The eerie silence of the slender Madathu Theru (avenue) in Mathirimangalam, within the Mayiladuthurai district, is abruptly damaged by the fragile strains of a violin. Ninety-one-year-old Meenakshi Subramanian is fine-tuning her instrument. She briefly launches into an alapana in Kedaram or Shankarabharanam or Khamas or Begada or Pantuvarali, earlier than enjoying her favorite keerthanas.
| Video Credit:
B. Jothi Ramalingam
Born in 1934, Meenakshi Subramanian might be one of the final musicians of her era from the composite Thanjavur district to have remained confined to her village — extra exactly, inside the 4 partitions of her dwelling — while others migrated to Chennai. She too may need carved out a house for herself and the Mayavaram Govindaraja Pillai fashion of violin enjoying on the earth of Carnatic music in Chennai. However, that chance was denied to her as polio stricken her legs on the age of 4.
.“I started learning the violin from Kuttalam Vaithilingam Pillai, a student of Mayavaram Govindaraja Pillai, at the age of ten. The lessons continued for five years. Subsequently, I learnt a great deal from listening to musicians such as G.N. Balasubramanian, M.S. Subbulakshmi, D.K. Pattammal, Lalgudi Jayaraman, and Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar,” says Ms Subramanian, whose glorious listening to colleges, even at this age, nonetheless permit her to pay attention to music with readability.
Her father, Okay. Ramachandra Iyer, was a schoolteacher who organized dwelling tuition for her up to the eighth commonplace. A music lover, he additionally determined to train his daughter the violin. Vaithilingam Pillai recurrently visited their spacious, outdated Thanjavur-style home — nonetheless preserved by her household — to give her classes. On the wall of the home hangs a {photograph} of a curious four-year-old Meenakshi. The musical ambiance in her dwelling — as her aunts and 4 sisters would sing — labored in her favour, and he or she shortly picked up the violin. Music appears to have sustained her all through her life.
However, she hardly ever had the chance to attend stay live shows or carry out. “I attended only two concerts — one by D.K. Pattammal and another by Chembai — organised in connection with the annual celebrations at the school where my father worked,” she stated.
She was married to Subramanian, who moved to Mathirimangalam to be with her. “He was also interested in music because he was a relative of the vocalist and musicologist Dr. S. Ramanathan,” she stated.
She went on to play a few of her late husband’s favorite songs, which included Brocheva in Khamas, Sakalakalavaniye in Kedaram, Ennaga Rama Bhajana in Pantuvarali, and Bharathiyar’s Chinnanchiru Kiliye. She nonetheless retains the violin with which she first began enjoying — it’s now 80 years outdated.
“Once, during a bout of rain, it was damaged, and my brother repaired it in Chennai. She used to play a great deal — now hardly an hour a day because of her age,” stated M.S. Ganesan, her son. He added that his elder brother, Jaganmohan, now residing in Chennai, is well-versed within the nuances of Carnatic music.
“She regularly watches Carnatic music programmes on Sankara TV. She wakes up very early in the morning and starts watching. She is very sharp and quickly learns new keerthanas,” stated Sankarai, her daughter-in-law.
