Chennai in December

I can tolerate Chennai only in December. Pleasant weather (the humidity is bearable) and plenty of music and dance.

Thanks to my brother I am in Chennai for one and half weeks trying to cram in as much activity as possible while simultaneously running my lab in Delhi.

To start with, there are relatives who have to be visited. Then there are kutcheris to attend. Truthfully, I am not very good at music. I cannot recognize ragams and the technicalities are beyond me. My mind tends to wander as it did yesterday during the concert by Malladi brothers. I found myself pondering over a paper we are planning to write. Half-way through, I took out a pen and scribbled the outline of the paper on the back of the envelope much to my brother's disgust. He has never been able to understand how I function with so many varied activities thrown together in a melting pot. I keep telling me to relax. Sigh!

The Malladi brothers concert was excellent. The same, however, could not be said for Revati Ramachandran's dance concert. She started with Sri Ganapathini in Saurashtra ragam. Since bhavam is not expected in the first item I sat back to see how she did in the Varnam. She announced that this was the main piece and she was going to do Mohamana in Bhairavi. Now, this varnam was composed by Ponniah Pillai and is truly awesome. Or at least it can be awesome. However, I was left dissatisfied. The jathis were good, the music was good, the dancer tried her best but the soul was missing.

Oh well!

Today there is a lecture demonstration on Nottuswarams of Muthuswamy Dikshitar.