My unforgettable years

This post is about the golden years in my life(1999 dec-2007 november) , my golden reminiscences of the period where carnatic music and mrudangam played a crucial role in shaping my life and how my guru "Sri.Umayalpuram.K. Sivaraman" sir(hence uks sir for simplicity) made an everlasting impression in my day to day activities ( not only
in art, but also in life). I can never forget the first concert of uks sir which i attended somewhere in 1996 in the famous "ayodhya mandapam" at west mambalam at chennai. He was playing for T.N.Krishnan's violin solo that day and though i was not very much intrested in carnatic music that time , i went to the concert as my mother dragged me from the playground to the concert. Though i was not very much amused by my mom's act , there was something in
that mrudangam of uks sir which spurred me to listen to more and more of him.

Egged on by this inner urge to learn the art form more seriously , i started practising daily and by GOD's grace after beginning to understand the finer nuances of the art , i started attending uks sir's concerts from 99 dec season till 2007 when i passed out of my engg and landed at philips for a job.Those 7 years i would never get
back as the time was limitless and i savoured each and every moment of it.Be it going around around with uks sir for concerts , his puns on and off the concert platform , his wittiness etc.. etc..During that period , studies became my extra-curricular activity..lol...such was the impact of uks sir , dat at one point of time i decided to give up my studies and take up mrudangam as a profession , till i heard the golden words from uks sir himself "
Music should never come at the cost of academics.." I realised this as these words came from a man who himself is
a law graduate...

Some of my most memorable moments with uks sir were when i had some wonderful oppurtunities to go around with him for his concerts around the city , especially during december season. Those wonderful old stories which he used to tell , the tinge of sarcasm about mischief makers in the music world , those wonderful incidents involving the yesteryear musicians to which he was a witness , are all wonderful wonderful moments unforgettable memories which will remain etched to my soul... One such incident went like this .. uks sir was scheduled to play for sri.M.Chandrasekhar's violin solo that day and the concert went on as scheduled..After a scintillating Thodi , uks sir suddenly held the mike in his hand and said " Ippdi polo va solo va sapadrele???" (chandrasekhar sir must have had a apolo without offering uks sir...")

Though this is just a beginning of many more posts to come in the next few days , i still have lots of things to share it with my beloved friends like my experiences during my arangetram , my favourite artistes , some unforgettable concerts which i have attended in chennai's glorius sabhas etc.. etc...keep coming back to this buddies , need your comments and support...

Arvind....