Reminiscences of another Time…

Reminiscences of another time…

Flashback to July 1974 , San Francisco. One of our theatre troupe member invites me to visit the
school she just joined in Berkeley .
So off we go in her old VW bug .
It is the newly opened Centre for World Music , a brain child of Ethno-Musicologist Dr Bob Brown. .
With significant financial help from Louise Scripps , of the wealthy San Diego Scripps family , an old
church building on College avenue was purchased .
Louise Scripps was an ardent and devoted student of T Balasaraswati .
So here we arrive one afternoon there . There on the lawn in front of the main building KVN and
Palghat Raghu are laying on the grass . I had seen Palghat Raghu’s name in Ravi Shankar’s double LP ”
Festival of India ” , so I greeted him and even asked him to convey my regards to his guru Palghat
Mani Iyer . KVN’s hair was shaved as he had visited Tirupati before coming .
.
For that summer session , some of the topmost artists from South India , North India , Indonesia ,
and other countries had been brought to Berkeley .

The South Indian contingent comprised KNV ( with wife Padma Narayanaswami and kid daughter
Anuradha ) . T N Krishnan , with wife and Kids Sriram and Vidya , Palghat Raghu , T H Vinayakram and
V Nagarajan ( kanjira ) . Also T Balasaraswati , her daughter Lakshmi and two others whose names I
cannot recollect .

The friend ( Kristin Lindley ) who had given me a ride to Berkeley was a dancer and started taking
Javaneses dance classes . I was at that time an amateur percussionist and was very much intrigued
by the intricacies of the India Tabla . Next to the main building there was a small annex where Tabla,
Mridangam and Ghatam classes were held , on the first floor .

As I wanted to learn tablas , I somehow began taking classes without registering in the school . I got
away with it for a couple of weeks before being found out . Fortunately one of our theatre troupe
members has just gotten an inheritance and he gave me $ 400 to pay for the summer course .

So there i was taking beginner tabla classes , I think the teacher was a North India tabla vidwan by
the name of Anand Bolas . So on the same floor Palghat Raghu was teaching Mridangam and I took
his class too and i also joined T H Vinayakram’s Ghatam class

Correction : T N Krishnan ‘s daughter is Viji , not Vidya

One day as I was coming down from one of the percussion classes , probably ghatam , I see the door
of the main room ( small one story house , annex of the main building , right next door ),
So the door of the big main room on the ground floor ( that might have been the living room of the
pastor ) was open and there was KVN teaching a group of about ten boys , all mid twenties to mid
thirties , teaching the simple arohana avarohana of Mayamalava gaula . i entered and asked
permission to sit ( in the back ) I had never heard anything like that before . After the class was over I
asked permission to join.
After a few weeks the summer session was over and I had no funds to pay for the fall session . By
that time I had become somewhat closer to KNV and family and I continued taking classes from him
free of charge at his small apartment a couple of blocks down the street from the centre for world
music . Balasaraswati ‘s apartment was in the same building and all the south Indians had
apartments within a short radius of the school . I used to also visit Palghat Raghu and TH Vinayakram
in their apartments . Raghu used to practically live on Upma that he cooked himself . He left back to
India a few months before the rest of the South Indians due to a financial disagreement with Bob
Brown . Before leaving he gave me a few khadi veshtis and shirts ( that were too big for me ) . I wore
those as soon as I reached Bombay the following year in September 75 . Also I gave him $ 85 to buy a
Mridangam in preparation of my future arrival in India the following year with the intention of
continuing learning under him later in Madras .

The summer session was a very big affair with all kinds of mesmerizing music emanating from all
corners of the centre .
9 Jan 2016
Now a word about the Centre for World Music.
As I said , it was the brainchild of Dr Bob Brown.
Bob Brown was a musician and ethno-musicologist. In the mid fifties he has come to India on a
Fulbright scholarship under Wesleyan University to study classical Indian music.

At that time it was not much known that there were two systems of Indian music and He was sent to
Madras . He stayed a few years and completed a PHD thesis on the Mridangam , with substantial
help from T Ranganathan.
At that time T. Vishwanathan was the head of the Music Department at Madras University and a
close relationship was developed with the entire T .Balasaraswati family clan . Later Jon Higgins also
established a very close relationship with that same family and achieved an impressive level of
proficiency in Carnatic singing and even gained the title of “ Jon Higging Bhagavathar “ .
Both T. Vishwanatha and T.Ranganathan eventually made their way to the Wesleyan University and
became part of the faculty there . Other musicians from South India also found their way to
Wesleyan , among them Veena Vidwan Nageshwara Rao , who later opened the Nadopasana center
and school in Paris , Mridangam Vidwan Ramnad Raghavan and Also Vocalist Ramnad krishan.
KVN and Palghat Raghu also had a stint there for a couple of years between 1965 and 1967. They
were also joined later by violinist V V Subramaniam . He had been part of the M S Subbulakshmi USA
tour group. and he was convinced , ( rather M S Subbulakshmi ) to stay back by KVN , Raghu and
Bob Brown , thus completing the Vocal Violin Mridangam group.
A few LP records by all the above mentioned artists were put out by the Nonesuch label at that time
.
Also the rare LP of KVN, Raghu and V V Subramaniam at Hollywood Bowl was recorded on the World
Pacific label in 1967 , and that was arranged by Ravi Shankar . I had found not one but two copies of
that LP in a San Francisco record store in the fall of 75 and i presented one to KVN .
My son Badri found one online and surprised me with it during my birthday last year ( 2019 ) on Jan
3 rd .
Later the late Jon Higgins who was his student at Wesleyan also benefited from the same program ,
and the rest is history. .( see above ) We learned of Jon Higgins premature passing while at the San
Diego Winona Avenue place around February 85 . Before that he had spent some time in Madras
during the early eighties . Once I even gave him a ride on my bike and told him one of my jokes “
Show my Krishna strawberry Gowri “ ( Shyama Krishna Sodari Gauri ) “ He was there on a few
months project and Vishwa was there too .
So the summer session ( and first ) of the centre at Berkeley was very large and ambitious .
Industrial quantities of all kinds of Indian and Indonesian instruments were shipped to Berkeley.
There was also a big Gamelan and Indonesian /Javanese delegation .
Gamelan music could be heard wafting at all hours . Much more can be said about the Centre.
Now back to KVN and before I go on let me mention some of the boys who were in KVN’s singing
class . Some of them later made their way to india as well
There was Micheal Davis , who later learned flute in Madras (Chennai) under the Sikkil sisters
Jeff London , August Karlson , Craig Moro , who spoke some Tamil and others I cannot remember .
So here we are now in the fall of 1974 . I spent lots of time at KVN’s place , sometimes staying

overnight . KVN and family also visit our theatre commune house in San Francisco and even attend
one of our shows . Palghat Raghu also visits us in San francisco and we walk around in SF going here
and there sightseeing .

Beginning of 75 KVN and family leave for India .
10 Jan 2016
A little flash back to the Centre for Word Music .
As I said the summer session was very ambitious and ended up going over budget , that caused some
of the faculty to leave back to India after the fall session . That included T Balasaraswati and party ,
Palghat Raghu I do not recall, nor about T N Krishnan and R H Vinayakram but I think they also left .
KVN stayed on till about Feb or March 75 .
After Balasarawati left KVN switched apartments and moved into Bala’s in the same building .
Viswanathan and T Ranganathan had visited during the summer from Wesleyan and came to KVN
‘s home for lunch . Upon learning about my french connection Ranga told one small joke : “do you
know why French people eat only one egg ? because un oeuf is enough !” He also mentioned how
they knew this French Bharata Natyam dancer and teacher in Paris called Kumari Malavika . ( i got
to know her in India and France some years later. Ranga had T Shirts with Carnatic composer
portraits printed on them . A small anecdote . The first time I saw T . Vishwanathan at Berkeley i
thought to myself “ what is this African American doing here “ ? ( my bad 🙂
I remember Bala’s daughter Lakshmi making a very big kolam ( rangoli ) with multi coloured chalks
on the floor in the main building hall during Navaratri . She later married Doug Knight , a student of
Ranganathan . ( I remember Doug and I having a conversation about T.Balasaswathi’s objections on a
walk in Madras around 1979 when that marriage was about to be finalized .
The South indian Carnatic group used to give a weekly concert and that was the first time I got to
wear a veshti ( dhoti ) and operate the shruti box . These concerts were usually broadcast on the
independant Berkeley Pacifica Radio Station KPFA .
Also one time we took the Center’s van and went to a college in Petaluma or Santa Rosa for a concert
and I remember being very impressed by TN Krishnan’s playing . The guy in charge of the music
program there was one Mr Tiwari , a North Indian musician .

11 Jan 2016

Overland to India

After KVN and family left back to India we kept in touch by regular postal mail. No email these days .
The Overland trip to India .
By the summer of 75 with some financial help from the Theater commune, myself and a friend left
San Francisco en route to India .
We got a ride share with some Persians, from San Francisco to New York . After spending a couple of
weeks with my friend’s family in Manhattan we flew to Europe .
In France we spent about one and a half months with my family and by August 75 we set off India
bound .
We hitchhiked to southern France and spend a couple of days with my maternal aunt in Marseilles ,
then on to Italy , still hitchhiking .
We somehow make it to Naples then as our hitchhiking luck ran out in the south of Italy we continue
on by train to a city called Brindisi ( or Bari ) from where we take a boat to the Greek island of Corfu .
One week camping under the stars on a beach and we take another boat to Irgumenista on
mainland Greece . From there an overnight bus ride takes us to Tesaloniki on the way to Turkey .
From Tesaloniki a slow overnight train takes us to Istanbul .
In Istanbul we ran into an acquaintance from the Bay Area , Krishna Bhatt , a sitarist from Berkeley ,
on his way back from India . . He gives us a two rupee note.
About ten days or so in Istanbul and we take a three day bus journey from there to Tehran .
In Teheran we make friends with some Italian people , Luigi and Loredana ( I ran into them at
Madras two years later ) Also in Teheran we ran out of money and a Persian friend of a friend helps
us out . I remember also we went to see a Hindi movie , dubbed in Persian . “ Ham Kisi Se Kam Nahin
“
A phone call to San Francisco and we get some funds wired .
Two weeks in Teheran and back on the road . On the bus to the northern city of Meshad we ask
some girls if they know a nice hotel in that city . They actually invite us to stay with their family and
we experience one week of wonderful Persian family hospitality . They took us to visit the famous
Imam Reza Shiite shrine , and that was very impressive .

15 Jan 2016
So we are at the beginning of September 1975 in Mashad , Iran .
Mashad is a holly city for Shiite Muslim and has has a shrine for Imam Reza .
After one week in Mashhad and we make our way to the Afghan border and cross into Afghanistan.
The contrast between Iran and Afghanistan was quite something to behold .

Complete pandemonium on the Afghan side .
We board a bus full of people and various small members of the poultry race and reach the western
city of Herat .
From here another bus and we are in Kabul . At that time Afghanistan was very peaceful . The guy
who ran the hotel was called Ramzan . I think he was either an Uzbek or a Tajik .
We spent two pleasant weeks in Kabul and off to Pakistan .
So we board this Pakistani bus , with right hand drive and go down the Khyber pass to a city called
Jalalabad . Jalalabad is still in Afghanistan but now we have entered the Indian subcontinent and we
feel its flavour , we see green bananas etc.

We cross the border into Pakistan and make our way to Rawalpindi by bus . One night in Rawalpindi
and on the overnight train to Lahore . One night in Lahore and we are on the way to the Wagah
border crossing to India …. At the hotel in Lahore the owners offered us Chai . Also I took a walk
outside in the evening and I remember people selling sweet lime ( mosambi ) on carts .

18 Jan 2016

INDIA
26 September 1975 around 10 am .
After clearing the Pakistani border post we walked about 200 meters to the Indian border post at
Wagah . There we saw a 7 foot tall Pathan Pakistani border guard .
May I mention in passing that Pakistan is just another India . ( Pakistanis are confused Indians 🙂 )
I had a bunch of electronic gadgets requested by KVN which I had purchased in New York .
These are entered in my passport .
Our Indian tourist visas are verified , we had gotten them in Teheran.
Teheran flashback : in Teheran at the hotel we had befriended some Sikhs and we were invited to
the local Gurdwara . One of the sikh guys tied a turban ( a long piece of black cloth that i had bought
in Morocco two years before ) on my head and since I had facial hair at that time the people there
mistook me for a Sardarji .

Back to Wagah – So we finally cleared Indian customs and set foot in India . Outside a bunch of
rickshaw guys are waiting . One of them agrees to take us for free to Amritsar a few miles away .

In Amritsar ( Pool of Nectar ) we visit the Golden Temple. At the main entry gate there is a small
running water shallow ditch so all automatically wash their feet upon entering .
After the Golden Temple we make our way to the railway station and we get tickets for the overnight
Frontier mail train to New Delhi .
Morning arrival in Delhi . There I forgot a small bag under the seat in the train with some important
papers . By the time I realize , the train is already gone . At Delhi we see our first kids begging for
money etc . ( The lost small bag was a Sabena small carry on like the ones that airlines used to give to
passengers )
We book a luxurious hotel room for the humongous price of Rs 30 and donate all our warm clothes
now that we have reached tropical India !
After a couple of days in Delhi we are on the train on the way to Bombay , following our original plan
to visit Goa before reaching Madras .. ( We had met some American guy who lived there , on the
train between Thessaloniki and Istanbul and he had agreed to host us at his place in Goa )
At Bombay we wandered a little bit before finding a hotel in a street behind The famous Hotel Taj
Mahal .
I think that was Raffles hotel . We get a regal room for a kingly Rs 12 . As it is September it is the fag
end of the west coast monsoon and we experience the heavy rains .
There were some Arab families too in the hotel , I guess they were there to enjoy the rain as well .
We manage to find the much missed avocados in a nearby coffee shop called Dipti Nivas , where
avocado sandwiches are served .
From there we get precious info on where to find avocados in Bombay , at the big Crawford fruit
market . That info also came handy during my subsequent visits to Bombay .
Now that we have reached Bombay, now called Mumbai, we go to the main post office near VT
station and ring up KVN in Madras .
KVN and Padma mami instruct us to leave the hotel and go stay with Padma’s elder sister Neela at
Anushakti Nagar .
We canceled the trip to Goa and donated the boat tickets to a frizzy haired Algerian hippy and took a
taxi all the way to Anushakti Nagar in the suburbs .
Now one word about KVN ‘s sister in law Neela .
From scholarship to scholarship she ended up becoming a nuclear scientist with a PhD from America
( Rockridge , Tennessee ) and now works in the Bhabha Atomic Center in Bombay . I had also met
Neela shortly back in 74 when she visited KVN and Mami in Berkeley .
So we take a long and costly 30 rupee taxi ride ( the muslim taxi driver was overjoyed ) to Anushakti
nagar , where the elite of India’s nuclear scientists is housed in modern high rise buildings , with all

the modern comforts of the day available in India at that time. The elevator is not working. We walk
up to the 13 th floor to Neela’s spacious three bedroom flat .
At that time she was past her mid thirties and not yet married on account of many years of study
.Her younger sister Revati ( who was about 23 at the time ) , one of numerous siblings , was there
also keeping her company
We are given a very good South indian family welcome of course and enjoy spicy South Indian
Iyengar cooking after a few weeks of a nearly fruitarian diet on the overland route from France .
I immediately developed a bad ear infection . Neela pours some hot oil in my ear and that helps a
little .
A couple of days more in Bombay and we are finally on the way to Madras now called by its original
name, Chennai, by train .

24th January 2016
After a two day train ride from Bombay , we alight from Bombay mail ( or Madras mail )
and finally reach our last destination .
Madras at last
A fifty Paise coin in the red pay phone and I have KNV on the line
“Take a taxi via Beach road and come to the Mandaveli ( Raja Annamalai Puram ) post office , I will
wait for you there “
So we arrive at Mandaveli , KVN is there waiting for us at the post office ,
We went to his home at 59/2B Gurukkal Colony , just across the street .
Gurukkal Colony is a small dead end street , the place belongs to The Kapaleeshwar temple
and houses about 15 mostly Brahmin families . At that time KVN’s rent is about an astronomical Rs 75
.

We meet Padma Mami and Anuradha and and also are introduced to Ramaa (KVN’s other daughter)
and gradually to the rest of KVN’s extended and numerous in law family. So now we are in Madras
It is Deepavali time and also monsoon time .

31 Jan 2016

So here we are in Madras , it is around Deepavali time . We are staying in KVN’s house and exploring
Madras . the lighthouse , the fruit market at Parry’s corner etc .. It is not mango season but we find
some anyway .

After a few days we went and visited MS Subbulakshmi with KVN at the Kalki garden house .
There we meet the whole extended family , Sadasivam , Radha Vishwanathan etc .
We are served delicious iddlies and engage in conversation, visit the big puja room etc . I remember
one conversation between Radha Vishwanathan and KVN , how they discussed having the same
birth star , Avittam . also one Bengali lady whose name i cannot remember was there
After a few days MS sent her small black Fiat car to fetch us from KVN’s house to take us to her
concert at Madras University .
Now it is about mid October and we all make a train journey en route to Trivandrum to attend the
Navaratri festival . We alight at Trichur after the overnight train journey from Madras and step into
the luxuriant tropical greenery of God’d own country , Kerala . At Trichur we are given a wonderful
welcome at Narendran’s family home , ” Chandni ” ( hence the name Trichr C Narendran ) . It is a
traditional Kerala house .
We meet Narendran’s great artistic family , his poet mom , his aristocratic father late Sri Venugoplal
Raja , his violinist brother Rajendran and also their sister Gita .
There I discovered the great Kerala bananas . Those days I was on a fruitarian diet . I counted 23
different types of bananas in Kerala . No kidding .
After having spent a few days in Trichur we made a stop over in Alleppey en route to Trivandrum and
paid a visit to Allepey Venkatesan’s family . They are Iyengars , a minority in Kerala where most of
the local Tamil Brahmins are Iyers .
We reach Trivandrum and we are put up in the Navarathri mandapam guest quarters on the
compound of the old Travancore family palace near the Anantha Padmanabha temple .

17 Feb 2016.

So we are in Trivandrum . The Navaratri mandapam where the concerts take place is an annex of
both the old palace and the Anantha Padmanabha temple . It is therefore considered to be part and
parcel of the temple itself . Only men are allowed inside the main hall , but there is a secluded area
in the back from where ladies can witness the various events thru a lattice work partition , Purdah
style .

On the evening of KVN’s concert , some objections were raised about my presence as a non hindu
inside the mandapam . Those were overlooked after reassurances and explanations from KVN as of
my being according to his words ” better than a Brahmin ” ( quote ). As the place as I said is part of
the temple , men as a mark of humility and submission to the supreme wear no upper garments and
are bare chested . Saivite vibhuti ( sacred ashes ) were applied to my torso and arms and I was good
to go for my sruthi box solo sitting behind KVN .
While in Trivandrum we also visited KNV’s nephew Radhakrishnan and other local musicians and
acquaintances , among whom Chalakudi Narayanaswami .
One night I went for a walk and chanced upon an all night Kathakali event inside the temple premises
. I only stayed about half an hour .
Another very interesting event was the grand annual procession that went from the temple to the
sea , it was led by the then Maharaja ( elder brother of late Martanda Varma ) . A very spectacular
event with many elephants and all kinds of colourful things . I noticed the elephant’s droppings were
as big as footballs . The procession took a few hours , at the end of which the Maharaja threw
something into the sea. I attended the whole thing , walking behind the elephants

I also remember some temple ceremony where hundreds of coconuts were broken at some temple
and I remember well Padma mami had something to do with that .
After one week or so in Kerala we returned to Madras .
27th Feb 2016

So here we are back in Madras from the Kerala trip . Must be about the end of Oct or beginning of
Nov . Having stayed a couple of weeks at KVN’s house , my friend and I rent an upstairs flat on R K
Mutt Road, Mandaveli , about midway between Gurukkal Colony and the Music college on
Greenways road, Adyar. The owner is a firm believer in astrology and mentions that he might not be
around on earth much longer ! His son was wearing the Ayyappa pilgrimage garb , which was a
recent phenomenon then . He worked at Indian Overseas bank next to the LIC Building on Mount
Road .

The rent is an astoundingly high Rs 300 per month . Many mosquitoes reside in the cupboards. The
landlord says we can have as many papayas from the tree outside as we like . There is a very nice
rooftop terrace , like most homes in India , from where we can admire the beautiful starry night sky .
KVN stops by once in a while on the way to and from the College , sometimes riding a bicycle and
checking out what we have in the kitchen .

Among the people and places we visit at that time are Padma Subramaniam and also Kalakshetra , in
view of my friends taking dance classes . At Kalakshetra we meet MD Ramanathan and also meet
the then principal , one Sethuraman .
By the end of December , my friend has to return to the US and we vacate the flat and I move back
into KVN’s house and that is the actual beginning of my gurukula vasam life ….

1st March 2016

……Before we go on, let me quickly describe the “notion ” of Gurukulavasam .

Guru means “teacher or guide ‘ Kula means , abode , house , and ” Vasam ” means dwelling
So the state of ” Gurukula vasam” is when a pupil or student lives in the teacher’s home as part of
the family and undergoes training with performing various services for the Guru and often by
extension to his extended family as well .

So here we are , at the very beginning of 1976 , we are a 59/2B Gurukkal Colony at Mandaveli.
It is a small dead end street , very near the crossroads of Ramakrishna Mutt road and
Venkatakrishna road , That carrefour has the Mandaveli bus strand on one corner , opposite of which
is the Raja Annamalaipuram post office , next to Prakash Hotel . Hotel in south india does not mean
a hotel , it means a restaurant , but actually Prakash hotel did have some rooms for rent on the upper
floor . On the other side of the carrefour going towards Santome is the taxi stand and the bus depot
and a petrol bunk ( indian for gas station ) opposite of that . Gurukkal colony is the very first left
going south towards Adyar .
A brief description of KVN’s home . It is the second house on the left turning from R K Mutt road . It
is the upstairs portion of a two story house , like all the houses on the Alley . Downstairs is the D
Krishnamurthy family , he is an advocate . All families are Iyer brahmin families except one Saiva (
vegetarian ) Pillai family and an Urdu speaking Muslim family across the street . We never see them
and all their windows are always closed . They occupy both floors of the house .

KVN’s upper flat has hardly any furniture at all , only a couple of green armchairs in the living room ”
cum reception area and a small square table . On a widow still sits the old rotary dial bakelite
telephone . In those days , landline telephones are rare in homes , KVN had one due to a previous
medical condition . ( heart attack at Wesleyan around 1966 )

So hardly any furniture at all . no beds , no tables , no chairs . all sleep and eat on the
floor . no fridge , no gas stove , Cooking is done with a kerosene stove . No running water , there is a
hand pump in the bathroom . The hot water samovar uses coal . It was later electrified .

4th March 2016

More about KVN’s flat .
As I said it was very sparsely furnished , There was however also a music room and a small puja
room.
In the bathing room there was a coal operated samovar for making hot water . It was later electrified
We used to go to a small alley off R K Mutt road to buy charcoal .

At that time an elderly brahmin lady whom all called mámi was the house cook . She left after a few
months .
More about the domestic scene later , now onto the Gurukulavasam life …
A typical day schedule : up at 5 am to pick flowers from a small tree across the street . At that hour it
is still dark and many hands are picking the few white flowers .
That done, it is time to go fetch the milk . So I go on a bicycle with two ” goojas ” ( containers ) , one
for cow’s milk and one for buffalo milk ( for making curd ) . Each guja hangs on either side of the
handle bar . I proceed to some mysterious back street in the mandaveli labyrinth to an
urban/pastoral dairy farm and return to the house with the milky bounty . In those days the monthly
milk budget was a whopping Rs 600. Upon returning home I would attempt to sit for practice , but
oftentimes I was sent on a variety of different errands.

Type of errands : get train tickets from Madras central , or Egmore station , take bus 21 to central or
bus 23 to Egmore .
Shop for vegetables , coffee powder , butter , etc convey messages to mámis family in Triplicane ( 5
Thanikachalam street ) as they had no phone . ( for example : got tell my mom to make chapatis ) I
also used to go and get the daily Tamil newspaper Dinamani ( from which I began deciphering the
Tamil letters ) and the magazine Tughlak that KVN enjoyed reading .
Go get a taxi or an auto from the taxi stand . Our usual taxi driver was one Selvaraj . ( I attended his
wedding later , with Craig Moro, one of KVN ‘s students from the Berkeley day ) All of that of
course entailed learning tamil.

I figured out I could make a sentence with two words ( Thakkali Irrukka ? )
Learning the language was not too difficult as I found myself in a similar non European culture akin to
the one I had grown up in in North Africa , same sitting on the floor , same eating with hands , same
big extended multi generation families , same use of two languages in everyday life . Many
grammatical mistakes were made . I also figured out that different sections of the society spoke
different types of Tamil .
One “foreign ” language and one local vernacular , ( almost ) same spicy foods etc ..

5th March 2016

Before we go on a little bit more about the neighbourhood , that was to become my “territory ” for
the next few years . There was a Nadar fruit and juice shop where I had a banana account . I used to
have my daily glass of fresh squeezed sweet lime juice , no syrup please , that cost one rupee. I paid
my banana account at the end of the month . I got to be familiar with all the shops in the area on
account of running errands for the house.
There was the portly tailor Chellappa , who had looked at my palm and predicted a ” Kozhappu
kalyanam ” ( mixed marriage ) , the Fatima hardware store Mohamed Ibrahim , and many others I
forget .

Now back to life at KVN’s . KVN has a very large in-law contingent consisting of Padma mámi’s
brothers , sisters and parents . At that time . KVN’s elder daughters had already been married off ,
Mukta to Balakrishnan in Thanjavur and Lalitha to Janakiraman in Trichy ,. His son Vishwanathan (
Vicchu ) was also in Trichy at engineering college . The only kids left at home were Ramaá and
Anuradha .
One of my many jobs was to take Anu to school . As a child she was very playful .
KVN’s home was always very busy at all times including meal times . At that time KVN had a student
called Parameshwaran , we called him Jesudas Parameshwaran on account of his deep voice . From
hearsay I learned that one Krishnamachary had also been a student and that according to Padma
Mámi he ate mountains of rice .
Trichur Narendran was often there too and of course we are best friends up to this day .

Around Jan 76 we entrained for New Delhi . In the train we travelled with Trichur Narendran , V V
Ravi and also, if I remember well, Violin Kanya Kumari , whom I called ( privately ) “ Tania Kumari on
account of her permanent spinster status .

In Delhi we stayed with some family . It was a little bit cold and we took walks in the neighborhood ,
I think that was Karol Bagh . I noticed that the carrots were red and that the buffaloes were different
from the ones in the south ( smaller horns ) . We also ate lots of Gobi ( cauliflower )

The reason we were there was the annual function of Dharmic Samaj . I remember well I was made
to play tambura for ML Vasantha Kumari . We also visited the Ganesha Temple ( ?) and homes of
some people known to KVN.

We also met one Mr Mani ( a home ministry official ) who arranged for my permanent stay in India .
Good to know people in high places . He only asked for my last name and had everything arranged .
Also back in Madras both KVN and Palghat Raghu came with me to the foreign registration office to
vouch for me .

9th March 2016

So here we are in the beginning of 1976 , I am now living at KVN’s house and living the
Gurukulavasam life .That traditional system is almost at its end , and I might have more or less caught
its last stages , of course with no idea or awareness of it .

Now one word about the family life at KVN”s home . Besides Máma ( KVN) , Mami (Padma mámi ) ,
Anu and Ramaa , Mami’s , brothers , sisters and parents are almost there every day and also eat
there , along with frequent guests .

Now a small flashback to November 1975 .

Neela’s marriage .
Neela is Padma Mámi’s elder sister . She had a PHD in nuclear science from America . She is now
employed at Bhabha Atomic center in Bombay . At the time she was almost 36 and still not married
on account of many years of postgraduate studies . Her marriage is finally arranged with one
Chakravarti , alias Chax . He is about forty two and has a good job in Bombay . . The wedding takes
place in Tirupati , so we all travel there . ( first visit for me ) . Very interesting experience

Visit to the temple etc . more about Neela later . In one incident mami’s father actually beat one
small girl servant who had come along from Madras for losing one key or something . She might have
been about 10 or 11 years old and was just called “ Ponnu “ ( girl ) . Domestic help did not seem to
deserve having names . One old servant lady in the Madras home was just called “ Kizhavi “ ( old
woman ) . She was the person with the red plastic bucket .

Now back to Madras 1976

In April 76 We traveled to Bombay for a two month stay . The Maharani of Travancore Rani Sethu
Parvathi bai ( queen mother ) has requested KVN to formally record Swathi Tirunal ‘s navaratri kritis ,
so arrangements are made with the National centre For Performing Arts at Nariman point . The
building is brand new , and its director is Narayana Menon . We stay at Neela’s flat in Anushakti
Nagar , the home of India’s elite nuclear scientists .

We travel everyday from Anushakti Nagar to Nariman Point . During the recordings , KVN has the
lyrics ( sahitya ) written in Malayalam script in front of him . Padma mámi and myself are sitting
behind him , with one tambura each . At that time there were no electronic tamburas or shruti boxes
.
As they do this for many days , I end up being able to read the malayalam script , now almost
forgotten .

For lunch we are graciously and daily invited to Narayana Menon’s personal quarters at NPCA ( NCPA
? ) . This goes on for some time until Mami decides we should no longer have lunch there so
alternate lunch arrangements are made . I remember a couple of jokes told by Narayana Menon and
they are still in my repertoire to this day . ( Nayayan menon “s wife was Bengali , she knew bribes of
Tamil )

During the Bombay stay we also have a recording at the Doordarshan station in Worli . The
Mridangam accompaniment was by Umayalpuram Sivaraman . I remember him saying ” pani lao ” (
bring water ) to an assistant ( for the mridangam rava ) During the Bombay stay I began learning
bribes of Hindi .
Trichur Narendran was with us sometimes . We were once invited to have buffet lunch at The Taj
Mahal hotel by one ” Pfizer ” Neelakandan and another time we also were invited for lunch at
Express towers . ( first memory of lijjat papads ) at Taj mahal hotel we saw Latha mageshkar in the
Lobby , wearing a white sari.

I do not remember if this was before or after the Bombay trip but 1n 1976 , KVN was awarded the
Padma Shri Medal ( maybe before . like in April 76 . )

So we traveled to Delhi again .

14th March 2016

So if I remember well , before the Bombay trip we go to Delhi for the Padma Shri Awards ceremony.
Three invitations are received from the President of India , one in KVN’s name . one in Padma Mami’s
name and one in my name .
KVN and Mami fly to Delhi while myself , Narendran and VV Ravi follow by train. We are put up
somewhere , maybe again in Karol Bagh , that is Narendran , Ravi and me . We were in a room with a
musical ceiling fan that made a nice rhythmic sound , to which I danced much to the amusement of
Narendran and Ravi .
So on the day of the award we proceed to Rashrapati Bhavan , the President’s palace .
I am seated with the audience. I recall seeing Amitabh Bacchan , as in those days he was a friend of
the Gandhi ( Indira ) family . KVN was seated next to Parveen Sultana . I needed to use the restroom
so I was escorted there by a 7 feet tall Sikh guard . The rest room was very nice and reminded me of a
famous Sardarji joke .
During the reception after the award ceremony I saw Indira Gandhi and the then President
Fakhrudin Ali Ahmed . As I was very busy at the buffet I missed being in a photo with KVN , Mami
and Indira Gandhi . Too bad it would have been a nice souvenir . One guy at the buffet scolded me for
taking too many cookies .
After the Delhi trip we went to Bombay .
Some time in between we also went to Karaikudi and other places and that was during mango
season . Beautiful and warm interior Tamil Nadu . There I was upgraded to tanbura playing :).

We stayed in Bombay for two months . During that time we attended one of TV Shankaranarayan’s
very first concerts , that took place at Anushakti Nagar . He must have been about 36 at that time .

After we returned to Madras, arrangements were made to hire a cook for Neela in Bombay . A young
Brahmin chap , about 20 yrs old , was hired and I went to Madras Central to purchase his train ticket
for Bombay . The price was Rs 49

That was around end of june 76

Next was a big family tragedy ..

15th March 2016
A family tragedy …
We are about July 1976 , shortly after having returned from Bombay , we get some horrific news
from Bombay , Neela, Padma Mámi’s elder sister, has been murdered by the cook in her flat . It
seems he attempted to rape her as she was coming out of the bathroom .
Huge shock in the family . So KVN , Padma and Padma Mámi , brother Kannan, fly to Bombay to deal
with the situation .
The guy was caught and ultimately executed . .
That event took a long time to heal and Mámi did not sing for a few months .
KVN however kept all of his concert engagements

Now one word about the relationship between KVN and Palghat Raghu .
They practically grew up together in Palghat and were childhood friends . Both were coached by
Palghat Mani Iyer and were married on the same day to nieces of Paghat Mani Iyer , KVN to his first
wife Annapurna , mother of Mukta , Lalitha , Vishwanathan ( Vicchu ) and Ramaa . Annapurna
succumbed to some disease when Ramaa was about 4 yrs old . Raghu was married to Swarnam . Also
KVN’s son Vicchu and Raghu’s son Kumar had their Upanayanam ( thread ceremony ) the same day .

KVN and Raghu were very close friends as well as related by marriage . They played frequently
together and also toured a lot together both in India and abroad . They had a two year stint at
Wesleyan University as Teaching faculty . ( 1965 to 1967 )
On concert days KVN and Raghu would set the Mridangam sruti over the telephone .

Due to some misunderstanding they had a fall out around 1989 or so .
Admin: I was on stage with KVN Máma when the incident that caused the estrangement took place,
but, with deference to my guru and out of respect for the late Palghat Raghu I do not believe it would
be proper for me to relay the incident that caused this sad end to an epic relationship both as

musicians and as family. Really sad when you consider that KVN Máma used to sit on Palghat Mani
Iyer’s lap whilst he was teaching Palghat Ragu.

17th March 2016

So we are still in 1976

After the Bombay tragedy life goes on at Gurukkal colony . Mami is in mourning and does not
practice . Otherwise a very carefree year for me . As usual we travel here and there . I cannot
exactly remember when , but we went to Venkatagiri in Andhra Pradesh , we traveled by first class in
the train with Umayalpuram Sivaraman and seven string violin Sethuramayah . and good fun was
had by Sivaraman teasing Sethuramayah and petting his stomach ( Nalla saptacha ? )
In Venkatagiri we stayed ( maybe ) in the former local Raja’s small palace and the concert was held
there as well . That day I heard KVN hit high “”Dha”in the upper octave .

Another time we traveled to Nagapattinam with Narendran and V V Ravi .
We also traveled to many other places all over South India . I remember one place in Karnataka
called Arsikere where I had the very best ever Iddli/Dosa . ( Udupi cuisine )
Now one word about KVN as a person . He was not childish but childlike , he was also sometimes
impatient and could not wait for you to do something so he would do it as he would be telling you to
do it . While traveling both domestically abroad he would wind meter upon meter of green plastic
rope around the suitcases . he would also talk louder on long distance calls depending on how far the
other person was on the phone . loudest to Delhi for example ( HELLO DELHI ! )

He loved to ride bicycles . When traveling by auto or taxi invariably he and Mami would haggle with
the driver .
Sometimes we would go to the movies with the whole family .
We saw Maya bazar ( in Tamil ) at nearby Kapali theatre and also we saw Nandanaar Charitram at
Eros theater in Adyar .

Rukmini Ramani , Papanasam Sivam’s daughter, was a frequent visitor at Gurukkal colony .
Balasaraswati and her daughter Lakshmi used to visit also . They had a small black Fiat Padmini car .

Also Tanjavur Shankara Iyer used to visit frequently . He loved the blue plastic Bank of America
check holder that I had given him and reminded me every time !

Now one word about the Kanchi Shankaracharya experience

18th March 2016

The trip to Kanchipuram
Possibly around early 1976 , we traveled by car to Kanchipuram , the car was graciously made
available to us by MS Subbulakshmi or maybe it was Spencer’s Venugopal’s car , a big Dodge or
Plymouth from the 50’s .
Spencers Venugopal was the CEO of Spencer’s and a music lover and composer of his own right (
some years later he sponsored my Sister resident visa)
So maybe probably his car and not MS even though she had a similar car .
So in the car , KVN , Padma mami , Spencer Venugopal and myself .
At that time the Shankara Mutt was just very small and consisted of rudimentary constructions , huts
etc .
We reached there after dark so I could not have a clear view of the place . Of course the object of
our visit was to meet the senior Kanchikamakoti Peetam Shankaracharya , who at that time could
have been in his mid to late eighties . He was sitting inside a small hut and we spoke to him from the
outside . KVN mentioned to him that i was from Algeria and that i drank no milk and wore no leather
etc . He asked KVN about my progress in music and KVN replied ” Meduva Varude ” ( coming slowly )
, to which Acharya asked ” Pulayar Geetam choli kurtiya ? ” ( have you taught him the Pulayar geetam
? )

Now fast forward to about May 1987 . I had traveled by myself on my Enfield Bullet bike to spend
some vacation time in a Kalakshetra classmate’s grandparents village of Cheyyur and on the way I
stopped in Kanchi to have darshan of Paramacharya . That time he was almost 100 yrs , very frail and
staying in a palanquin . He asked about me to an assistant ” yaar vandirka ? ( who has come ) and
upon learning that was me he said ” oh anda Algeria payyen , KVN shishya , paal kudikimatan , thol
wear pannamatan ( that boy from Algeria , KVN’s shishya, who drinks no milk and wears no leather .

Now one word about The Kanchi Acharya

First of all i can say that in my whole life i have only seen one truly saintly person
He had no gimmicks to prove his spiritual powers but he gave small and discreet hints by
demonstrating a phenomenal memory . He would know each and every detail about his visitors and
their family history and genealogy and native places etc .

Now back to Kanchi 1976 visit . At that time I had no idea about Hindu rituals or anything like that .
After having spoken to us a little bit , he came out of the hut and began doing some rituals that I
watched without understanding . Could have been sandhya vandanam
Another time there was a function somewhere in Mandaveli and it was a flute concert of
Prapancham Sitaram . The junior Acharya was present . I was immersed in deep thoughts. Later on
after we came back home KVN told me the junior Acharya was watching me for half an hour

So a lot happened in 76 and my chronology is not always accurate . sometime in early 76 , we were
to travel to Hyderabad but i got a fever and i could not go so I was left alone at home. KVN and
Mami gave me some medicine and talked me into having Horlicks .

Also at some point of time we went to some concert in a distant suburb of Madras , could have been
Chrompet or Tambaram , anyway the taxi ride there was very long and that was in a general southern
direction so it must have been in one of these places or even further south . Plaghat Mani Iyer was
there to felicitate the musicians at the end of the concert and I was also garlanded by him , I
remember he said ” come on ” as he garlanded me . He must have admired my sruthi box playing
prowess .

So let us fast forward to the end of 76 and enter 1977 .
At the very beginning 77 news were received of being invited to Europe for an Indian music festival in
Berlin . All arrangements were made during February . The South Indian group consisted
of KVN , Padma Mami , Palghat Raghu , N Ramani , Mrs Kamakshi Ramani and Tiruparkadal
Veeraraghavan ( milk ocean heroic Rama ) and myself of course .
Pictures were taken in a studio ( Swagat Studio on RK Mutt Road ) for the poster and brochures in
Berlin . One of the organizers on the Berlin side was Hassan Habib Touma . He called Veeraraghavan
” Mr Veera “
Travel arrangements were made with KR Rajagopal of Air France from the Air France office at Mount
Road Spencers .

So on march 1 st 77 we fly from Madras on Indian Airlines Caravelle plane ( the one that had the
gate at the tail )
At Bombay Santa Cruz we ran into a small customs problem because of a small cassette recorder
that was entered in my passport and left behind in Madras . That is somehow solved and we fly to
Paris on Air France . During the flight Veeraraghavan could not hold his food down . I was seated
next to him or nea by. I do not remember .
At Paris Airport I separated from the group and went to my parents house . After a few days and
with some financial help ( 2000 Francs ) from my mother’s hidden savings I took the train from Paris
to Berlin to rejoin the rest of the group .
That was before Germany’s reunification so the train goes through East Germany before Reaching
the Berlin enclave ..

Mon, 21 Mar 2016, 16:14

The Berlin Indian music festival and Europe tour .
So I arrived in Berlin , I made my way to the office of the festival organizers , it is some kind of
Ethnomusical Society / world music society. I cannot remember the exact name . One guy there is
Jochen Wenzel .’He directs me to a hotel where some North Indian Musicians are staying . I take a
room there and hang out with them . The next day I rejoin KVN and the South Indian party and camp
in a room with Palghat Raghu and Veeraraghavan . Food was a problem and a lot of plain rice with
yogurt and emergency Uruga ( pickles ) was consumed .
We stayed in Berlin for a few days . On one of the days I was made to play tambura for Hariprasad
Chaurasia’s concert , it was a north Indian tambura with 5 strings .
After a few days in Berlin we traveled by train to Frankfurt and stayed in the flat of a south indian
rasika whose name I forgot . A house concert was also arranged there in his flat . We visited the
Indian Consul ‘ s house and KVN ws requested a song . He sang Annapurne Visalakshi a cappella .
Also we went to Heidelberg University for a concert there as well .
From there we went to Geneva . In Geneva we were hosted by one KNS Sharma in his spacious flat .
KNS Sharma was a senior United Nations official at the Geneva United Nations . His wife was
Kannama Sharma , a good veena player . She was away in New York or India at that time . We met
her later in Madras . . We were very well taken care of in Geneva . Also I got to visit the Geneva
motor show . Next was Paris . So we traveled to Paris by train . I had planned and promised to host
the whole group at my family home near Paris , but something beyond my control happened and
only KVN and Padma mami stayed at my family’s place . Emergency arrangements were made for
Raghu and Veeraraghavan in my sister’s small apartment in Paris . N Ramani and Mrs Ramani stayed
with some other people in Paris and also gave a concert there . KVN did not sing in Paris .

KVN and Mami spent a few days with my family and during these days we did some sightseeing .
Eiffel Tower ect .. . During the stay at my family home Mami made her own cracked wheat upma and
did not partake in any of my mom’s cooking .
After Paris the group flew to London . Seeing my limited finances Raghu offered to help with my
travel expenses to London , but I somehow managed .
So I traveled to London by train and ferry . KNV and his London hosts where there to receive me at
the train station . We stayed in a suburb called Northolt in the home of Srilankan Tamil family . The
lady of the house had been a classmate of Padma mami in Adyar Music college .
Our stay in London was very comfortable . I got avocados from a local grocery store , just had to ask
for ” Avocado pear “
A concert was given at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan . I remember one of the attendees was a local
called Meyyappan , maybe a member of the famous Chettiar aristocracy .

I returned to Paris afterwards . I met up with the group on their stopover from London at the airport
and attended to KVN and Mamis’ needs and whims during the overnight hotel stay near the airport .
The next day I saw everybody off on their return flight back to India and I bade KVN farewell with a
sashtanga namaskaram .

Sun, 27 Mar 2016, 19:41

After the Carnatic music party left back to India at the end of march 77and I stayed on at my parents
place in a Paris suburb for a couple of months till June . During that time I visited my elder brother
and his family at their place near the Swiss border .
Come June 77 it is time to return to India ,
I book a one way ticket to Bombay via Cairo on Egypt Air,
In the plane i befriend Mustapha Lamali , an Algerian customs officer on vacation , At Cairo instead of
switching planes to take the Bombay flight , i come out of the airport and spend three days
sightseeing in and around Cairo , Cairo was hot and humid , because of the Nile and it very much
reminded me of Bombay . Very crowded , if it was not for the way people dressed it could very well
have been India . We visited the Cairo museum and saw the Mummies , with their gold slippers and
thousand year old raisins . The museum was practically empty of visitors and we were actually way
out numbered by the museum staff. It had a very strange eerie feeling . Also visited the Pyramids of
course . Let me also mention that the morning we woke up at the hotel we heard some donkeys
braying , we knew then that we were now in the Middle East !

After this three day dose of Egyptian culture I went to the EgyptAir office to get my ticket updated
and off i was to Bombay .
Upon reaching Bombay I made my way to the home of PN Kutty , a relative of Narendan and our
occasional host in Bombay . PK Kutty was an accountant executive at the Corona Shoe company and
we called him
Corona Murthi , also on account of him being very kind . KVN was there on business related to
Neelas unfortunate murder.
We returned to Madras together by train.
Around August 77 due to some issue I temporarily moved out of KVN’s house . I took a room at the
Theosophical society and later took a flat in Gandhi nagar . B Saroja Devi , a movie star of the sixties ,
was the owner of the house and we got to become friends , with her and her husband Mr Sriharsha ,
an engineer ( I later used to regularly visit their home in Bangalore .

Thu, 14 Apr 2016, 16:23

Before we continue with the thread of this narration, let us take a small aside regarding the history of
the relationship between KVN Mama and Padma Mami .
Padma Mami and her family are Tamil Iyengars settled in Hyderabad , Mami’s father Narasimhachari
worked for the Nizam railways . He had two daughters from a first marriage . From a second marriage
he had Padma Mami and her other 10 or so siblings . They eventually moved to Triplicane in Chennai
.
Mami came to Madras to learn music and became KVN mam’s student and had also joined the Tamil
Nadu Music college where she studied under Musiri Subramania Iyer . Mani Krishnaswamy was one
of her classmates .
At that time KVN was married to Annapurna , a niece of Palghat Mani Iyer and the mother of his first
four children Mukta , Lalitha , Vishwanathan ( Vicchu ) and Ramaa .
When Ramaa was about four years old KVN mama’s first wife passed away .
KVN had been an admirer of Mahatma Gandhi . Once during his gurukulavasam days with Ariyakudi
Ramanuja Iyengar he had a personal crisis and ran away to Mahatma Gandhi’s ashram in Gujarat .
It seems Mahatma Gandhi told him ” go back to your Guru “.
After the demise of his first wife ( around 1964 ) KVN decided to keep a brahmachari status and
remain celibate .
In those days KVN was very close to his nephew Radhakrishnan , who used to accompany him on the
tambura in all concerts .

Fearing for the strength of his vow of celibacy , KVN asked Radhakrishnan to safeguard him from
temptations . Around the same time Padma Mami was his student and a romantic relationship was
on the verge to begin . Faithful to his requested duty as KVN’s moral guard Radhakrishan did his very
best as requested to prevent that relationship from happening . What happened happened and KVN
Mama ended up marrying Padma Mami and that caused KVN Mama and Radhakrishnan to become
estranged for many years
KVN mama and Padma Mami were married on 20 May 1965 in the same temple that witnessed the
wedding of Sadasivan and MS Sbbulakshmi . A temple known for inter caste weddings
I think Bob Brown attended that wedding and also had photos of it .
Many years later KVN daughter Ramaa married Pama mami’s Brother Raghu in the same temple .
That too as an Iyer – Iyengar marriage . I believe that was in 86 . We will go back to that particular
episode when we catch up with 1986 on the timeline .
Fri, 15 Apr 2016, 17:13

I now recall ( with wife’s help ) the name of the temple where KVN Mama and Padma Mami got
married , it is the Thiruneermalai temple . It is a Vishnu temple near Chennai . It is famous for
inter-caste Hindu marriages .
About the same time KVN Mama got married in 1965 , he and Paghat Raghu were invited by Bob
Brown to teach at Wesleyan University for a two year stint . Padma mami wanted to go along but
that could not be arranged and that caused some small crisis at home .
At some point during the Wesleyan stint KVN Mama suffered a heart attack .

Now back to our time line in 1977 .
As I mentioned before around August 77 I moved out of KVN ‘s house and shared a place in Gandhi
Nagar with some American friends . Our house owner was B Saroja Devi , a movie star of the sixties
. The address was No 26 second main street , Gandhi Nagar .
Later on i moved back at KVN’s for some time till the beginning of 1978 .

Fri, 22 Apr 2016,
So here we are at the beginning of 1978 , around Feb or March I moved out of KVN’s house .Our
German Friend Angelika Burde ( later Mrs Anjali Sriram ) has a small house in Kottivakkam and I
stayed there for some time . I will pass over some personal happenings and forward to July 78 when

I leave India for France . In September I made a two month trip to Algeria . It is a discovery of Berber
roots in the Mountains of Kabily and I am very well received there by close family members that I
had never met. ( They kindly adjusted to my vegetarian diet ) Back in France around Nov a friend (
Suzy Altman ) told me that there is such a thing as an Indo – French cultural exchange program that I
should apply for a scholarship .
With the kind help of many friends back in India ( including Michael Nixon ) I gathered many letters
and certificates and completed the application paperwork . Luckily I got the scholarship so my return
to India the following year is assured . In the meantime I spend time at my parents place . I got a
small job for one month and on March 79 I made a trip back to the USA , for the first time since
leaving in 75 . After a four month stay in San Francisco I am back in France and ready to return to
India as a scholar of the Indian Government …

Tue, 17 May 2016, 19:19

So around October 79 I flew back to India courtesy Indian Embassy , on Air India of course .
I landed in Bombay , laden with a bunch of musical instruments , tanbura , one violin that KVN
asked me to get for Ramaa and one Darbuka that was gifted to me by a cousin in Algeria . After a
couple of days in Bombay i entrained to Madras . The hotel room in Bombay was Rs 200 , way more
than the Rs 12 back in 75 .
So here we are in the fall of 1979
After a couple of weeks at KVN’s home , I find a house in Kottivakkam
KVN vouches for me with the house owner , a judge called Dakshinamurthy , he is a Nadar from
Tirunelveli . The house is newly built and the rent is Rs 800 . Sea view from the terrace .
I have returned to Madras and set up a house in Kottivakkam . Also I have joined the three year
Sangeetha Vidwan diploma course at the Tamil nadu Carnatic Music College under the auspices of
the Indo French cultural exchange program . The monthly scholarship stipend is Rs 600 .
it is irregularly paid by the section officer , as if it were his own grandfather’s money .
Before we go on a few words about the music college .
At that time TN Krishnan was the principal , he would subsequently recommend me for scholarship
extension every year .
In first year my classmates are K Sashi Kumar , Murali who sings light music , Ravi ( Telugu guy ) from
Raichur and a few others . Also in the upper classes , Babu Parameshwaran , who had already
completed the Vocal course and was now enrolled in the violin course , also in violin Job Kuruvilla ,
Ravi Prasad from Kerala in Vocal ( he is now in France ) and many others . among whom Reji George .

On the teaching staff , KVN mama , B Rajam Iyer , B Krishnamurthy ( his brother ) M S Anantharaman
and others . I had chosen violin as a secondary subject . As I had brought a violin from France for
Ramaa , KVN gave me an Indian made one .
Many years later MS Anantharaman very humbly agreed to accompany me for a concert at Vani
Mahal . ( more about that later )
The theory classes are coed and i remember one of the girls ( Hamsa ) calling me ” Traffic “
Among our girl classmates I remember one H Jayashri and one Mahalakshmi . We ( college
classmates ) attended their weddings some years later .

So we are in a house in Kottivakkam , the occupants are Herbert Lang and Justin McCarthy , later
one we are joined by my sister Rendja , my friend Viswa and later by Navtej Singh , a student of
Kalakshetra .
I buy a green Suvega moped .and we often ride three on it
At the very beginning of Jan 1980 I went to Bombay to meet my sister who arrived from Paris . At
that time I came down with serious symptoms of Typhoid/malaria ( i had had some jackfruit from
an open street cart in Mylapore and maybe i had caught some bug ).At Bombay we are hosted by
PN Kutty and family . As I am too ill with fever, instead of taking the train back to Madras we fly . In
the plane I mistake the cockpit door for the restroom door and upon seeing the red and green
cockpit lights I faint . Someone nearby said ” the guy sitting near the Mongolian girl fainted . He was
referring to my sister. Some Berber North African tribes have for some mysterious reasons Asian
features , and that mostly among the womenfolk . a good case for anthropological studies .
Upon reaching Madras I was admitted to Lady Wilmington nursing home in Nungambakkam .
There KVN Mama and Padma mami attend to my every need and visit me every day , bringing fruits ,
tangerine juice and coconut water .
After a month I was shifted to Saint Isabel hospital in Mylapore .
There I am treated very well by Dr N Rajagopal, a brilliant Pondicherry Jipmer trained physician .
We subsequently become very good family friends upto this day ( He recently transitioned to the
other side of the sky – 8 June 2020 )
After I recovered , instead of payment , Dr Rajagopal asked if my Guru KVN mama would give a
concert in his house . KVN mama agreed and he sang as a payment for my medical expenses.

Fri, 20 May 2016,

Little flashback to end 79 beginning 80 , at the Kottivakkam house , Hebert Lang joins us . He had met
Angelika Burde in Germany and somehow he connected with me .
one word about Angelika .
She is a friend from San Francisco . She comes to India to study Bharatha Natyam
Later on she meets One V . Sriram . They eventually marry. I am a witness to their romance.
They are now living in Germany , Sriram has become a well known yoga teacher there . Angelika is
now known as Anjali Sriram . She teaches Bharatanatyam. They have a son , Ilango who is now in his
thirties.
In mid Jan we travel to Tiruvaiyaru for the annual Thyagaraja Aradhana celebrations . KVN mama
sings there accompanied by Trichur Narendran and Kovai Balu . I am as usual on the tambura.
Now back to about may 1980 .
I traded the green Suvega moped for a black Royal Enfield Bullet .The motorcycle cost 11 thousand
Rs . We got it financed through a guy called Ashok Mehta of Sowcarpet . He is a Marwari .
I am now cured from typhoid / malaria. We enrolled my sister in Kalakshetra , she has a good voice
and makes nice progress .
Spencer’s Venugopal sponsors her resident visa .
Time passes, around July 1980 with KVN mamas helping with connections in high places we get a
phone connection, the number is 413425 .
Across the street our neighbor is Dr Reddy . is son Dhuva has a bullet .Mys ster calls him ” drapeau “
Around Oct 1980 we traveled to Hyderabad . KVN sings at Ravindra Bharathi auditorium .
Narendran and I had a small conversation outside after the concert with Sudha Raghunathan , she
was about 20 yrs old then.
With Narendran we also went and visited Neyatinkara Vasudevan who lived there at that time .
I also visit the Safdar Jang museum

Sun, 5 Jun 2016,
some date typo corrections : please read 1979 instead of 1079 and 1980 instead of 1989 above .

So we are in mid 1980 .
We are at the Kottivakkam house , No 1 Karpagambal Nagar .

Things are routine , I attend classes at the Music college .
The family back home in France is slowly recovering from my brother’s demise . We keep in touch by
mail. The parents also send us money orders once in a while .
Sometime during mid 1980 we traveled to Kaladi in Kerala and visited and stayed at Adi Shankara ‘s
birthplace and temple . There are guest quarters there . I lost one of my contact lenses in the bathing
room . Some concerts are given there by KVN and Alathur Srinivasa Iyer . Palghat Mani Iyer might
also have been there but I am not sure .
There is a river there and we also bathe in it . Beautiful idyllic Kerala .
At the end of July , exactly July 29 1980 we got the phone connection .
Now KVN mama calls me all the time . We also get to call France collect .
So we slowly inch toward the end of 1980 , Now I have the black Royal Enfield Bullet and I finally
master the art of kick starting . I drive KVN mama on multiple errands on it . He often hums while
riding .
Toward august my friend Vishwa moves out . He worked at an advertising agency and used to hand
over his full monthly salary .
In November we all attended Padma mami’s younger brother Kannan’s wedding .
A playful fellow , more about him later , especially in 1987 .
More personal stuff happened after october 1980 but I shall pass on it .

And … we move on to 1981 . Around May that year , may 3 rd to be precise , we moved from No 1
Karpagambal Nagar to No 14 Karpagambal Nagar . It is the cutest little house .
A small house with a big backyard . The rent is only Rs 400 a month . The owners are P Narayani
Kutty and her husband Gopala Menon . They are from Kerala and like all Keralites they have green
thumbs .
The house is surrounded by all kinds of trees and vegetation , Coconut trees , mango trees , Sita
pazham ( custard apple ) chikoo / sapota ( wood apple ) ect . At the front door there is a tulsi plant
and also a Singapore cherry tree .
We lived in that house for 7 years until the owners retired there . They lived in besant nagar .
That small two bedroom house was situated in the front of the lot and a big space was left empty in
the back in anticipation of building another small house for some cousins .
Later on I had a lush green lawn put in . Chitambaram the gardener recommended my good friend
late ” Babu ” Padmanabha Rau . a lawyer
It cost me Rs 900 .

Fri, 10 Jun 2016, 16:17

So web are about may 1981 , we have just moved into the cutest little house at 14 Karpagambal
Nagar , Kottivakkam . On may 3 , a weekend , KVN and Family come and spend a couple of days . He
records for me a bunch of songs , a cappella on his fancy Sony cassette recorder bought in San
Francisco some years before .
Shortly after that my sister and I left for vacation in France , Leaving Herbert in charge of the house .
I return by the end of June , after a short stopover in Bombay . I always used to arrive and leave India
via Bombay and take the Dadar Express train to Chennai from there . . Going through the western
Ghats after Poona on the Bombay bound journeys was quite a spectacular scenic beauty as well as
an impressive work of railway engineering ..
Now a word about my friend “Babu ” Padmanabha Rau . He lives in a cute house somewhere near
Kalakshetra colony , he is a constitutional lawyer and helped draw the constitution of Malaysia .. His
wife Kshama is the daughter of the famous Kannada playwright and author Shivaram Karanth , the
reviver of Yakshagana , a traditional Karnataka classical drama dance form similar to the Kerala
Kathakali . Babu enjoys a good joke and we are good friends . He had a lawn put in front of his house
and he recommended Chidambaram the gardener to me .
I recently connected with Kshama Rau on facebook and she told me Babu had passed away a couple
of years ago . Kshama now lives in Bangalore and runs an Odissi dance school .
In their home I met the famous playback singer PB Srinivas .
I had originally met Babu and family through Ludwig Pesch .
more about Ludwig later .
.

Sat, 25 Jun 2016, 18:31
So here we are in 1981 , I am back from the yearly vacation in France . During that time I hosted a
newly married family friend couple from India ( Kannan and Chandra ) . They live in Holland and stay
with us for a few days at my family home in Pontoise near Paris . We do the customary sightseeing
etc .
So I am back in India by the end of June . After a few days in Bombay I returned to Madras by the
now very familiar Dadar Express .
My sister does not return to India with me , held back in France by my mother ..

Moving on to the end of December 1980 my family friends from Bombay , V Shankaran and family
came and spent a few days at the Kottivakkam home . It is music season and all attend concerts .
I was also invited to their native place in Kalidaikurichi deep south near Tirunelveli and spent a few
nice days there . With the young cousins we take a dip in the Tamiraparani river .
Now we are at the beginning of 1982 . Around February1982 I made a trip to San Francisco to take
care of some personal business . En route I stop in Bombay as usual and fly to SF Via Paris .
My total return trip from India to the US by Air France cost Rs 13 thousand. I got the ticket from K
Rajagopal of the Air France Agency at Mount Road Spencers .
In San Francisco I stayed with some old friends and by April 1982 I was ready to return to India ..
During the short stopover in Paris I attended the wedding of my friend Vishwa who had moved to
Europe a few months back . His bride is a half French half Perisian lady called Azadee Ghorbani .
So by the beginning of April 82 I left France for India . My father comes downstairs to bid me
goodbye . That was the last time I saw him . He passed away in Feb the following year

Wed, 29 Jun 2016, 16:17

It is about April 82 . I am back from the US trip and from France . That was the last time I had seen
my father as he passed away the following year in February .
I am now in my third and final year at the Tamil Nadu Music college and it is about time to take the
final examination .
That happens probably in May . My examiners are CS Krishna Iyer and B Rajam Iyer .
I sang Todi ( or so I thought ) as the main item . That year I failed the exam , only to finally succeed
two years later in 84 . It seems Rajam Iyer said he had no idea what raga I was singing .
Generally 1982 was a strange year full of upheavals and personal disappointments .
That year also round June was the wedding of KVN Mama ‘s daughter Ramaa with Padma mami’s
younger brother Raghu . After some initial small family crisis the wedding was arranged .
KVN mama asked me ” what will you give Raghu as a wedding gift ? ” ( Ragu kku enna tara porai ) so
I got Raghu a gold ring for Rs 1000 from the Vumidiar Bangaru Chetty jewelry store at Parrys corner .
I also witnessed the wedding reception price negotiations between KVN Mama and the owner of the
Kanchi hotel . The wedding took place at the Thiruneermalai temple . I remember a conversation
between myself and Nadaswaram Sivalingam ” nalla practice pannanum ” , he advised me
The reception, if I remember well, was on June 26.
So after having finished the music college course what to do next ?

I went to the Madras University and met with Dr Sita who was at that time the head of the music
dept . I explained to her that we were a few boys that had finished the music course at the music
college and that we wanted to pursue a bachelor degree in music but that no such thing was
available for boys in Madras , unlike what was available for girls at Queen Mary’s college .
She suggested that I should approach the University vice chancellor .
So I took an appointment with him and explained to him about that same situation.
Lo and behold two weeks later the announcement came out in the Hindu paper that Madras
University for the first time in history was opening an undergraduate music course in music , open to
both girls and boys .
So in the first batch there was Sashi my classmate from music college , Pushpavanam Kuppuswamy ,
Balraj balasubramaniam , Sumathy Chandrashekar and Usha Parthasarathy ( now Narasimhan )
After the second batch was done that course was closed .

Sun, 10 Jul 2016, 04:44

Before we go on a small word about Ludwig Pesch
I ran into Ludwig at Bank of America on mount road one day in 1977
We got to talking and I suggested that he should join kalakshetra .
He did just that and learnt flute under H Ramachandra Shastri .
He was instrumental in the creation of the Sampradaya institute along with Michael Nixon of South
Africa , as well as the building of the mini theater ” Chitrarangam”, on the exposition grounds . He
is very capable Ethno-musicologist and as well a decent Carnatic music flute player .He has written a
few books on Carnatic music theory
He is now based in Amsterdam.
Michael Nixon hailed from South Africa . He was able to travel to and live in India on account of also
having an Irish passport . In the days of apartheid white South Africans were not allowed to come to
India , unlike South Africans of Indian origin .

Now back to our timeline
We are about june/july 1982 . We begin taking classes at the Madras University music Dept .. One of
our classmates was Kulabhusini Kalyanaraman but she quit shortly afterwards .( She introduced me
to her husband at a wedding )

At the same time I managed to join TM Thyagarajan advanced class at Music academy , I am the only
boy there among 12 or so ladies .When it was time to sing kalpana swaras he would just pass me by .
TMT is a very fine teacher and accepts me in the class .
So I juggle my time between the Music academy classes and Madras University .
Of course . I am very often at KVN mama’s house and keeping up with my service to him as a now
detached family member .
Here is an anecdote , not sure when that was exactly . We went to TMT house to offer condolences
to him after his mother’s passing . As we were leaving KVN told me “ Do not say Poitu Varen ” We
went home an took bath together ” to remove the “ Titte ” ( pollution ) as purification after having
visited a home were a death had taken place .

Mon, 15 Aug 2016,
Back to our timeline …

It is about July 1981
Back from my yearly vacation in France . My sister Rendja stayed back , my mother did not send her
back to India .
We are now at 14 Karpagambal nagar , Kottivakkam . Classes go on at the Music college and
simultaneously at TMT’s class at the Music academy . I move around town on the black Royal Enfield
Bullet , since I am at Music Academy around lunch time I often stop over at nearby Woodlands for
lunch . i regularly visit KVN’s home and continue my service to him as usual .
Around August or so my friend Vishwa shows up with a Swiss girl called Catherine . They had been
traveling in North India .
He gave me a small picture of Puri Jagannath . I got to be more familiar with Lord Puri Jagannath
some years later through interaction with Hare Krishna devotees . Efforts are under way to get him
to Europe . We travel to Bombay to help him with visa formalities ect .
He finally leaves for Europe and stays in Switzerland for some time and later at my parents’ place in
France .
He later married a French girl of Persian origin and got French citizenship . While in Bombay a good
time was had by all .

Back in Chennai after the Bombay trip life goes on . around december our family friends , Vishwa’s
parents, from Bombay come and stay a few days at my home
We do sightseeing and attend concerts .
At the beginning of January 1982 I was invited to their native village deep south at a place called
Kallidaikurichi near Tirunelveli . There flows the Tamiraparani river and I take a dip in it with the
family’s young cousins . My birthday on Jan 3 finds me there and I am offered a shirt piece by my
host cousin cum brother in law , one Shankaran . My family friend is also Shankaran .
Among Tirunelveli Iyers the names Shankaran and Vishwanathan are recycled from father to son ad
infinitum . During the stay down south my family friend V .Shankaran takes me on a tour and we visit
Kanyakumari , the Idyllic Papanasam falls , that seem to come straight out of jungle book movies ,
and other places and temples of interest in deep South India .
Trip to Poona is also taken . I met the Shankaran family again there and we are hosted by relatives
there . We visit the Aga Khan palace where Mahatma Gandhi was held and see the Gandhi museum
there

Around Feb 82 I must leave for San Francisco to attend to some personal business . the round trip
Madras San Francisco via Bombay and Paris on air France costs me Rs 13 000
I got the ticket from KR Rajagopal at the Air France agency in the old Spencers building . One month
in San Francisco and I am Madras bound via Los Angeles where I spent one day at a friend’s house
from Germany Sybil Fritz , who had been my house guest at Madras back in Jan 1980. I walk around
Manhattan Beach and buy some Knick Knacks at the pier as gifts for friends back in India .
During the Paris stop over I attended Vishwas wedding ceremony and hung out with his brother
Kannan and wife Chandra who had come from Rotterdam where they lived at that time . . They had
visited our Paris home the previous year and I had also visited them in Rotterdam .
Around April 82 I leave Paris and my father comes downstairs to bid me goodbye . That was the last
time i saw him alive . He succumbed to lung cancer the following year in February .
That was 17 Feb 1983

Fri, 19 Aug 2016, 18:24
Before we go on a small flashback to Nov 80 .On Nov 1st the marriage of Kannan , Padma mami’s
younger brother took place . A very playful fellow . we will come back to him later in the timeline .

So here we are around April 82 . back in Madras from San Francisco .. It is a school summer vacation
in India . I have just completed my third and final year at the Music College and the final Sangeetha
Vidwan Exam is around the corner . That takes place probably in May .

My examiners are B Rajam Iyer and CS Krishna Iyer . I sing Todi as a main piece . Later on Rajam Iyer
told KVN he had no idea what raga i was singing . Needless to say, I did not pass that exam that year .
After having finished the course at Music college what to do next comes up . I joined TMT class at
Music Academy where I am the only boy among 12 ladies .
Around that time I called upon Dr Sita who was then the head of the Music Dept at Madras
University .
I explain to her that we are a bunch of boys that have just finished the Sangeetha Vidwan course
and that we wish to begin a BA course in music . That course was available for girls at Queen Mary’s
college but no such course was available for boys .
She suggested that I should go and meet with the vice chancellor . I did just that . I took an
appointment and went to see him . I explained to him the same issue I had raised with Dr Sita .
Lo and behold , a couple of weeks later a notice came out in the Hindu paper that Madras University
was opening for the first time in its history an undergraduate course in Music .
Needless to say, I and few others rushed to join it . There was a total of two batches and the course
was discontinued after the second batch was done .
in the first batch , besides myself and my Music college classmate K Shashi Kumar , the following
joined , Sumathi Chandrashekhar , who now teaches in Doha , Usha Parthasarathi ( now
Narasimhan ), Balraj Balasubramanam who is now on the faculty at Wesleyan college , and
Pushpavanam Kuppuswamy who made very good as a popular Tamil folk music artiste .
The following year among others there was Muralikrishnan and Herbert Lang .
That summer of 82 also saw the marriage of KVN daughter Ramaa with Padma Mami and other
younger brother Raghu . More about this later .

Sun, 28 Aug 2016, 16:20

A side note :: KVN mama’s father , Vishwanathan , was widowed and remarried , at the young age of
68 he had a daughter , Kalyani . After his father’s passing KVN had little contact with his step mother ,
whom he called ” Chitti ” ( chinna ma / small mother ) ; he however would send her every month a
money order for Rs 50 . I would go to the Raja Annamalai Puram post office and get the money order
and send it to her in Coimbatore . Kalyani was KVN’s much younger half sister and called him “Anna “
( elder brother ) ; she was later married to a nice guy called Ramji .
Now back to early June 82 and Ramaa and Raghu’s marriage .

Raghu as well as the other members of Padma mami’s family were very frequent visitors at the
Gurukkal colony home . Raghu spent more time there and often helped Ramaa with her school
homework .
A romantic relationship developed and after initial issues , their marriage was organized . The
wedding took place at Thiruneermalai temple , the choice place for inter brahmin/inter caste
marriages
A good time was had by all and i played with all the young grandchildren of KVN .I remember a
conversation with Nadaswaram Sivalingam , he told me ” Toufiq , ni nareya practice pannanum
(Toufiq , you must practice a lot )
Before the wedding KVN asked me ” Raghu kku enna tara porai ” ( what gift will you give Raghu ? ) .
So I got him a gold ring for Rs 1000 from Vummidi Bangaru Chetty jewelry store in Parrys corner .
That was the family’s usual jewelry store . A few years later at my own wedding all I got from Raghu
was an affectionate tap on the shoulder 🙂
The reception was held on 26 June 82 at Kanchi hotel . I witnessed the haggling between KVN/mami
and the hotel owner to get the lowest rate possible .

As a rule I got along well with all the members of Mami’s family . Her father would always greet me
with “what about bananas ? ” , on account of my constant supplying and distributing of bananas to
the household .I would sometimes even take him to the movies . After retiring from the Nizam
Railways in Hyderabad he got a job at Khivraj Motors in Madras .
Also KVN mama bore the cost of Padma Mami’s younger siblings’ college education . Raghu later got
a job at State Bank of Mysore ( He went to college in Bangalore )
Padma’s younger sister Sashi married one Lakhman Rao , a Kannada Madhwa , her other sister
Revati married a nice guy called Vasu , The youngest sibling , Raju ( Rajagopal ) married Jayanti .
Their son Ashwath Narayan is now breaking in the Chennai music scene .

Wed, 7 Sep 2016, 17:26

So here we are still about mid 82. The second half of the year passes with usual occupations .We
arrive in 1983 .
In January our Madras University Music BA class takes a field trip to Tiruvayaru for the thyagaraja
Aradhana celebrations and fun times and good cheer are had by all .
Beginning of February I got some distressing news from France . My father is diagnosed with lung
cancer . During a checkup an orange size tumor is found in his lung . He was a lifelong smoker , the
brand of cigarettes he smoked were ” Gauloises ” filterless cigarettes .

So I made emergency arrangements to travel to France . Not having much funds , i ” borrowed ” an
Air France one way ticket to Paris from KR Rajagopal of the Air France agency at Mount Road Spencer
.I paid him back when he came to Paris some months later . I met him in his hotel and handed him
4000 Francs cash .
The eve of my departure KVN sang at Music Academy , if I remember well that was Thursday 16
February . That night I got a phone call from my parents downstairs neighbor Mlle Paviot that my
father had not survived the surgery .
When I arrived in Paris my brother in Law Alain Touzeau was waiting for me at the airport and took
me home to Pontoise , the Paris suburb where my parents lived .
We later went to the mortuary to view my soulless father’s empty body shell .
The burial took place on Wednesday 23 February .
I had to spend the better part of 1983 with my mother to help with many pension formalities for a
few months as my father’s retirement pension had stopped. We survived on baked potatoes .
After all the pension issues were finally sorted out I made my way back to India in October .
My friends Mohandas Gandhi and Veloumourougan ( two Pondicherians ) who worked at the Indian
Embassy refreshed my Entry visa .
My nephew Eric came with me and spent a few weeks in Chennai .
He took some nice photos of Kottivakkam and surrounding areas .

Thu, 22 Sep 2016, 16:16

So we are about the end of 1983 . Having spent the major part of the year at my mother’s place
following my father’s passing , I am back in Chennai and resuming the usual activities . During my
absence Herbert kept the house going .
Cant remember nothing of note so we fast forward to the beginning of 1984 .
Early that year I must make another trip to San Francisco to take care of some personal stuff .
As usual I take the train to Bombay and fly from there to Europe . Of course I stopped over for a few
days at my mother’s place . At that time my younger sister got engaged to a guy from Pakistan , so i

got to interact with him and his other Pakistani friends . He gave me an audio cassette of Nusrat
Fateh Ali and I discovered his Qawwali music for the first time .
Then on to San Francisco for about a month . I returned to Madras Via Paris around April and I was
pleasantly surprised to see KVN mama and family receive me at Madras airport . They had requested
some Ambassador car owning rasika to drive them to the Airport and to drop me back home in
Kottivakkam . ( the car was dark brown )
Come the month of May and I sat again for the Sangeetha Vidwan Course Exam . This second time
around I somehow managed to pass it . My examiners were Vairamangalam Lakshminarayana and
maybe VR or RV Krishnan . As a main piece I sang a song in Karahara Priya Maal Maruganei Nineidu
manamei , along with ragam talam pallavi .

Later that year around July I traveled again to France to attend my sister’s marriage that took place
in August . As we had now a Pakistani Punjabi son in law we were introduced to the thick and earthy
Punjabi chapatis .
I returned after that to Madras

Thu, 29 Sep 2016, 18:45

So here we are about mid 84 . having at last succeeded in passing the final Sangeetha Vdhwan
course exam . I traveled to Paris to attend my younger sister’s wedding . The groom is a Punjabi
Pakistani .That takes place in August . In September I am back home in Chennai and back at the usual
occupations , driving KVN mama across town and running errands for the family and various other
activities .
Around that time KVN mama gets invited to San Diego State University as a Fulbright professor and
leaves for the US for a one year stint . The whole thing is arranged by Bob Brown , who at that time
had been appointed as head of the music dept . So KVN mama M Padma Mami and Anuradha leave
for San Diego .
Time passes and now we are at the beginning of 1985 .
At that time I needed to travel again to the US for personal business . So on Jan 85 I took off for San
Francisco , via Paris as usual.
After some short weeks in Paris I reached San Francisco . I spent a few days there and then on to San
Diego .
At San Diego Bob Brown receives me at the airport and soon after that he takes me to KVN.s
apartment on Winona avenue off El Cajon Blvd .

Back with the family . So I am now back with the family . The Winona Avenue place is a two bedroom
apartment . KVN was able to negotiate with the landlord and bring the rent down from $ 700 to $
500
Initially Trichur Narendran and his new bride Jyothi stayed with KVN and family in the flat but by the
time i got there they had moved to their own separate place on Alta Dena Street , a one bedroom
apt .
During the San Diego stay we got to meet and interact with the local South Indian music lover
community both in San Diego and Los Angeles . Besides taking classes at SDSU , mama took private
classes so the Winona Ave flat was very busy with visits and music classes . It was at the time that
we first met 16 year old Srivatsan . He soon began to accompany KVN mama in weekly house
concerts both in and around San Diego and Los Angeles .
During that time we also made the acquaintance of Prof Lance Nelson and also of Riazaldi Siagian ,
an MA student from Indonesia who took classes from KVN as part of his masters in
Ethno-musicology . He picked up very well and sang a mini Carnatic Music concert as part of his final
exams .
Now one small anecdote : by 1985 I had already been learning from KVN for about 11 years , since
1974 . There was a Thyagaraja Aradhana Function somewhere in Los Angeles and I sang there .
When we got back home to San Diego , KVN mama told me ( referring to my singing ) ” I am happy “
.

KVN and family stayed in San Diego till about June 85 then returned to India at the end of the one
year Fulbright Professorship stint .

Before we continue let me mention another family tragedy .
One day at the Winona apartment some puja was going on and the fire alarm went off due to smoke
from the incense . Right then and there we get a frantic phone call from Madras .
Lakshman Rao , KVN brother in law and husband of Padma mami’s younger sister Sashi , had just
succumbed to a brain hemorrhage stroke .
Anyway after they left I stayed in San Diego for another month or so and then I left for San Francisco .

Sat, 5 Nov 2016, 17:05

Before we move on the timeline , let us return for a moment to the home life at KVN’s apartement
on Winona Avenue in San Diego .
During the San Diego stay , the home had a constant and regular stream of visitors from the
southern California South Indian music lovers . Some availed of the presence of KVN to learn a couple
of songs from him , that too mostly ladies , among them I recall Shubha Narayan and Radhika Ramani
. Ramani was an old acquaintance of KVN and we had known him since the Berkeley days . He had
brought his slim brand new bride Radhika to the Berkeley College Ave flat back in 74.. He often came
down from LA to visit us in San Diego and also had taken some video footage of the Winona Flat
residents .
Fast forward 10 years and the Ramani family lives ( in 85 ) in Fullerton , they have two kids ,
Sangeetha and Siddhart . We also visit them once in a while and stay overnight when in LA .
They had a swimming pool and I remember KVN washing his dhoti dhobi style on the edge of the
swimming pool .
The other frequent visitors were Prof. Lance Nelson and his mother , who was a British war bride.
Lance Nelson was a professor of Religion at a private Catholic University in San Diego . He gave me
my first driving lessons in his big American station wagon
His mother drove a stick shift small Honda and complained about it not being automatic . She got
along well with Padma mami and helped her dye her hair once , actually that was the same day that
we had gotten the tragic news about Lakshman Rao . ( cerebral hemorrhage )
The local south Indian rasikas had lent household articles to furnish the apartment and all of these
were returned to their respective families in June 85 before KVN left back to India .
Another incident that happened then was that Anuradha , who was 16 yrs at that time had injured
herself by hitting the sharp corner of a table and that had touched her abdominal area and possibly
her reproductive organs . Medical attention was sought , She is now about 48 yrs ( as of 2016 ) and
childless , but doing quite well in the field of Tamil TV serials . more on Anu later .
I cannot remember all the South Indians who came to the Winona Ave apartment . All were well to
do professionals and we visited all their home now and then . One of the was a scientist at the
Scripps Institute in La Jolla and took us to visit his laboratory. I cannot remember his name (
Ranganathan ? ) but Padma mami had a nickname for him , Namely ” La Jolla lobi ” ( cheap ). At his
home he played for us an LP of Madurai Mani Iyer and KVN remarked about the swara singing ” idu
ellam sarva laghu ” ( this is all sarva laghu ) We also interacted with other non south Indian desis
who were involved with the center for world music , Among them Purna Patnaik and one Trikanad
who hosted KVN concert in his home , Kashmiri politician and Sanskrit scholar Karan Singh was
present at that event , which was a Sai Baba Thursday meeting . The percussion accompaniment
was provided by a Tabla player . . Among the south Indian San Diego locals there were the Ranji Rao
family . who were Thanjavur Marathis and the Raji Anantha family , who has a son named Akhilan., a
high school senior at that time . His mom Raji drove a spacious station wagon Peugeot 504 . They
were pakka Tamilians . I recall how she spoke about Akhilan going to the high school prom and all
that he needed for that .

We also interacted with some Srilankan Tamils , one boy called Dayalan and also Raja Mahendra who
helped Narendran and Jyothi during medical emergencies . There was also an event in support of the
Srilankan Tamil community and we had attended that . Raja Mahendra lives now in LA . We keep in
touch and visit his large home in the Eagle Rock area of LA once in a while .
At that time Jyothi Narendran was pregnant with her first child and she almost had a near
miscarriage and had to be hospitalized . Because of that emergency Narendan was unable to
accompany KVN at a concert at UC Irvine and Frank Bennett , Geeta Bennet’s husband, played
instead and indeed did an impressive job . That was around May 85 .
Jyothi recovered and gave birth safely in India a couple of months later .
The kid Vishnu is now married and a parent also 🙂
Also Jeff London, a student from 74 in Berkeley has come down from the Bay Area to spend some
days with us . I remember he spray painted blue a metal Box containing some household items that
were to be shipped by sea back to Chennai . He had come down with his bicycle ( in the plane )
More about the San Diego scene later

Sun, 11 Dec 2016, 19:57

Before we go on a little bit more about the San Diego days .
As I mentioned earlier KVN ‘s flat on Winona Ave had many visitors both from the San Diego and Los
Angeles areas . Some were new acquaintances while others had known the family for some time .
All household items had been graciously lent by the local rasikas and each and every item was
returned to the respective families when the teaching stint at SDSU ended around June 85 .
A special mention to Ramani and his wife Radhika , whom we had known as a newly married couple
in Berkeley back in 74 . By 1985 they had two children , Siddharth and Sangeetha , and lived in the
Fullerton area of Los Angeles .
Ramani frequently came to San Diego to visit . He had a big brown full size American car and would
take us to the supermarket to get KVN’s favorite ginger ale and Martinelli’s sparkling apple juice .
Other visitors were Narayan and his wife Shubha Narayan , also from the Los Angeles area . One
song KVN taught the ladies was “Guruleka etuvanti dhuniki ” .Their youngest son Sandeep was
either a toddler or not yet born at that time . He is now a popular singer on the Carnatic Music scene
and the son in law of a glib talking ‘ Guru “ .
While in San Diego also I took up a small job in downtown San Diego so I had some pocket money to
buy sesame halva and dates from a nearby middle easter store .

At home ready made Mexican wheat tortillas were consumed instead of chapatis to go along with
Mami’s cooking . I provided fruit and avocados .

At the end of june 85 the family vacated the apartment and returned to India. I saw them off at the
airport .
So I stayed back in San Diego . Bob Brown was leaving town to India and other places for a couple of
years on a Fulbright program so I stayed ( house sat ) at his home in La Mesa for a couple of months .
By that time I had bought a 1968 Plymouth Valiant from Rizaldi Siagian who had also completed his
Masters degree and was returning to Indonesia with his family .
Before leaving Bod Brown had also made some arrangements to lease his house from July onward to
a lady from the University , whose name I cannot recall , i think she was the lady friend of Kurt
Bouterse , one of the staff at the music dept faculty .
So at the end of July I left San Diego to go to San Francisco .

in the next episode : Adventure and mishap on freeway 101 North …

Thu, 22 Dec 2016, 01:44

After the family left San Diego by June 85 I stayed on for a couple of months , sitting Bob Brown’s
home on Shade street in La Mesa . I had the house to myself till the end of July when Bob Brown,
who had left town on an extended Fulbright grant to conduct research in India , had rented the
house to some lady who worked at SDSU .
By the end of July I left San Diego en route to San Francisco .
So I loaded my small personal belongings in the 1968 Plymouth Valiant I had bought from Rizaldi and
took freeway 101 North .
About 100 miles or so before San Francisco, ( King City ) my car broke down , melted pistons (
forgot to check the oil levels ) . I was near an off ramp , As I pushed the car up the ramp it somehow
escaped me and ended up in the ditch .
I managed to get a tow truck from someplace nearby and I got towed to a garage . The car is beyond
repair . The Mexican mechanics had a car for sale lying around and after two or three hours dealing
with the situation I ended up buying that car , a big Oldsmobile . So I arrived in SF around 11 pm
instead of the planned 6 pm.

There I was welcomed by my old friend Mark Middlebrook and I stayed in his house for a couple of
weeks , on the good old couch that I knew so well from previous stays at his place on Albion Street .
At that point of time I had a one year return ticket to Europe so I could stay in SF for a few more
months .
Another old friend gave me a job and I stayed in SF till the end of November , house hopping from
one friend’s place to the other .
My Flight back to Europe has a stop over in Minneapolis ( British Caledonian Airlines ) .
As I wanted to visit an old family friend in Wisconsin , upon reaching Minneapolis I took the train to
Milwaukee . My friend picks me up at the train station and off we go to their large family home by a
lake in the countryside . Of course it is winter and there is 3 feet of snow outside. The lake is frozen
and people drive on it .
After spending Thanksgiving there, I took the train back to Minneapolis and from there the plane to
Brussels .

Thu, 29 Dec 2016, 17:33

So here I am waiting at the Minneapolis airport . It is a long wait as my train from Milwaukee arrived
way before my scheduled departure for Brussels . I while away the time reading a big book ( the
strand )
Upon reaching Brussels I took the train to Paris . It is about the last 10 days of Dec 85 .
At Paris I quickly went through the formalities of re – applying for the Indo French Cultural exchange
scholarship . Somehow or the other I managed to get all the paperwork done .
Unlike the first time back in 79 , when paperwork and various certificates and recommendations
were enough to get the scholarship, this time all the applicants have to actually present a
performance in their chosen field .
So at the beginning of January 86 I have to give a small concert in front of a panel of local French and
Indian experts of Indian music . This took place at the “ Centre Mandapa ” a small venue in Paris
that held regular music and dance performances by both visiting and local Indian artistes .
Of course I have no other accompaniment than my faithful old shruti box that was gifted to me by
KVN upon reaching Madras back in Oct 75 . (i still have it )
So as I am singing ( no mike ) I see a few heads bobbing in the audience .
The following morning I got a phone call from Malavika ( who was in the panel ). She informed me
that the panel had unanimously selected me . Good news , so my return to India is assured in a few
months .

At that time also Bob Brown was more or less stuck in Paris while awaiting his visa for India , The
problem being that he was going to take some kind of X Ray equipment so that caused some type of
red tape delay with the Indian government .
So we used to meet often in Paris . He stayed at a hotel ( Hotel Bertha ) near Place de Clichy . We
also visited Nageshwara Rao and had some Miso soup at his place .
A few days after the scholarship interview a gentleman called Steve Leclerc , who had been sitting at
the panel , called me to get some singing classes. He was a sitar player . So I used to go to his place
and give him basic singing lessons for some time .
I had a few months to spend in Paris before returning to India , so I gave a couple of concerts in Paris
. The first one was of course at Centre Mandapa and that was on 15 March 86 . I somehow managed
to find a Mridangam player , a chap from Pondicherry called Nadin ( French spelling of “ Nathan “ )
Dhanaraj . His day job was museum guardian . . No violin .
Then August came along . The Indian Embassy issued me a new student visa and gave me a one way
plane ticket to Bombay on Air India .

Mon, 16 Jan 2017, 18:54

So we are in August 86 . Time to return to India on the second Indo French Cultural Exchange
program scholarship . The Paris Indian Embassy issues me a fresh student visa and a one way ticket
to Bombay on Air India . Upon reaching Bombay I was met by the local ICCR people . They take me to
their office and give me a first class train to Madras and also if I remember well a one month
scholarship stipend advance of Rs 700 . Rs 100 more than the previous scholarship rate . As I have a
few hours before entraining to Madras i make a quick visit to some family friends in Chembur , a
Bombay suburb mostly populated by South Indians .
Upon Reaching Madras I am met by the local ICCR people and they drop me at my home in
Kottivakkam . There I find that our house has an added floor built during my time away from India ..
The house owners agree to rent it to us as well and the rent is now up from Rs 400 to RS 1000 .
During my time away Herbert kept the house going . Regarding the upstairs addition , our house
owners had left a large space in the back empty in order to eventually build another small house for
close relatives . In that space I had a very nice green lawn . I somehow convinced them to build a
second floor on the existing house instead and the garden was left untouched . Very nice house
owners .
So I am back home in good old Kottivakkam . My faithful Royal Enfield Bullet motorcycle is there
waiting for me . Herbert was using it in the meantime .
As I have to be in some institution for the scholarship I am directed to the Kalakshetra foundation .
There Sri Rajaram the principal interviewed me and admitted me to the third year singing class of
Vairamangalam Lakshminarayana .

Sometimes I attend Chellam Iyengar’s class . After one year or so Rajaram asks me to teach some
classes for beginners , as part of my training . We also sometimes attend D Pasupatti’s class. He was a
volubile talker and the major part of the class time was taken by him talking about various subjects
not always related to music 🙂
During that time of course I became friends with both students and teaching and non teaching staff .
Pakkala Ramdas on the violin and TR Sundaresan on the Mridangam often accompanied me during
small concerts here and there , and Anil Kumar too sometimes as well as Srinivasan on the
mridangam and violin .
The Rs 700 hundred monthly stipend was regularly paid by the office unlike the previous time at
Music College where I would get it irregularly .
Seeing the modest financial plight of the French scholars due to the low amount of the Indian
monthly stipend , the French Embassy in New Delhi would once in a while surprise us with additional
amounts of several thousand Rupees .
Of course during all that time I am a regular visitor at KVN ‘s home as a detached family member and
go with him here and there both within Madras and South India on concert tours .
At Kalakshetra the principal Rajaram would often entrust me with guiding foreign visitors through
the campus . 1986 was the year of India in France and the French Ambassador and his wife came
and I gave them the campus tour . We offered fresh coconut water .
Rajaram’s original name was Raja Rao . He was the grandson of Mysore Vasudevachar . He also took
singing classes once in a while .
During that time I also became good friends with V Ramnarayan who is now the Sruti Magazine
editor , and his wife Gauri Ramnarayan . We were neighbors in the Thiruvanmiyur/ Kottivakkam “
Bermuda Triangle ” and I would often be at their place for dinner .
Ramnarayan and I enjoyed sharing jokes . ( I remember most of them ) . I also visited Gauri’s mother
Anandi Ramachandran’s home and interacted with all their other family members .
Among many other friends i used to also often meet with was late Hamsadwani Ramachandran
whom i already knew since the days he lived on Mandaveli street and worked at the Hindu
newspaper .Fast forward a few years to the mid nineties he was kind enough to arrange my concert
at Hamsadhwani Sabha .
At the Kottivakkam house during that time my housemates were Herbart Lang , Young
Doddagadahalli Balakrishnan from Mysore , later joined by Krishnan Nair from Durban, South Africa .
He later also brought in Viji Balkrishnan and Lavina Govender also from Durban .
. Also Krishna Devanadan from Kalakshetra , who occupied the upstairs portion , that was previously
also sometimes occupied by my friend Priscilla Wong from Berkeley .
My good friend Radhakrishanan Pillai from Johannesburg, South Africa used to also visit with his wife
Usha and their son Niranjan .

Fri, 27 Jan 2017, 16:23

So around August 86 I am back in India . I attend daily classes at Kalakshetra . Vairamangalam
Lakshminarayana classes are very interesting , we are a small group in this class , he is a very sincere
and humble person . He choses nice songs in interesting ragas and the class atmosphere is relaxed
yet productive .
Now one word about the Kalakshetra Foundation.
Kalakshetra ( place / abode of arts) is basically an offshoot of the Theosophical Society . It is the
brainchild of Rukmini Devi Arundale and her husband Dr George Arundale . The initial campus was
on the grounds of the Theosophical Society in Adyar . A large plot of land was later purchased by the
seaside in Thiruvanmiyur . It is the present location of the campus .
I had met Rukmini Devi a few years before actually coming to Kalakshetra as a scholar , through KVN ,
and I knew some of the teachers and others there .My younger sister Rendja had attended singing
classes there in the early. eighties during her stay in India.
Now one small anecdote . During my in house Gurukulam days at KVN’s home . I had acted upon a
pending desire to learn Kathakali . So , let us say around may/June 1976 or 77 , i used to sneak out of
KVN’s home in the hot early afternoons and make my way by bicycle all the way from Mandaveli to
Thiruvanmiyur to take Kathakali classes . My teachers were both Raman Kutty and Janardhanan. This
went on for maybe a couple of months after which i stopped going due to scheduling issues .KVN
never found out about this .
Anyway the rest of the 1986 year went on smoothly .
.
Sat, 18 Feb 2017, 18:38

We are still in the later part of 1986 . At the Kottivakkam house ( 14 Karpagambal Nagar ) all is well .
going to Kalakshetra regularly . The year goes by and we land in 1987
As usual almost every Sunday I host a large lunch party , lots of good fun is had and the whole
group often ends up at the nearby beach afterwards. At that time we had a large group of friends
from different countries and we would all gather at my place on Sundays . There were the Palestinian
students , who were able to come study in India with Jordanian passports , a bunch of Sudanese ,
Nigerian , Persian ect . On the European side , the french scholarship holders , most of them Bharata
Natyam students . and others from different countries .
We used to be good friends with the German consul , whose house was nearby and who would
invite us to diplomatic parties in 5 star hotels . Once the former French prime minister Raymond

Barre came to Chennai and a gathering was held at the Adyar boat house club . I went along with my
friend the German consul and I met Mr Barre as well as Sivaji Ganesan and his son Prabhu . Both
were quite short . I spoke to Sivaji in Tamil and his reaction was not so good ( no respect for Tamil).
Later on a couple of years later, friendship with the French Consul in Pondicherry ( whom I knew
from diplomatic parties ) paid off when I had to get a visa for my new bride.

Sun, 26 Feb 2017, 17:22

Before we go on , a small flashback to 1985 ,
After completing the San Diego teaching stint in June , KVN and family went back to India.
I lived at Bob Brown’s house for a couple of months and by the end of July I left for San Francisco .
The car mishaps on the way have already been described earlier .
During the 6 month stay in the San Francisco Bay area , I paid a visit to Srivatsan’s parents home in
San Jose . Later in August my very first concert in the US was arranged at a community place in
Berkeley called Ohana , Srivatsan accompanied me on the violin and Doug Vurek on the mridangam.
Srivatsan had just completed high School and had just joined UCB ( University of California Berkeley )
as a freshman , so he lived in Berkeley . Now one word about Doug Vurek . Doug had spent a few
years in India during the late sixties , in order to avoid the Vietnam military draft . During that time
he became a student of Palghat Mani Iyer and stayed with him in Kerala . He then spent a few years
in Paris till the late seventies . I had first met him in Paris in 78 at a sitar house concert held at
Malavikas place . The musician was a blind Nepali guy called Narendra Bhataju .
After the draft amnesty was pronounced he finally returned to the US in 79 and worked as a clerk at
San Francisco City Hall . We reconnected in SF during my previous stay there in 79 .
Srivatsan’s parents attended the concert and presented me with a bouquet .

Now back to early 1987 . Well settled back in Madras and attending classes at Kalakshetra besides
my usual detached family member activities at KVN’s place . Around May i had a Motorcycle accident
while returning at night from Pondicherry . That caused a fractured elbow . The surgery was done by
Dr Srivivasan in Mandaveli . I had to spend a few days at the clinic . The cost of the surgery was borne
by KVN . I reimbursed him later . I had a metal pin put in my elbow . That was removed a few years
later in Paris .
Later that year I sang at Ludwigs rooftop place in Thiruvanmiyur and also a couple of times at the
Chitraranga that was built on the exposition grounds .

Sun, 19 Mar 2017, 16:17

Before we go on a few words about now departed French friend and musician Georges Lindenmeyer
.Georges was an independently wealthy person , we had first met at the beginning of 1980 thru our
American friend Emily Mayne ( more about her later ) . Georges had come to Madras with his wife
Margareth and their son Xuan , who was about 5 years old at that time. They had rented a very
spacious ground floor portion of a very large home in Gandhi Nagar , Adyar . Georges was just
starting to learn the violin under V.Lakshminarayana , father of the famous brothers L .Shankar and
L.Subramaniam . He also owned a very cute home , a separate house right in the middle of Paris .
There while in Paris he often hosted visiting Indian musicians , both from north and south .
His wife Margareth was half Vietnamese and was a former French movie actress . She had a son ,
Balthazar from her first marriage with famous French actor late Pierre Clementi . She also began
taking Carnatic singing music classes , and Xuan also began violin classes. Georges had a special violin
made for him that had sympathetic strings . After a few years in Madras , in the mid eighties he
moved to Calcutta to learn Hindustani Violin under VG Jog . We used to meet in Madras as well as in
Paris . After some years he and Margareth separated and some years later he married a Bengali Lady
called Kabita . He interacted with many north indian musicians . We got to meet and attend concerts
of the Pakistani father and son duo Salamat Ali Sharafat Ali Khan . Salamat used to sing with his
brother Nazakath Ali Khan. The two had taken the Indian music scene by storm in the late sixties ,
early seventies . Amazing singers .
Some years later after my marriage Georges visited our home near Paris , along with pandit VG Jog
and young tabla player Subhen Chatterjee . I believed we all had french semolina upma.
Subhen Chatterjee is now a senior tabla player on the international scene. We meet in LA about
every two years and I get to interact with some senior Hindustani musicians .
Georges passed away a few years ago at around 70 years . His son Xuan is about 42 now . he lives in
the cute family home in Paris , he has a couple of kids and still plays music

Fri, 14 Apr 2017, 16:08

Here we go again . So the timeline finds us in 1987 . After the motorcycle accident that happened in
May , and the surgery performed by DR Srinivasan in his Mandaveli clinic , I spent time recovering at
home in my little cute home . Besides the broken elbow , some lingering muscle pain takes time to go
away . It is a time of usual social life with many friends visiting.
Now a word about KVN’s brother-in law Kannan .
Kannan is Padma mami’s brother . He had gotten married to a girl called Radha back in Nov 1980.

He worked for TVS for some time before working for his brother in law Lashsman Rao who has
started his own company after having worked for Dunlop.
Laksman Rao was the husband of Padma mami’s younger sister Sashi .
After Lakshman Rao’s tragic demise in 1985 , Kannan found himself unemployed and unable to
support his wife and two small daughters .She had to temporarily return to her parents home and
supported herself by working as a school teacher .
So in the meantime Kannan was sometimes staying at KVN’s place and helpling with various errands .
He ended up coming to stay with me and was present in my home during 1987 .
He had a good sense of humor and a good singing voice . He liked singing bollywood songs and had a
fair grasp of Carnatic singing as well .
He was also mischievous and had dropped out of secondary school when younger. So he was staying
with me .
At that time our friend Priscilla Wong from San Francisco/Berkeley was occupying the upper portion
of our house . and we often shared vegetarian noodles . One time i had gotten from her a 10 dollar
bill in anticipation of a need for emergency pocket money in Europe . That bill I had kept in the
drawer of my desk .It had vanished from there shortly thereafter and I came to know somehow that
the culprit was Kannan . When i told this to KVN his comment was ” aada paavi ” !
Anyway to make a long story short , through the help of some influential people known to KVN ,
Kannan was eventually sent to work in Oman and was able to later on bring his family there and
renew it with some level of relatively dignified prosperity . He lived there many years and then
returned to India , with his family .
Anyway , after the accident I decided to sell the Enfield Bullet motorcycle that I had nicknamed Paisa
Nashini on account of the high maintenance expenses .The other nickname was ” Petrol mardini ” on
account of high fuel consumption . That was sold for about Rs 11 k . Thereafter I only got around by
public transport . ( and bicycle to Kalakshetra )
After I recovered I made a trip to France around august that year .

Wed, 19 Apr 2017, 16:07
So here we are about mid 1987, I am at home recovering from the motorcycle accident.
Around August that year I made a trip to France . That was possible thanks to the scholarship
supplement ( about Rs 8000 ) sent by the Embassy in New Delhi . Stopping for a few days In
Bombay , I attended the marriage of a family friend’s daughter .
This time I stayed with my good friend Balamani who had a place in Matunga . Balamani is a good
friend from Bombay . He works for Unicef and I get to visit his office in the Churchgate area .
His daughters are Gayatri and Ranjani , who are now doing well on the Carnatic Music scene . At that
time the girls were in primary school and around 10 or so years old . I attended their concert in LA

many years later . They remembered me very well and through them I was able to get back in touch
with their father , whom I later met again in Chennai during my last visit there in january 2010 .
So I fly to France from Bombay on Iberia airlines . There is a one day stop over in Madrid with a free
hotel night , so I get to walk around Madrid for one day and also attend a Flamenco performance in
a restaurant , which was part of the ticket deal .
So i arrive in France bringing with me the tambura made from scratch for me by talented
woodworker and instrument maker Mukul Mishra
. Very fine workmanship . More about Mukul later.
Mukul is a very good friend and he enjoys a good joke. I met him during my last visit to Chennai in
2010 .
I stayed in France for about one month or so then went back to madras via Madrid .
Upon returning to Madras I find that Krishnan Nair has added two people to the household during
my absence , Viji Balarishnan and Lavina Govinder , both from Durban, South Africa .

Sun, 23 Apr 2017, 15:46
Around September 1987 , back from Annual visit to France thanks to the extra scholarship money
sent by the French Embassy .
Resuming activities at Kalakshetra . Besides regular classes I am also entrusted by the principal to
teach some beginners .
Before the trip to France around April that year Ludwig Pesch had me give a concert in his rooftop
place in Thiruvanmiyur. My friends Pakkala Ramdas on the Violin and TR Sundareshan on the
mridangam were kind enough to accompany me .
I also later that year had Ludwig give a flute concert on the lawn of our house and a good time was
had by all .

So we move on to the following year , more of the same is going on , and as usual going to KVN’s
place now and then .
The Sunday lunch get togethers are going on every week , lots of friends attend , all students from
many countries , Palestine , Somalia , Ethiopia Yemen , France , Germany ect

Mon, 1 May 2017, 16:58

So we are at the beginning of 1988 . Our very kind Keralite house owners Narayani Kutty and Goplala
Menon are about to retire and they wish to move to the house in Kottivakkam . I had been their
happy tenant for seven years . So we have to move . We found a nice place in nearby Srinivasapuram
. It does have a backyard garden and sea view from the terrace , it is not as cute as the previous
house but not too bad either .
So for the next couple of years 9 Srinivasapuram is my home . The same house mates are transported
to the new house as well . The owner is an Iyengar guy , he agreed to rent me the place after careful
enquiry and warm recommendation from Sadakath Bhai of MM stores 🙂
The rent is Rs 1500 .
One word about MM stores . It is our provision store , I have an account there and I pay every month
.All l purchases are entered in a small notebook . It is situated on the main road , now known as ECR (
East Coast Road ) and of course walking distance from the house .
During 1988 more of the same routine , attending Kalakshera and visiting KVN’s home . That summer
I made another trip to France , thanks again to Scholarship boosting funds from the French Embassy .
This time I traveled with Air Lanka . At Colombo Airport there is a small snaffu and I cannot get on
the Paris flight . I ended up taking the Frankfurt flight and then traveling from there to Paris by train .
Another month or so in Paris and it is back to Madras . On the return journey we arrive at Colombo in
the early morning , the flight to Madras is not till the evening so I get a chance to leave the airport
and do some sightseeing . I made my way to nearby Negombo beach in the morning and the
afternoon was spent walking around downtown Colombo . I notice the topography is very much
similar to Kerala , red earth and plenty of coconut trees .
The local Muslims are Tamil speaking . I buy avocados ( butter fruit ) . In the evening I got back to
Madras .

Next episode : my marriage .

Tue, 9 May 2017, 15:30
Before we tag along in the timeline , a little flashback to 1977 . That year we had traveled to Calcutta
, my first and so far last and only visit to that city . We stayed at the home of one Vembu Iyer . They
had a large double flat that was put together by joining two flats .
Of course I walked around Calcutta a little bit . I remember the Howrah bridge ect .
One of the young family members there , by the name of Kasinathan mentioned that some other
relatives were at that time working in my birth hometown Constantine in Algeria .I got their address
and ended up visiting them the next year during my visit there . They had a large villa in the Sidi
Mabrouk neighborhood . All were engineers and maybe a couple of families were staying there . It
was Deepavali time and they had lights all over the place . I had my sruti box with me and some

music was made. They knew my aunt’s husband , who was a nurse and they called him Dracula on
account of him having taken their blood samples during general health check ups .

I later met the same people again in Chennai a few years forward .
Now back to 1988 This year finds us in our new residence at No 9 Srinivasapuram . An eventful year
marked by various personal events that belong to a different chapter on this present life journey .
As mentioned earlier a trip to France was taken flying Air Lanka .
Towards the end of that year through some common acquaintances I met the person who was to
become my life partner .

Wed, 10 May 2017, 17:12

Before we tag along further in the timeline , let us go back a few years to the late seventies . As I
mentioned earlier , After KVN mama married Padma mami , he somewhat became estranged with
his side of the family . He however remained close to his cousin Ranganathan . Ranganathan was at
that time living in Jamshedpur , Bihar and working at the Tatanagar steelworks . In spite of being an
Iyer , he liked to wear a Krishna tilak on his forehead. So maybe towards the end or sometime in
1976 , we traveled to Jamshedpur for some concert and stayed with Ranganathan and his family in
their Jamshedpur home . Now I recall it must have been probably towards the end of the year as the
weather in North India gets a little bit cold during the winter . I got to have a glimpse of domestic
North Indian family life by visiting the family neighbors and the way the lady of the house
pronounced the word ” theek ” ( good ) with a good emphasis on the H . We also had a sample of the
neighbors cooking .
Another memory is the trip to Calcutta , I am not sure if that was at the same time or if that had
taken place later in the next year . I do remember that the train went through Orissa and that masala
dosa was available on board in the restaurant wagon .
In Calcutta we stayed in the home of one Vembu Iyer . That home consisted of two flats put together
so it was quite spacious . One of the younger relatives there who was about my age , called
Kasinathan mentioned that some uncle of his was presently posted in my home town in Algeria . I got
their address . I Visited them there the following year during my 1978 trip to Algeria .
In Calcutta I remember walking around and buying some small yellow bananas . Kasinathan saw us
off at the Howrah train station .
Now one word about the Uncle working in Algeria .
Many Indian doctors and engineers had gone there at the behest of the Algerian government to help
out with technical expertise in various fields. That particular relative was an engineer and was
helping the setting up and running of a machine tool factory in my birth hometown Constantine .

So during my visit there in the fall of 1978 I visited them . They had rented a large villa in the Sidi
Mabrouk neighborhood and if I recall well a couple of families were sharing the villa . They knew my
maternal aunt husband and had nicknamed him Dracula on account of he being a nurse and having
taken their blood samples during health check ups
It was Deepavali time and they had small lights on as per Hindu custom . My faithful sriti box was
with me and some singing was done .
I met them again in Chennai some years . later.
Now back to the later part of 1988 .
As mentioned earlier a trip to France was taken and around September or October i was back in
Chennai , via Colombo with Air Lanka.
Around November of that year , and through some common acquaintances , I met the person who
was soon to become my legally wedded spouse .

More about that in the next episode ! 🙂

Sun, 21 May 2017, 17:23

Here we come to the beginning of another life adventure chapter , as mentioned above , through a
succession of circumstances , in the final days of 1988, I met my soon to be spouse . After
consultations with family elders and getting green light from varied aligned planets , on Friday 10
February 1989 , at the Muraga shrine of Kapaleeshwar temple in Mylapore , the Hindu part of the
wedding process was done . A civil court marriage formality was also done a few days later at the
Saidapet court . Our witnesses were my family friends S Raman and Minaskshi mami and our other
friend Jean Paul Moreau , a teacher at Alliance Francaise .
Thus married life began at our No 9 Srinivasapuram house . None of the house mates bothered with
gifts , except for Amar Singh ( not a Sardar ) who was visiting from Pondicherry . Amar Singh from
Durban South Africa was at that time studying medicine at Jipmer , Pondicherry and was a frequent
visitor on account of his dating our house mate Lavina at that time . He is now a doctor in Durban
and we are still in touch . He visited us here in Los Angeles with his wife and son a few years ago .
A few days later on the following Sunday a reception was given in the garden of our Srinivasapuram
house and a great many of my friends and family members from the KVN side as well as in-laws from
my wife’s side attended . KVN came with Trichur Narendran , riding on his motorcycle . Padma mami
had a headache and did not come . The cooking was one by my mother in law and sister in law
Sathya . A good time was had by all and musical contributions were done by a few friends and guests
.

Among the friends who attended the reception let me mention my good friend Radhakrisnan from
Johannesburg , and family , Ramnarayan and Gauri Ramnarayan , Babu Parameshwaran , Krishnan
Nair ‘s parents and Viji Balaskrishan ‘s parents who were visiting from South Africa , Balu from
Madras University , Raghu , Ramaa and Anuradha from KVN side , and many dear others .
So i was now a married man , much to the affectionate amusement of Rajaram the Kalakshetra
Principal

Tue, 6 Jun 2017, 16:30
So we are now around feb 1989 and i am now a married man . Life at the Srinivasapuram house
continues . I cycle to Kalakshetra every morning , S Rajaram the principal has entrusted me with
handling some junior singing classes and I learn more as I attempt to impart some musical
knowledge to others . The boys in the class are rowdy in an affectionate way and give me a playful
hard time . Social life continues at home and many guests are entertained and a general fun time is
had by all .
After three or so months , the school year comes to a close , and so is my final third year of
scholarship . So plans must be made to leave India for some time . The Srinivasapuram house has to
be closed . My new bride and I moved to the house of our friend Jean Paul Moreau in Kilpauk . He is
leaving for a two month vacation in France as we get to stay at his house during his absence . It is a
nice Bungalow with all modern amenities and we have a comfortable stay there while making
arrangements to travel to France .
Come July we bid a fond and emotional farewell to Madras and left for France , flying out of Bombay
that we had reached by train . .

Mon, 12 Jun 2017, 17:14

So after reaching Bombay by train we make our way to the Sahar airport. The date was 1 july 1989 ..
After some delay due to excess luggage ( I had practically packed almost part of my home furniture ! )
, we finally boarded the Air India Flight to Paris . Our seat co-passenger was one Mr Chacko , A
Keralite christian and a senior executive of Bombay telephones , off to a conference in France . Much
to his surprise we invited him to our family home in the Paris suburbs and subsequently took him
around sightseeing in Paris . We visited his home in Bombay about four years later upon our first
return to India , with our two toddlers Sabri and Yogananda .
At the time of our move to France , better half Nandinee was a few months pregnant with our first
child Sabri . At the time of this writing he is 27 years old . We stayed at my mother’s flat for a couple
of months then moved to my sister’s flat , which was vacant , a few floors below in the same
apartment building . Better wife got good prenatal medical care thanks to the generous French
health system . One fine day in August my better half underwent a scan and my younger sister
announced to me over the phone ” you are going to have a boy ! “

On the night of Tuesday 21 November better half water broke and in the early AM hours we took a
taxi ( my car was out of order due to melted pistons ) all the way from our suburban home to the
Tenon Hospital in Paris . Sabri was born at 8:15 am on Wednesday 22 November 89 . I was present
during the delivery .
Thus began the years of parenthood .

Wed, 21 Jun 2017, 16:06
Parenthood .
So we are now at the end of November 89 . On Wednesday 22 November at 8:15 am , better half
Nandinee delivered a healthy baby boy . Sabri makes his entry into our world . Better half spends a
couple of days in the maternity ward and after that we take a taxi back home .
My car with melted pistons lays in a coma in the garage , pending funds for repair . After many repair
attempts , I end up getting another engine from a scrap yard and it is mounted by a West African
acquaintance , with much improvisation and ingenuity .
Now we have a baby , he is mostly breastfed , with the occasional baby formula in the bottle . .
Needless to say we are delighted and he becomes the main focus of our lives .
In the meantime , having recently come from many years living in India , I seek employment here
and there by trying to market my musical art , with limited success . It is now winter in France .
We get to sometimes meet our French friends that we knew in India and generally stay in the Indian
culture bubble .

In the suburb where we lived , there was an Indian grocery store run by a gentleman from Karaikal ,
his name was Mougamadou Soultane ( Tamil spelling for Mohamed Sultan ) . He was married to
Vietnamese lady .
During colonial times , many Pondicherry Indians settled in French Indochina and intermarried with
Vietnamese women . . So besides indian groceries , he also carried tofu , soy sauce and other
Chinese / Vietnamese groceries.
He had a few grown up sons working with him in the store and they all spoke Vietnamese and funny
sounding Vietnamese accented Tamil .

So time passed and now we are in early 1990 .

Wed, 28 Jun 2017, 14:56

Parenthood .
So we are now in the first half of 1990 , we are now proud parents of a baby boy . Better half takes
hundreds of photographs of the baby .
As mentioned, we are staying in my younger sister’s flat on the third floor , my mother is on the sixth
floor and comes down often .
Our basic Indian grocery shopping is at the small store run by a Karaikkal muslim named
Mougamadou Soultane ( Tamil speling for Mohamed Sultan ) he is married to a Vietnamese lady and
has two or three sons helping in the store . They speak Vietnamese accented Tamil.
From there besides indian spices we also buy soy sauce and tofu . During the colonial days both
Pondicherry and Vietnam were French colonies .Many Pondicherry Indians settled in Vietnam and
married local ladies.
My friend Bruno Pellerin, a French fashion photographer , visits us on Easter , bringing chocolates . I
had met Bruno a few years back when he had visited Kalakshetra . He now ( as of 2017 ) has lived in
Brazil , since 5 or 6 years or more , having relocated there from Paris .
During the first month of our having moved to the USA in 1997 , he came to visit us in Los Angeles ,
with Magali, his girlfriend at that time .
That was in August 1997 .
During this same first half of 1990 , we also had the visit of our friend Georges Lindenmeyer , along
with late Hindustani Violinist V G Jog and young tabla player Subhen Chatterjee .
More about Georges and Subhen later .
Another friend who visited us was Luc . Luc was from Belgium , we had known each other back in the
early seventies in San Francisco . I found him while watching a TV program featuring a well known
French singer called Maxime Leforestier . Maxime Leforestier had authored a song called ‘ La maison
Bleue ” ( the Blue house ) . That song was about a house in San Francisco . It was a huge hit in France
. That TV program was about the French singer and he had invited all his old friends . So Luc was a
common friend and that was how I was able to reconnect with him . ( I called the TV station and
they gave me his number :).

Sun, 2 Jul 2017, 16:43

Before we cruise along the timeline , a few words about our friend Georges Lindenmeyer . Georges
was an independently wealthy person, he did not have to worry about making a living . We met
Georges at the beginning of 1980 through our friend Emily Maine of San Francisco ( more about her
later ) . At that time Georges , along with his wife Margareth and their 5 year old son Xuan , had
rented the very spacious ground floor of a very large bungalow in Gandhi Nagar , Adyar . Georges

was an amateur musician and at the time had begun taking violin classes from V.Lakshminarayana ,
the father of the famous L Subramaniam . Through him I got to also know them .After a few years in
Chennai he moved to Calcutta to learn Violin under V G Jog . We used to meet frequently both in
Chennai and in Paris . In Paris he owned a separate house , ( not a flat ). The house was situated in a
small courtyard . He often hosted visiting North Indian Musicians .
His wife Margareth was a former cinema actress , she was the child of a Vietnamese father and a
French mother . Before Georges she was formerly married to a famous French movie actor called
Pierre Clementi , with whom she had a son named Balthazar . Xuan was her second child , fathered
by Georges . They separated later on and Georges much later married a Bengali divorcee called
Kabita . Georges passed away a few years ago at about 70 years . Xuan is nearly 42 at the time of this
writing and lives in the Paris house with his wife and a couple of kids . He is a musician . As a child he
learned some basics of Carnatic music and violin .

Tue, 11 Jul 2017, 16:33

Onwards on the timeline . We are in about mid 1990 . Still settling in France , with a new baby in tow
. The year goes by , we interact with various people , including some Sri Lankan Tamils .I am invited to
present a couple of Carnatic Songs at one of their cultural events . I only have the faithful old shruti
box for accompaniment .
One word about the Sri Lankan Tamil community : In the late 70’s and early 80’s a steady flow of
refugees / displaced persons of Sri lankan Tamil origin began to arrive in many western European
countries , including France . There was ( and still is ) a high level of solidarity among them and they
soon got well organized and established various businesses and cultural associations and eventually
Hindu temples as well .
We became friends with many Sri Lankan Tamil families and also helped them with various
formalities and issues with the French administration . We also connected with some members of
the Pondicherry Tamil community .
There was one family from Pondicherry , called Lebonheur , who organized a weekly Sunday Hindu
ceremony at some rented venue in Paris. One Iyer gentleman who was posted at Paris Unesco used
to officiate as the priest .

So moving right along 1990 . Around September of that year , through a friend we connected with a
Pondicherry Tamil family and we moved from my sister’s flat to the ground floor portion of their
house in a Paris suburb called Longjumeau . We paid a very reasonable rent amount ( at that time
500 Francs ) in return for keeping an eye on the elderly Divien couple .
All their children were well educated and settled .
The Divien family were catholics and settled in France for many years .

We lived there for about one year till July 1991 .
During our residence there our second son Yogananda was born in February 1991 .
more about that later ..

Sat, 15 Jul 2017, 18:18

Now we are in 1991 , we are living in Longjumeau , a suburb in the south of Paris . We are renting the
ground floor of the Divien Family house . Yogananda is a few months old . Our green 1973 Mercedes
220 is fixed so we have wheels to go around . During that time I used to give singing lessons to a
teenager called Nicole Pereira. Her mother was an acquaintance of Kalakshetra Anil Kumar ,and a Sri
Lankan Tamil . The father was Singhalese and he worked for the Petrossian caviar company in Paris . I
had met that family the previous year when Anil and Sai Shankar ( of Kalakshetra ) had come to Paris
to accompany the Dance recital of Valli Subbaiah , a former Kalakshetra Bharata Nathyam alumni of
Kalakshetra . The musicians were hosted by Nicole’s mother and that is how we got to know that
family .
Around July that year ( 1991 ) we moved out of the Divien family home .
The year 1991 went by , and we decided to go to America. So on 13 December we flew on Tower air
to New York . In New York we were gracefully received at JFK airport by Latha and Micheal Fontana .
We stayed at their Brooklyn home for a few days before leaving for Wisconsin by train .

Tue, 18 Jul 2017, 15:06

to me
One year in The USA

At the end of 1991 , we took a break from France and traveled to the US .I have not been there since
1985 and this time I am with my wife and children . We spent about three days in New York , at the
home of Lathe and Michael Fontana . Latha is a relative of KVN . She is the sister in law of KVN’s
eldest daughter Muktha . We had known each other for many years . They have a small home in
Brooklyn and graciously host us . It is December and of course very cold . We did some sight seeing
and visited the Empire State Building . We then leave by train en route to Wisconsin. A couple of days
later we are met at the Milwaukee train station by Mary Hayssen , a very old friend from the San
Francisco days . Mary and her brother were adopted as toddlers by a childless millionaire . Mary
inherited after her father’s passing and is very wealthy . She has moved back from California to take
over the family dairy farm.

They had a very big house by a lake and we stayed there as their guests for about one month till the
end of January 1992. The lake was frozen solid and people drove on it . We spent Christmas and New
year with them

Wed, 26 Jul 2017, 21:50

Now a few more words about KVN ‘s 1974 summer and fall sojourn in Berkeley . As I mentioned
before after the summer session at the Center for World music was over , I had no funds for the fall
session . Fortunately by that time I had become closer to KVN and family and he continued to teach
me free of charge at his apartment .
He also visited my home in San Francisco .
Now let us make a big jump forward in time and arrive in 1993 .
That year I returned to Chennai after an absence of 4 years .
This time I was with my wife and children . We took up a house in good old Kottivakkam . Needless
to say, this time KVN and family were introduced to the kids . We often visited the Mandaveli home
and KVN also came to our Kottivakkam home .

Mon, 24 Jul 2017, 21:38
One year in the USA

So we are at the beginning of 1992 . After spending Christmas and new year in the good company of
my old friend Mary Hayssen ‘s large home by the lake , we left Wisconsin en route to Southern
California .
We bought an old style large American Oldsmobile and by the end of January we are on the road .
After a three day interesting road trip we reached San Diego . We had taken the straight southern
route from Chicago and upon reaching the southern part of the country around Texas we headed
straight west towards sunny California . So we had left snowy Wisconsin for the warmer southern
climate .
In San Diego we are welcomed by our old friend Dr Bob Brown in his nice home located in the La
Mesa neighborhood of San Diego . I already knew the place well as I had stayed there for a few
weeks back in 1985 .
There in San Diego we also reconnected with my old friend N.Muralikrishnan , from Madras
University and his wife Rose . At that time he was completing his masters in Ethnomusicology . Rose
who had recently joined him with their daughter Varshini who was about two years old at that time .

They now live in Riverside near Los Angeles . We met them again in 1997 when we moved to
California from Chennai .

Wed, 2 Aug 2017, 00:57

We shall skip for now some events in the personal timeline and revisit the days of my past life with
KVN.
KVN mama , as he was affectionately called by disciples and others , was a simple man with
exceptional talent .
As a young man he has undergone many struggles during his gurukula days under Aryakudi
Ramanuja Iyengar . He used to recall these days sometimes , but more often these memories were
shared by others on his behalf for he was a very modest person .
As I mentioned earlier , he once had become discouraged and ran away from his Guru’s place to the
ashram of Mahatma Gandhi in Gujarat .
Mahatma Gandhi told him ” go back to your guru ” and the rest is history .

Back in my very first days with him in Berkeley , in the fall of 1974 , one year before I had finally made
my way to India , I used to more often than not stay overnight in his flat on College avenue , a few
blocks down the street from the Center for World Music building .
Mami used to often recall how one day I was giving KVN a massage and continued with the massage
long after he had already fallen asleep .
I remember carrying whole boxes of oranges all the way from San Francisco , traveling in the newly
opened BART metro ( Bay Area Rapid Transit )
.Sometimes I would carry the boxes on my head. We would then make fresh orange juice.
One incident I remember in this regard, I had just squeezed a glass of orange juice and before
handing it to KVN , Mami or Anuradha , I had taken a sip .
Mami saw me and asked me never to do that again , and she then proceeded to explain to me about
the concept of ” echal ” ( saliva ).
So one should not share saliva with others . Down the years later on in Madras Mami educated me
on many aspects of both Music and Hindu Customs .

At the time of Berkeley days , Anuradha was about 5 years old . She briefly attended school , possibly
first grade and her teacher was called Mrs Ong or Wong .

Anuradha called me uncle and would say ” uncle can you buy me a 5 Star ” ( i later found out that 5
Star was a common made in India Cadbury chocolate bar )
At that time Mami had never given a concert in India , but she did have some female students at
Berkeley . One of them was called Roe Holbrook ( Roe ‘s father was a famous actor )

Before the family left for India I think she bought Mami’s tambura . Another student of Mami was
called Joan Lagi . She drove a pickup truck . She later made her way to Madras around 1979/1980 .

2 Aug 2017, 2017
Let us for a moment dwell again on memories of KVN .
More than a student teacher relationship , mine was more that of a fully integrated family member ,
and to this day I consider KVN’s children as siblings and the larger family circle as my own . My late
mother used to tease me by saying ” KVN your father “‘
KVN was a busy and popular musician and had regular concert schedules both with Madras and in
the South Indian states and to a smaller extent North India .
We very frequently traveled by overnight train to various destinations all over South India , and
besides Tamil Nadu often to Kerala.
As I said KVN was often busy with many personal and professional activities and could spare little
time to actually sit down and teach me .
When he would I was not always able to properly grasp as my voice and my mind were not as ready
as they should have been.
KVN had a working but sometimes limited fluency in English . Fortunately I quickly caught up with
sufficient Tamil so verbal communication was not a problem. My constant errand missions helped in
getting a gradually working knowledge of the language .
When Bob Brown offered a teaching position at Wesleyan University to KVN back in 1965 , KNV said
to him ” i do not know English very well “
to which Bob Brown replied ” you are not coming to speak , you are coming to sing “.
One time KVN was attempting to explain to me about sruthi alignment , he just drew a straight line
with his finger on the door frame .
I understood that explanation many years later .
The very first song that he taught me and others at Berkeley was Mayatita Swarupini in
Mayamalavagowla ( long word ! ) and the second one Sugunamule in Chakravakam ( also at Berkeley
) .

After i reached Madras we got on with some basic varnams and geethams whenever time and
circumstances permitted .
Since my wardrobe of traditional clothes was limited at first , he gave me lots of his veshtis ( dhotis )
and Jubbas ( kurtas ) to wear .
I soon became a professional veshti wearer .
The overnight train journeys were a full equipment production , with bed rolls and food containers . I
did a lot of the carrying of course .
There was invariably haggling with the porters too 🙂
We would more often than not be met at the stations in the morning by local organizers and we
would almost always stay at the family homes during our sojourn at the various towns , and were
treated to Tamil Iyer or Iyengar hospitality and assorted eatables and bakshanams . On occasion we
would stay in hotels but most of the time at the homes of either relatives , rasikas or organizers .
KVN ( and Mami ) would never fail to mention my odd dietary habits to our hosts , with some degree
of pride , as I was at that time a super strict vegetarian . ( now too 🙂

Wed, 2 Aug 2017, 02:47
We shall now briefly return to the 1976 stay in Bombay . We had taken temporary shelter in the flat
of Mami’s elder sister Neela , for the duration of the recording project at NCPA ( National Center for
Performing Arts ) .
At that time Neela had recently been finally married just a few months back to one Chakravarti . He
minimally tolerated my presence in the flat and arrangements were made for me to stay in a close by
building , in the flat of another scientist called Sathya Joshi . He was from Karnataka and also single
so he had a spare room for me . The name of his building was ” Kapilavastu ” . Neela’s building was
called ” Kamath” .There ( at Sathya Joshi’s place ) KVN would walk over daily to teach me . At that
time I had embarked once more on a raw foods diet.
I would go to the nearby Chembur market and buy cabbage , sprouted chick and other peas ect . As I
was walking by I finally found out the real Indian name of a Bollywood movie that had been a huge
success in North Africa and other parts of the world during the mid fifties . The French name of the
movie was ” Mangala , fille des Indes ” ( Mangala daughter of the Indies ) but people simply called
the movie “Mangala “
So someone was playing that Movie’s music on a cassette recorder on a sidewalk by the Chembur
station railway bridge . I of course recognized the music and asked what was the name of that movie
. So I learned that it was called ” Aan “.
During my childhood the songs of that movie were immensely popular and the locals made up their
own lyrics in the local language based on the music of the songs . Many years later a family friend
gifted me an audio cassette of that movie and I used to play it in my car .

Now let us make a small time travel jump to 1993 . Having returned to India after a 4 year gap , we
took up the upper portion of a home in Raja Garden , a closed compound belonging to the extended
Nadar family , and of course , where else , in good old Kottivakkam .
Now back in India we pay frequent visits to KVN’s home . At the end of 1993 Anuradha got married .
MS Subbulaskshmi sang at the wedding and Anuradha even got to join her on the stage for a couple
of songs . The bride groom , Suresh Krishnamurthy . was an advocate
and a few years older than her .

Mon, 7 Aug 2017, 17:46

Let us for a brief moment take a small time travel jump back to 1971 . That was of course way before
the beginning of my association with KVN .
At that time I was a recently arrived San Francisco resident . One of the roommates at the place
where I was staying was Lenny Goldstein. He was from Chicago and he worked as a taxi driver for
Yellow Cab . He had an LP record player in his room and one of the records he owned was the LP of
M S Subbulakshmi concert at the United Nations .
. That was the very first time ever I had heard Carnatic Music . Little did I know that some years later
I would go to her house . . .
Now back to our timeline . At the end of 1993 Anuradha got married . As a kid she was very playful
and mischievous . I used to take her to school and carry her piggy back .

Thu, 10 Aug 2017, 19:25

Now we have entered 1994 . Better half is in the family way with our third child . On 13 April 1994
we took advantage of our one year return tickets to Paris on Syrian Air and left for France .
One month later on 28 May 1994 we welcomed our third boy Badrinath AKA Badri Narayana . Unlike
his two elder siblings who were born in the same Tenon hospital , Badri comes into the outside world
at the Bichat hospital ( in Paris ) .
We shall quickly skip over the rest of that year as it has little to do with the main subject of this story
.
Beginning of 1995 finds us back in Madras . We had closed down the place at 5 Raja Garden in
Kottivakkam and returned to Chennai after an eight month gap .

So back in Chennai . The usual activities are resumed and we regularly visit KVN’s house . On 28 May
we traveled to Tirupati to celebrate Badri’s one year old birthday .
His head is shaven and his ears pierced as per local tradition .

Sun, 13 Aug 2017, 16:32

We shall take a quick overview of the mid nineties , where the family is in Chennai . On a couple of
occasions i am given the opportunity to give a couple of concerts ,
One of them was organized by my old friend Ramachandran of Hamsadhwani Sabha . My old friend
Pakkala Ramdas kindly agreed to accompany me on the violin , both Anil Kumar and TR Sundaresan
also are kind enough to accompany me on the Mridangam on a couple of occasions.
After having returned from France in Feb 95 , we switched residences from 5 Raja Garden to a
separate house in nearby Venkateshwara Nagar . There we have the whole house to ourselves .
The owner is one Subramaniam . After the move I upgraded the family transportation from bicycle
to a car . From a dealer we found a 1965 Morris Oxford . It is black and later on I had it repainted
cream white . One year later we exchanged it for an American 1955 Dodge Kingsway . That car gets
us involved with movie director Mani Ratnam as he was also trying to buy it to use as an important
prop for a movie he was shooting .
We ended up renting the car to them for Rs 3000 per day and after a couple of weeks of shooting the
car had paid for itself. That experience gave us a close up glance of the Tamil movie world and we got
to socialize with actors Mohan Lal , Delhi Ganesh , Prakash Raj who was at that time a new comer ,
and Aishwarya Rai whose very first movie it was,
Little did we imagine then that we would be later working in the Hollywood movie industry .
In 1996 we arranged the marriage of Nandinee’s younger sister Shanti to Sundaragopal , a French
Hare Krishna devotee . They now have two children and share their time between France and
Mayapur, West Bengal where they own a flat .
Come 1997 we decided to move back to America and wind up all of our India operations .
We left Chennai by train en route to New Delhi on 20 April 1997 . In New Delhi we spend one week
at the home of my brother in law , who at that time was in the Indian Air Force and was posted in
New Delhi .
During that week we do some sight seeing . On 27 April we flew out of Delhi en route to Paris via
Moscow on Aeroflot .

In Moscow we are put up overnight in a hotel and look at Russia from the window only , not having
visas .

Sun, 27 Aug 2017, 01:59

So we have left India . After a quick overnight stopover in Moscow we fly to Paris . The Moscow Paris
flight is in a not so new Russian Ilyushin plane . It has an unusual feature , right in the middle of the
plane there is a staircase with WOODEN handrails that leads down to the restrooms !
In Paris we are welcomed by my sister in law Shanti and her husband Sundaragopal . They live in a
house next door to the Paris Hare Krishna Temple . We stay with them till the third week of June ,
when we leave for Los Angeles . During the Paris stay Nandinee and I got hired in a TV commercial
for the Airbus A380 . While in Paris we also get to celebrate Badri’s third birthday .

On to America –
On 19 June 1997 Sundaragopal and Shanti drove us to the airport and saw us off to the USA .The
Tower Air flight took us to New York en route to Los Angeles . In New York we spent the night in the
same nearby hotel where we had stayed four years earlier in December 1992 at the end of our
previous one year stay in America .
By morning we are back at the airport and soon on the plane to Los Angeles .
In Los Angeles a Ukrainian taxi driver drops us at the Hare Krishna Temple on Watseka Avenue . Little
did we imagine then that that very same street will be our home for the next twenty years .

Wed, 6 Sep 2017, 03:56

Life in Los Angeles

On 20 June 1997 we arrived in Los Angeles .
Our Hare Krishna friend Kritakarma , whom we knew from the Berkeley days in 1992 , meets us at
the temple on Watseka Ave and directs us to a Gujarati owned Motel a few blocks away on Venice
Boulevard . I had tried many times to reach someone at the LA Temple over the phone from Paris ,
without success . Finally called my Friend Harivilas , whom we also knew from the 1992 Berkeley
days , in Seattle and he told us to call Kritakarma in LA . I somehow was able to reach him and he
told us what to do after landing in LA .

so began our life in Los Angeles .
Let us now make a long jump not back in time but a few years ahead to the year 2000 .
KVN’s last visit to the US and our last meeting .
We got word that KNV was on tour in America . I somehow traced where he was staying somewhere
on the East Coast and called him on the phone . After he reached Los Angeles I drove to Radhika and
Ramani’s home in Hacienda Heights and met him and Padma Mami after a three year gap . I
prostrated before him and we caught up on each other’s lives since the previous days in Chennai
before we moved to the US .
A few days later KVN gave a concert at the local South India Sabha ( SIMA ) and little did I know that I
would be playing the tambura behind him for the last time . Our old friend from San Diego Prof
Lance Nelson was present and took some photos .
A couple of days later I went and picked KVN and Padma Mami from Ramani’s home and brought
them to our place .
They spent a few hours in our home and then I drove them to the airport en route to Srivatsan’s
place in San Jose .
I dropped them on the curb and went to park the car . In the meantime Padma Mami had called for
a wheelchair .
By the time I went to the gate they had already boarded the plane .I begged the airline people to
allow me inside the plane .
They let me in and I bid a last farewell to him with a sashtanga namaskaram right in the middle of
the aisle . That was the last time I saw KVN mama alive .

Los Angeles , 24 September 2017

What follows will be a temporary conclusion of these recollections of my life and interaction with
KVN Mama and his family during his lifetime .
From the day i first met him in Berkeley around July 1974 till i got the news of his passing on 1 April
2002 .
That morning around 10 am I was sitting at my desk in the kids room of our modest flat on Watseka
Avenue .
The phone rings . It is Srivatsan calling from San Jose . ” Mama has passed away today ” . I sit in a
stunned silence .

Let’s now revisit some remote nooks and corners of the memory lane and try to fish out some bits
and pieces of life in Mandaveli , at 59/2B Gurukkal colony .

An interesting character : Mr Bhuvarahan ( earth boar ) . Bhuvarahan was one of many friends and
admirers of KVN Mama , he would be a frequent
visitor at the Gurukkal colony home . He would invariably ask me how many varnams I had learnt so
far . His son Anant had been a brilliant student of KVN and used to sing with him on stage as well .
This is by hearsay as that was before my time .
Bhuvarahans spacious house in Raja Annamalai Puram became some years later the office of
Brihadwani .

Nadopasana Srinivasan was also a frequent visitor . He was a lifelong bachelor and very much
devoted to running the Nadopasana Sabha whose primary venue was Sastri hall .

The trip to Uppuliappan Koil : Sometimes in 1976 ( maybe ) we made a trip to Uppuliappan koil . It
was arranged by one gentleman called Sadagopan . Sadagopapan was the brother of Padma’s mami’s
old friend Radha Raghavan . Sadagopan lived in the US and was married to an Austrian lady .
Radha was the butt of affectionate jokes by Padma mami . Once on a trip somewhere out of station
for lack of normal soap she used a Rin soap bar to take her bath .
Mami used to make fun of many people and bestow them with less than flattering nicknames .

CV Narasimhan was at one time the Undersecretary General at the United Nations . Upon retiring he
settled back in Madras .
We once went to his home for a small musical gathering . I remember some of the things he said
that day . He narrated how as a vegetarian he once had lunch with the Secretary General and had an
omelet . He joked that on that day instead of breaking bread , they broke eggs . He also mentioned (
humorously ) about having become a senior citizen and getting lower fares on public transport in the
US . Little did I imagine then being myself in that same category now ! 🙂
Another person KVN used to interact with was Martanda Varma , Elaya Raja of the Travancore royal
family . Martanda Varma had a large home in Bangalore that was built in the Moroccan Moorish
style , with some elements of Kerala architecture . We visited there a couple of times . I also had
become friends with his daughter princess Parvathy , who housed a small library in that home as a
pastime activity .

Martanda Varma was married to a member of the Pandale family whose large home was located in
Kilpauk . We used to go to Dr Pandale’s home once a year for the birthday celebrations of Dr Pandale
. I do not remember if Dr Pandale was Martanda Varma ‘s wife or his father in law . One time
Martanda Varma gave us a ride back home to Mandaveli in his black Mercedes car