together in scanty clothes had literally got him into epileptic fits.

The Boy had become a man !