Remembering The man who could never say no
My earliest memories are of attending birthday parties of his sons at his Cathedral Road residence. To a child, he was an enormously tall man, with a booming voice and a ready grin. It was only later that I got to know of his T.T.K. lineage. S. Muthiah, who knew him intimately, filled me in on many aspects of Vasu. And I consider the biography of his that Muthiah wrote and titled, The Man Who Could Never Say No, to be among the finest in its genre. Vasu was brought to life, warts and all, by Muthiah, as only he could.
The youngest son of T.T. Krishnamachari and Rajalakshmi, Vasu lost his mother when he was very young. His upbringing was largely left to an indifferent grandmother. To Vasu, his father was his idol but T.T.K., busy with his public career, could not care less. All of this in Muthiah's opinion, left a mark on Vasu.
Having graduated, Vasu joined the family enterprise of T.T.K. & Co, and was hugely instrumental in setting up many of its businesses, including Prestige and the London Rubber Company. The ease with which he made friends, and established contacts in all rungs of society, made it easy for him to get enterprises going, in an era when the licence-quota raj was at its height. Today, all of this would be called networking but Vasu bonded with genuine affection. And he expected the same from those with whom he bonded. And he was hurt many a time for this naïve faith. Not that he changed.
But once a business started functioning, he never focused on it and would move on. And that created its own set of problems. But certainly, the number of businesses he was involved in, for his family and also for friends, is legion. Not many may be aware that the Adyar Gate Hotel, later Welcomgroup Park Sheraton and later Crowne Plaza of late lamented memory, was his brainchild. Its Dakshin, which he conceptualised with his cook, still functions. The Iyer's trolley there commemorates his cook.
A patron of many charities
A huge fan of Errol Flynn, Vasu established a club for the former's fans in Madras. His efforts to learn Carnatic music may not have come to much, but his years as the Music Academy's President will always be remembered and bring a smile. He was enormously encouraging of the Youth Association for Carnatic Music (YACM), which did much to popularise the art in the 1980s and 1990s. Generous to a fault, Vasu was a patron of many charities, and the proceeds from this two-day event will go to the Balamandir Kamaraj Trust, of which he was president for long. It champions the cause of disadvantaged children all over the State.
The two-day event, on July 5 and 6, at the Music Academy, features L. Subramaniam and Ambi Subramaniam on July 5, and T.M. Krishna on the next day.
(V. Sriram is a writer and historian)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hindu
an hour ago
- The Hindu
Candlelight Concerts to present its first Carnatic-themed show in Chennai
Last November, Candlelight Concerts made its debut during Margazhi festival in Chennai, known for its inclusion in UNESCO's Creative Cities Network for Music. Candlelight Concerts, helmed by Live Your City, has till date hosted over 20 shows in Chennai. And now, it is gearing up for another stellar performance. Titled 'Candlelight Shruthilaya — Tribute to Carnatic Legends', it will feature flautist J.A. Jayant and will be held at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan on August 22 (5.30 p.m.). Candlelight Concerts, as the name suggests, is known for its candlelit ambience. 'We provide a quiet, focused and contemplative space lit by LED candles,' shares Pranjal Begwani, team lead (India), Candlelight. Talking about the show, Jayanth says, 'One's music is often influenced by the ambience. Hence, it's important to curate Carnatic concerts in beautiful spaces, which offer a visual appeal. It impacts the way the audience absorbs, understands and reacts to the music — from an upbeat Khamboji and a powerful Thodi to a lilting Behag. This concert will be an experience unlike any other.' According to Pranjal, 'The city's musical identity is respected worldwide, and in this space, our aim is not to compete with traditional forms, but to complement them with a new and distinctive format. Collaborating with Jayanth for Candlelight's first-ever Carnatic-themed concert worldwide reflects our commitment to showcase local talent, whose music bridges the classical and the contemporary.' The team has worked with Jayant twice — he began 2025 with a Candlelight Concert at the Museum Theatre, Egmore, alongside his fusion band, Hues and Harmony (Indian Bamboo Flute Project), and followed it up with another set of shows in May. Jayant says the audience can expect a proper Carnatic concert with well-known and rare kritis. 'There will also be an unexpected twist, which I hope the audience enjoys,' says Jayanth. The concert comprises two sets: Carnatic, where Jayant will perform with Bharadwaj followed by 'A tribute to A.R. Rahman' (8 p.m.), featuring V.G. Vigneshwar on the keyboard and Praveen Narayan on the tabla. Tickets on LiveYourCity.
NDTV
3 hours ago
- NDTV
"Disturbing" Hidden Messages On Daughter's Dress Leaves Mother Horrified
A mother has alerted parents after discovering explicit, sexually suggestive messages inscribed in tiny letters on her young daughter's outfit. The outfit, which was embroidered with harmless images such as chickens, jellybeans, and bunnies, had dangerously mature undertones. Savannah, the mother, captured the terrifying event in a video shared on TikTok, according to The New York Post. When she looked over the attire closely, the lines read, "Want to have an Easter egg hunt under the covers?" and the cheeky implication for "two lips": "My tulips want to be on your tulips." One of the weirdest phrases, according to Ms Savannah, was, "You've been the best husband and friend a girl could have ever asked for," while another said, "Let's pretend we're rabbits and do whatever comes naturally." "This coupon entitles you to one free peep show," was even more explicit. Despite the outcry, several social media users suggested that there might have been an unintentional design or production error. Ms Savannah's online research assisted in identifying the garment's original owner, a small American retailer called Lele & Co. The brand responded quickly, taking the rare step of trashing all remaining stock, deleting the item from its website, and issuing an apology. In an official statement, Lele & Co. acknowledged that the offensive language got past their quality control without being reviewed and clarified that the garment was a resale item from an outside vendor. They also mentioned that the liable vendor had been sued and that they had initiated efforts to contact Savannah directly. "Despite the negative and hateful messages, they will not diminish the passion that founded this company. Lele & Co. is facing slander based on unfounded claims," the statement added. This comes after last year's widely shared controversy around a holiday T-shirt sold at Kmart with words like "kinda naughty," with "naughty' in sequins, enraging parents
Scroll.in
a day ago
- Scroll.in
How Sudha Raghuraman is challenging the old hierarchies of Bharatanatyam
The famously fastidious and sharp-tongued Carnatic veena legend Dhanammal, whose music salons riveted Chennai in the early 20th century, was once asked why she attended the Bharatanatyam performances led by the great dance guru Meenakshisundaram Pillai. 'To hear Meenakshisundaram sing, of course, what else?' she retorted. This was a time in Bharatanatyam's history when its all-powerful gurus, or nattuvanars, were eclectic maestros – they taught, choreographed, sang, conducted recitals and articulated rhythm patterns on stage. Often, given the kind of spaces where dance was performed, they even moved with the dancer in the arena. Over half a century, the radical evolution of Bharatanatyam changed much of this, separating roles and reformatting the stage. The musicians now sit on the sidelines, and this is where you are likely to spot Carnatic singer and dance vocalist Sudha Raghuraman – normally. But something unusual happened three months ago in Delhi, when dancer Rama Vaidyanathan staged her new choreography, Maalyada, a tribute to the rainbow moods in Andal's bhakti poetry. Raghuraman sat on a perch off centre stage as the dance unfurled with Vaidyanathan and her troupe switching between verses set to as many as 12 ragas by Raghuraman. And at one point, the singer even had a brief role when she held a quiet face and handed flowers to the dancers. For Vaidyanathan, it was an acknowledgement that the vocal artistry and expressiveness of Raghuraman's music are essential to the power of her dance. 'I wanted her there, at that spot, interacting with us,' she said. 'Because her music is such an integral part of the dance.' Dance vocals tend to be dismissed as a lesser art form than solo performances. But listening to Raghuraman reminds you how hard it is to sing while remaining acutely mindful of another performer's needs. And all this, while she takes unbridled leaps with her voice and imagination. 'Dance music is so much more than just about singing right – it needs grit,' said Raghuraman. 'You have to reorient your vocal talent for dance, bring in bhava, have an almost telepathic alertness to what the dancer might want. Ultimately, I am answerable to another artiste on stage. But I have to also elevate my own performance. It all came with experience, trial and error, and hard training.' Dual career In dance circles, the vocalist whose work has evolved over three decades is known for being a no-nonsense stickler for perfection. 'It takes a certain kind of pagalpanti (madness),' she said, resorting to her city's patois, about her all-immersive engagement with dance. 'At this point, the only thing I fear is my own conscience and the sanctity of my work ethic.' Raghuraman's list of exceptional thematic works is long and varied. There was her music for the stalwarts – Leela Samson's ensemble Spanda, Geeta Chandran's Pratidhwani and Kalidasa, and Justin McCarthy's Kshetrayya and Naukacharitram. Among younger dancers, she has collaborated with Janaki Rangarajan on Draupadi and Kamayanil, Shruthi Rajagopal on Kaikesi, Meera Balasubramaniam on Kasi, and Vaibhav Arekar on Nhama Mhane. With Vaidyanathan, with whom she shares a special rapport, she did Mad and Divine, Ratnagarbha, Nimagna and Beyond Boundaries. Unlike most of her peers, Raghuraman juggles a rare dual career as a sought-after solo vocalist and an accomplished dance musician. 'I see myself as a bridge between these two forms,' she said. 'I don't see dance music as being taboo for a soloist.' This idea of bridging divides also applies to her success as a Delhi-based artist. While Delhi sits a far distance from the Carnatic epicentre and making southern inroads is an intimidating task, the capital has a small but tenacious and gifted clutch of artistes who have found a foothold in both their home city and the south. Raghuraman is one of them. Play Her dance music is eclectic, easily borrowing from Hindustani elements from khayal, thumri and dhrupad. For the young girl from the South Indian enclave of Karol Bagh in Delhi – once urged to take up the violin because her voice was deemed too robust for a woman – it has been a painstaking journey, sustained by the support and solidarity of the dance fraternity. Devadasi tradition At a 2012 dance conference in Chennai, when vocalist TM Krishna pointed out that far from being derivative, Bharatanatyam music was an independent entity that actually added to the Carnatic repertoire, it predictably led to a furore. But in the devadasi tradition, music and dance had indeed been inextricably bound together. The greatest dance gurus of the early 20th century, Kandappa Pillai, SK Rajarathnam Pillai and Dhandayudapani Pillai, were adept musicians as well. In his book about the hereditary art clan of T Balasaraswati, Balasaraswati: Her Art and Life, musician and scholar Douglas Knight Jr documents the close ties between singers and dancers. He records how Mylapore Gowri, also from the devadasi tradition, would visit Balasaraswati's grandmother, Dhanammal, and the women would share padams. These interactions included Balasaraswati's mother, as well as her daughters, the highly skilled vocalist Jayammal and her sister Lakshmiratnam. Dhanammal herself is said to have performed for dance, and Balasaraswati would often sing at her own dance recitals, though her mother was the main vocalist. Exactly as in the Hindustani system, which was enriched by the works of tawaifs, it was not unusual for Carnatic maestros to hear and absorb from renowned devadasis. The great vocalist Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar is one example cited in Knight's book: he was a part of the Dhanammal inner circle and learned padams and javalis from her. 'I remember Semmangudi [Srinivasa Iyer] mama talking about how his seniors would go to listen to Jayammal,' said playwright, director and culture writer Gowri Ramnarayan. 'And I remember Balasaraswati and Sharadambal singing when they performed padams, and that too without mikes because they were trained to sing for small settings.' With the highly contested anti-nautch drive peaking in the 1930s, it was Rukminidevi Arundale who made sweeping changes to Bharatanatyam – also the subject of a vivid debate now – giving it the shape we now know. 'She brought in the seniormost musicians into Kalakshetra to compose music for dance,' said Ramnarayan. 'She also sat the musicians on a platform on the stage.' With the great gurus passing, the dance vocals were handed to music professionals from outside the traditional performing communities. The idea of a regular musical troupe accompanying the dancer fell apart. Dance vocalists became a separate category of artistes. Occasionally, solo stalwarts like Krishna and Bombay Jayashri would collaborate with dancers like Priyadarshini Govind and Alarmel Valli in thematic projects. Creative camaraderie There is something of a joke in the dance circles – that Raghuraman is to Vaidyanathan what Kishore Kumar was to Rajesh Khanna, the perfect voice for a persona. They have collaborated more with each other than any other artiste. Their camaraderie was at work in late July in the basement of the dancer's school set in the verdant backyard of the Qutub Minar, where a Bharatanatyam recital was being scrubbed into shape. In about four days, the city was set to witness a tribute to the legendary Yamini Krishnamurthy. And Vaidynathan, her prime pupil, was readying Viriboni, the signature varnam of the great danseuse. Viriboni, composed by 18th-century composer Paccimiriam Adiyappa, is tricky. It lends itself more to singing than dancing and it was only Krishnamurthy, with her famed chutzpah, who could attempt it. To make things more demanding, Viriboni is also an exacting Bhairavi, demanding supreme comfort with the complex tala and raga delineation. It took Raghuraman and Vaidyanathan an entire morning of work to bring it together, fixing the number of iterations, deciding the cues, and aligning the beats. Raghuraman was born into music. Her grandfather, OV Subramanyam – a musician trained by the likes of Tiger Varadachariar – moved to Delhi in the 1940s to teach Carnatic music to the city's burgeoning southern community. Her uncle, vocalist OS Arun, is famed for his work with dancers. Growing up, Raghuraman's household rang with the sound of music the whole day, students streaming in and out, doted on by her grandparents. At age eight, Sudha was asked to start on the violin because her voice was too open-throated by the feminine standards of the time. But, in about five years, she returned to vocal music, intrigued by its poetics. 'I had a unique voice, so I decided to use it uniquely,' she said. 'I would bus it twice a week from my parental home in Hari Nagar to Karol Bagh but not give up.' She started an early career as a soloist. It was the much respected – and feared – dance and music critic Subbudu who suggested that she switch to dance music, citing the dearth of talent in the field. After that, Bharatanatyam dancer Kanaka Srinivasan signed her up for a recital. 'In those days I was okay with varnams but I was not very fond of padams and javalis,' she said. 'I found them slow and they demanded an extremely strong grip on talam and I was too young to get their emotional content and rich musicality.' Play She was introduced to the delightful universe of padams and javalis by Justin McCarthy, a Kalakshetra-trained, Delhi-based dancer. 'He loved these forms and he really mentored me,' she said. 'I was never one for chalta hai attitude, so I put my heart and soul into it. Whether it was Balavinave or Payyada, he knew exactly what emotional dimension was needed in music, the highs and lows.' Raghuraman's grip on music was strong enough to make room for experimentation. If you listen to her, you can hear whiffs of Hindustani influence in her music, especially in the slow passages. Part of this, she says, comes from working with a lot of artistes with eclectic tastes. Leela Samson, she says, was one inspiration. Others included Hindustani vocalists Madhup Mudgal, Meeta Pandit, Bhuvanesh Komkali, Shashwati Mandal and Kalapini Komkali. 'I always look for ways to transcend the form,' she said. 'I take whatever is good and touches my soul. I call it Indian music, not northern or southern. And if it is a Hindi piece, then I have a lot of freedom to play with the music like Jhuk Aayee Re Badariya, a Meera bhajan that I worked into a varnam.' In earlier decades, Raghuraman recalls how low in the hierarchy music troupes were – whether it was travel, payment or accommodation, they had to make do with the bare minimum. With her and the younger generation of dance musicians, a lot is changing. 'Those before us had it worse and it was on their gains that we stood tall,' she said. 'And what we did raised the bar further, paving the path for more dignity for the younger dance singers.' Play
