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The Sanmar Group9, Cathedral Road, Chennai 600 086.

Tel: + 91 44 2811 8500Fax: + 91 44 2811 1902

Sanmar Holdings Ltd

AMP Sanmar Life Insurance Company Ltd

Sanmar Engineering Corporation LtdAsco (India) LtdBS&B Safety Systems (India) LtdFisher Sanmar LtdFlowserve Sanmar LtdFMC Technologies SanmarSanmar Engineering Services LtdSanmar Foundries LtdSanmar Weighing Systems LtdSensortronics Sanmar LtdTyco Sanmar LtdXomox Sanmar Ltd

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Cabot Sanmar Ltd

Sanmar Speciality Chemicals Ltd

Bangalore Genei Ltd

Intec Polymers Ltd

Sanmar Shipping Ltd

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In this issue...

Matrix can be viewed at www.sanmargroup.comDesigned and edited by Kalamkriya Limited, 9, Cathedral Road, Chennai 600 086. Ph: + 91 44 2811 8051/ 52

For Private Circulation Only.

Madhuram Narayanan Centre forExceptional Children

MNC wins National Award 4

“Sanmar’s contribution is unique” 5

Sanmar Speciality Chemicals

Training programme for young chemists 7

The Sanmar Group Corporate BoardTowards total professionalism 9

World Shipping Forum a grand successSanmar Shipping plays its part 10

Highlights of N Kumar’s keynote address 11

Employees’ Corner

To Sabarimala and backNotes of a Sanmar pilgrim 12

Jolly Rovers triumph againFifth title in a row 14

Legends from the SouthM S Subbulakshmi 16

The Chennai music season 18

Cover photograph: President of India A P J Abdul Kalam honours Madhuram Narayanan Centre Director Air Vice MarshalV Krishnaswamy (Retd.), with the National Award of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment on 3rd December 2004. Looking on is

Mrs Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan, Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment.

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welfare of persons with disabilities. Air ViceMarshal V Krishnaswamy (Retd.) receivedthe award on behalf of the Centre.

Regional Seminar, DhakaJaya Krishnaswamy, Programme Co-ordinator, Madhuram NarayananCentre and Prof P Jeyachandran,Director, Vijay Human Services andAdvisor to the Centre, attended theSecond Regional Seminar on ChildhoodDisability in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on3-6 December 2004. They presentedpapers on early intervention and relatedtopics and chaired concurrent sessions.

International ConferenceThe Madhuram Narayanan Centre helda two day International Conference onEarly Intervention in MentalRetardation on December 10 and 11,2004, at Chennai.The conference was preceded by twodays of four half-day workshopsconducted for professionals and theparents. Over 200 delegates and 90professionals participated.

15th Anniversary“A Day in Our Lives”, a theatreworkshop designed by Koothu-p-Pattarai Trust and performed by 120parents, children and teachers was thehighlight of the 15th Anniversary of theMadhuram Narayanan Centrecelebrated at Bala Mandir German Hallon 12 December 2004. Dr GeorgeS Baroff, former Professor of Psychology,University of North Carolina in ChapelHill, USA, an internationally renownedauthority on Mental Retardation, wasthe Chief Guest. K S Narayanan,Chairman Emeritus, the Sanmar Group,presided over the function.

(Pictures on page 6)

Madhuram Narayanan Centre forExceptional Children

MNC wins National Award

The Madhuram Narayanan Centre forExceptional Children (MNC) waspresented the National Award of theUnion Ministry of Social Justice andEmpowerment by the President ofIndia on 3rd December 2004, at VigyanBhavan, New Delhi. The award waspresented in public recognition of itsoutstanding performance in the field of

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“Sanmar’s contribution isunique”Excerpts from an interview with Air Vice Marshal V Krishnaswamy (Retd.)and Jaya Krishnaswamy (both seen in picture below) of the MadhuramNarayanan Centre for Exceptional Children

founded in 1989 asa model trainingcentre to test out thep r o g r a m m edeveloped to trainchildren withmental retardationin the age group0 to 6. It was Prof.Jeyachandran ofVijay Human

Services who mooted the idea of Sanmarstarting MNC, and the group readilyagreed.

VK: It was the Sanmar culture that drewme to Indchem, leading to theestablishment of MNC. Kumar hadbeen ever so gentle in suggesting that Igive Sanmar the option of first refusalbefore I took on any other post-retirement assignment.

How have you managed to raise thefunds necessary to finance the centrewhich has grown from smallbeginnings to its present strength?

The funding has rarely been a majorproblem. There are enough benefactorsavailable for a good cause, once wedemonstrate our commitment andeffectiveness. In the early years, Sanmarused to foot the entire bill, and the groupcontinues to bridge any gap in resourceson a sustained basis, contributing a fewlakhs of rupees every year. But more thanfinancial assistance, it is the group’sgenuine interest in our work that hasfuelled our growth and progress. IfKumar has been a constant source ofsupport, young Sukanya Sankar of theSanmar family has taken a deep interestin our work. She gets personally involved

Matrix: It must have given you greatsatisfaction to receive the NationalAward from the President.

Air Vice Marshal V Krishnaswamy(Retd.) (VK): Yes, indeed. It wasrecognition of work done quietly, withno expectation of reward. We never didcanvas for any award.

How long have you been associatedwith the Madhuram NarayananCentre (MNC) and how did it allbegin?

Jaya Krishnaswamy (JK): From thebeginning. In fact, my husband, whospecialized in electronics engineering,joined Indchem R & D Labs of theSanmar Group, after his retirementfrom the Air Force, and a five-year stintin the private sector. Indchem, led byN Kumar, was keen on developingcomputer software in the field ofeducation. As a teacher of many years’experience, I felt that we should dosomething in the field of disability. Theresult was Upanayan, the softwareprogram that trains parents andteachers in early interventioneducation of children with mentalretardation of varying degrees. And theMadhuram Narayanan Centre was

in many of our activities, especially inprojecting our achievements and thescope of our services to the largerpublic. Sanmar has made a uniquecontribution to the training of mentallyretarded children.

How is the Sanmar contributionunique, when so many corporates areinvolved in charities of various kinds?

VK: Before Sanmar decided to supportMNC, nothing much had been donein India by way of early interventioninitiatives in mental retardation. Evennow, MNC remains the only seriouseffort to extend early interventionservices, despite whatever claims maybe made to the contrary.

Where does MNC stand today aftercompleting 15 years of service andwhere do you intend to go?

JK: What started as a testing centre hasgrown into a force to reckon with inthese 15 years. I had no experience inthe field, when we started, though I hada B.Ed qualification. Over the years, Ihave equipped myself by attending asmany workshops, seminars andconferences as possible. We have acommitted workforce led by ourdedicated Principal Vimala Kannan.

Today, we have succeeded inempowering parents of our specialchildren in the training, care andmanagement of their children. Wehave succeeded in disseminating theEarly Intervention Programme invarious parts of the country withtraining programmes for specialeducators, volunteers and parents.We are proud that our parents, eventhose who are illiterate, havebecome expert trainers. We havetrained 100 master trainers in specialeducation through our workshopsand 340 special educators at MNC.Well over 2000 children have beenprovided services at the Centre, andover 10,000 children through

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The children put up a spell binding show at the15th Anniversary of MNC.

Chief Guest Dr George S Baroff, former Professor of Psychology, University of North Carolina,USA, handing over a prize at the 15th Anniversary Celebrations.

Parents of MNC children.

home-based programmes andconsultancy services.

VK: We now function in rentedpremises owned by the Bala MandirPrimary School, who have beenextremely kind to us. Our dream isto have our own campus with a wellventilated three-storeyed buildingwith each floor dedicated to aparticular activity, and designed foroptimum performance. We dream ofsetting up a chain of interventioncentres in the country, connected bya computer network. As a first step,we have established such centres inTamil Nadu.

JK: Prevention of disabilities is nowthe area towards which MNC isgearing its movement. Nearly 70% ofdisabilities are preventable. Ifprevention becomes a reality, then theresources available for rehabilitationcan be utilised more optimally for theother 30%, especially those born withdisabilities.

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The month of November saw the launchof a training program for young chemistsat ProCitius. The course titled “APractical Course in Synthetic OrganicChemistry”, is designed and deliveredby inhouse PhD faculty keeping in mindrelevance to the practical challengeschemists at ProCitius face in thelaboratory during their day to day work.The overarching principle is to delivertraining that reinforces and extends theacademic MSc curriculum to anindustrial laboratory context. Twelvestudents were chosen from among themost recent recruits to attend the courseof 19 one hour lectures over an 8 weekperiod. The course is designed topromote classroom discussion andinteraction, as well as study outside theclassroom. Both students and facultywill be evaluated for their learning andperformance in the course.

Commenting on the experience,Dr Swaminathan Subramaniam, ChiefExecutive, who has also donned the

Sanmar Speciality Chemicals

Training programme foryoung chemists

mantle of course director said: “This isthe first time we are attempting this andit is a gratifying experience, so far. Wehave a pool of internationally trainedPhD scientists on our staff and theirexperience and knowledge is beingleveraged by imparting training to theseyoung and eager chemists. Everyone,including the faculty, benefit from thisinteraction and a culture of learning andinnovation is promoted, as a result.” DrHemant Joshi, the Faculty Coordinator,spoke on behalf of the other facultymembers when he said, “The youngstersare very bright and are not afraid tochallenge the faculty. This keepseveryone on their toes.” The studentswere also uniformly appreciative of theopportunity to learn and grow, evenwhile they worked full-time.

Kankana Barua, Hemant Joshi and Swaminathan Subramaniam with the trainees.

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Corporate governance was a matter ofvital significance at Sanmar long beforeit entered contemporary businessEnglish as a buzzword. The highest levelsof good governance, objectivity andtransparency in the management processhave always marked the group’smanagement philosophy. It has apublished code of ethics and insists onstrict adherence to it by all its people.

In its constant quest for ways of ensuringthe separation of ownership from theoperational management of the group’sbusinesses, Sanmar has struck severalsuccessful initiatives over the years. Oneof the latest has been the constitution ofthe Sanmar Group Corporate Board,which includes eminent people of variedbackgrounds. All members of the group’sowner family—N Sankar, N Kumar andVijay Sankar—have stepped off theboards of all the operating companies.Their management now vests fully withthe professional managing directors the

The Sanmar GroupCorporate BoardTowards total professionalism

group appointed a few years ago, assistedby competent professional seniormanagement teams. The members of thefamily will operate only at the SanmarGroup level.

The Sanmar Group Corporate Board,which is being empowered to oversee theactivities of all the constituents of thegroup in terms of their performancepolicies, plans and future strategies, andensure adherence to the higheststandards of corporate governance andethical conduct, will meet at least fourtimes a year. V Narayanan will head theaudit committee of the Board.

The considerable knowledge andexperience of the outside directors areexpected to be of great value to thegroup, in its current operations andfuture growth.

The first meeting of the GroupCorporate Board was held on1st December 2004.

The Sanmar GroupCorporate Board

N Sankar, Chairman

N Kumar, Vice Chairman

Vijay Sankar, Director

M N Radhakrishnan (Chairman,Sanmar Engineering Corporation)

P S Jayaraman (Managing Director,Chemplast Sanmar)

V Narayanan (former Chairman,Pond’s India)

Adit Jain (Managing Director, IMAIndia)

Preety Kumar (Managing Director,Amrop International India)

Pradip Kapadia (Advocate, Gagrat &Co.)

Ashok Wadhwa (Managing Director,Ambit Corporate Finance)

Group Corporate Board members on a visit to ProCitius Research, Perungudi, the chemistryresearch division of Sanmar Speciality Chemicals (SSCL). From L to R: Dr SankaraSubramanian of SSCL, P N Kapadia (with back to camera), V Narayanan, N Sankar, VijaySankar, Preety Kumar and P S Jayaraman.

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The Sanmar Group played aconsiderable role in the proceedings ofthe World Shipping Forum conductedby the Chennai branch of the Instituteof Marine Engineers (India) at Hotel LeRoyal Meridien, Chennai, during 18-20November 2004. While the group’s ViceChairman N Kumar delivered one of thekeynote addresses, three seniorexecutives of Sanmar Shipping wereimportant resources in the conduct of

the forum. K Shankar was a member ofthe Core Strategy Board, C V SubbaRao, the convenor of the forum, andB Jayakumar, a member of the souvenircommittee.

The marine symposium is a quadrennialevent conducted by the Chennai branchof the Institute, and this year, the eventtitled the World Shipping Forum, bore thetheme of The Changing Business Modelin the New Economy.

The Governor of Tamil Nadu, SurjitSingh Barnala, was the chief guest at theinaugural function. M Raman, IAS,Chairman and Managing Director,Ennore Port, presided over the function.

The eminent writer and managementconsultant Gurcharan Das made athoughtful and incisive presentation whichfocused on the macro picture ofglobalisation to show how the growth ratein India has been far ahead of world figures.

The roles of the Indian marine engineerand the Institute were brought out inspeeches by K A Simon, President,

World Shipping Foruma grand successSanmar Shipping plays its part

K Shankar looks on as Tamil Nadu GovernorSurjit Singh Barnala declares the conferenceopen.

Gurcharan Das and N Kumar flank theGovernor.

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Highlights of N Kumar’s keynote address

Nine changes that shipping needsi. Estimating earnings based on demand for products and supply of vessels is

going straight out of the window. Agility and adaptability will win the battlemore than long term and medium term planning.

ii. Long-term perspective plans are on thesunset mode. Ability to win everyday iscrucial. Businesses need to be nimble, fastacting and agile.iii. The balance of economic power ischanging. In simple English, read“China”: a country of over 1.2 billionpeople with a GDP growth rate of over13%! Understand China and India if youwant to strike it big.iv. With high oil prices alternative energysources such as gas will be exploited and

transported. Whatever the fuel, it will be an opportunity for the transportationsector.

v. BIG will become beautiful in the days to come. The shipping industry needsto be proactive and consolidate through mergers or through other tradearrangements such as pooling.

vi. Opportunities will bring threats like the high probability of terrorism affectingthe transportation sector. Nations will tighten their security measures andimplement regulations which all of you will need to comply with, leading toadditional costs, enhanced training.

vii. Environmental awareness will grow. Issues of pollution, clean seas, greendemolition, worker safety in shipyards will grow louder. Ability to adapt tothem should be a significant factor in your business model of tomorrow.

viii. Manpower is scarce, particularly in the developed countries. Shipping needsto build learning organizations. Knowledge sharing through IT could play acritical part.

ix. Your customers are going to look at how you do business before associatingwith you. Majority are large sized. Do you have systems for logistics, talentretention, security, corporate governance and ethics in place?

A section of the distinguished audience.

Institute of Marine Engineers (India)and Thomas Varghese, Chairman,Chennai branch.

Delegates from Singapore, Japan,Malaysia, UAE, Holland, Germany,Denmark, Norway, United Kingdom,USA and Canada exchanged their viewson the various topics under discussion.

The entire show was managed by a veryyoung team of marine engineers led byThomas Varghese and C V Subba Rao,Convenor. Over 30 sponsoring and co-sponsoring organisations, 15 exhibitorsand over 200 delegates ensured thesuccess of the event.

Some observations by Tamil NaduGovernor Surjit Singh Barnala

“Ships dominate international trade.They are ideally suited for transportationof goods. Ships enjoy enormouseconomies of scale and advantages. Theycan potentially achieve satisfactoryfinancial results. It only takes 28 crewmembers to operate a vessel of 300,000tonnes.”

“It is ironic that though India is thelargest supplier of trained officermanpower to the world maritimeindustry, the big manning companies areheadquartered in countries like HongKong and Singapore. A larger Indianfleet could change this and motivatemanning companies to relocate inIndia.”

M Raman, IAS, Chairman & MD, EnnorePort, delivering the presidential address.

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One Thursday evening in September,went home around 3 pm, packed andwent to the pre-trip puja. At 6, ourgroup left for the railway station by van,stopping at a Ganesh temple on the way.The train left at 7.30 pm. There were21 of us, almost all from Sanmar (or exSanmar).

Reached Ernakulam at 6.30 on Fridaymorning. After a bath, went straight

to three Sivantemples – Vaikom,Kaduthuruthy andEttumanoor; said tobe a great thing tosee all three on thesame day.

Our drive to Pambatook around fivehours on ghatroads, with amazingscenery all around.Reached Pambaaround 4 pm. It waspouring – we tooka dip in the freezingcold Pamba river.Packing barenecessities off wewent on the climb.

First, we broke acoconut at aGanesh templebefore starting the

Employees’ Corner

To Sabarimala and backNotes of a Sanmar pilgrim

climb. First stretch of around one houris a steep climb on rough rocky steps,with sharp stones; after that, it is a 20 to30 minute walk on sharp stones again!Reached the hill top around 6. Went toour rooms for a quick wash and rushedto the temple for darshan. Dinneraround 9 pm and we reassembled at therooms. The prasad was neatly packed inseparate covers and given to everyone.Around 10 pm, went back to the templefor the Harivarasanam seva. This is thetime when the temple is closed and thedeity is put to sleep, to theaccompaniment of Yesudas’ divineHarivarasanam song. A lovely sight.Crashed out around 11 pm.

Vinayaka Chaturthi

Woken up at 4.00 am, bathed and wentto the temple again on Saturday,Vinayaka (Ganesh) Chaturthi day, theelephant god’s birthday. Huge crowd ofdevotees and the queue was long andwinding. Somehow managed a coupleof darshans and started on our walkdown around 6.30.

The walk down is tougher than theclimb up for two reasons. One, we werealready tired because of the climb up.Secondly, when you walk down, theentire pressure is on the sole of the foot.The stones in the path make it tougher.Reached Pamba around 8; again brokea coconut each at the Ganesh temple.

The legend of Ayyappan is one of the most enduring and fascinating in India’s infinitevariety of mythology and spiritual lore. Lord Ayyappan, whose steed was a tiger, residesatop Sabarimala, a range of hills in Kerala. Thousands of pilgrims annually take a vowof abstinence and rigorously clean personal habits for a period of 40 days before theyundertake the arduous climb to worship at his altar. A Sanmar team of employees led byP U Aravind has been doing the Sabarimala pilgrimage for the past several years. Here,we present a personal account of this year’s trip by Ramkumar Shankar.

The Sabarimala Ayyappan temple.

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Our first stop that day was to beMannarsala temple, near Harippad,devoted to Nagaraja, the snake god.Since all temples close by noon, we hadto go straight there. So no breakfast thisday too. Built in a grove, the templereputedly has 30,000 images of snake-gods.

Lunch at Alleppey, and off we went tothree temples on the way to Guruvayur.First we reached Kodungallur at 3 pm,an hour before the Devi Bhagavatitemple there opened. Had darshan andwent next to the Sivan temple atTiruvanchikulam in Thrissur district,and finally to a wonderful Rama templein typical Kerala style at Triprayar.

Guruvayur darshan

Reaching Guruvayur around 7.30 pm,checked in at a hotel and immediatelyleft for the temple. Joined long queuethere, and had darshan. Stayed back forthe nightly Seeveli ritual, when theutsavamurti (deity in procession) is takenaround the temple on elephants, a grandsight, with all lamps lit, and elephantsbedecked. Hit bed around 11 pm.

Next morning, got up around 5 andassembled downstairs by 6. Long,serpentine queues outside the templewaiting for darshan. After breakfast leftfor the Mammiyur Mahadevan temple.

Torrential downpour as we got in to thebus and proceeded to the TrichurVadakanathar temple. Situated in abeautiful ground, it looks like a fort.Next, we went to Kaladi, the birth placeof Adi Sankara, a serene, lovely place,and around 11.30, reached theChotanikara Bhagavati temple, famousfor driving out evil spirits etc.

With the pilgrimage over, went toErnakulam where we had a traditionalmeal around 1 pm. We chilled out withsome ice creams while waiting for thetrain. We boarded the train at 4.10 pm.Some of us merrily sang away a medley

of old film songs from 6 to 7 pm. Dinnerfollowed and we crashed by 9. ReachedChennai around 7.30 the next day.

‘Captain Aravind’This is a trip that we all look forwardto. We visit around 12 to 15 temples inKerala in three days, impossibleindividually. The credit for all this goesto PU Aravind and his team – Sankar,Murali, Suresh et al. Thanks to theirgreat efforts, everything happens withclockwork precision. Food is packed andserved, the bus is waiting for us at thestation, train tickets are booked well inadvance, the schedule drawn up ismeticulously followed. Aravind is atough disciplinarian—we call himCaptain. He doesn’t allow us the luxuryof leisure during these three days—weare constantly on the move, from trainto bus to room to temple. At the temple,we are told exactly how much time wehave for darshan before we get back tothe bus. Tough as this is to follow,especially for laggards like me, thediscipline helps us stick to our scheduleand visit all the temples in our itinerary.

The pilgrims this yearP U Aravind

A R BalajiR Chandramouli

R Durairaj

R GaneshS Hanumanth RaoV G K Moorthy

D MuralidharanN MuralidharanR Muralidharan

M RamanS Sankaran

Ramkumar Shankar

V ShankarRaja Srinivasan

Abhishek Subramaniam

V V SubramanianV SundarR Suresh

R V TrivediP Vasudevan

A pre-trip puja.

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Sanmar’s pride, JollyRovers Cricket Club,the team the grouphas supported forthe last 25 years,staged a brilliant lastminute coup in theTamil Nadu CricketAssociation’s seniordivision league aftertrailing GlobeTrotters in the pointstable for most of theseason. In a thrillingfinish, the Sanmar

team pipped the opposition at the postto run away with the title for a recordfive times in a row. The achievementassumes greater significance, when

Palayampatti Shield for senior division league

Jolly Rovers triumph againFifth title in a row

Kulamani Parida and S Badrinath, heroes ofthe last league match of the season.

The triumphant Jolly Rovers team. From L to R: (standing) Arun (Scorer), Ram Mohan Rao (Asst Manager), Tamil Kumaran,K Parida, A Kudua, S Badrinath, Bharat Reddy (Manager), Tinu Yohannan, Vikram Kumar, Vasanth Saravanan, Abdul Jabbar (Coach),Padmanabhan (Physical Trainer). (Seated): H Badani, S Somasundar, L Balaji, N Sankar, N Kumar, Vijay Sankar, R Ramkumar (Captain),D Mongia. (Squatting): Vetrivel, R Venkatesh, Saravanan, Sriram, Syed Mohammed, Senthil Kumar, Deepak Varma.

viewed in thebackground of JollyRovers’ tally of 14league titles in thelast 25 years.

The championship was decisively wononly in the last league encounter of theseason, a convincing victory over SICAL(South India Corporation Ltd) inOctober 2004, at the VivekanandaCollege grounds. It was a superb teameffort, though off spinner KulamaniParida and batsman S Badrinath playedstellar roles in the last match ofthe season. Several outstandingperformances through the season wereresponsible for the record success of theteam. Captain and leading left armspinner R Ramkumar, India players

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Parida and Badrinath being chaired by their team-mates.

Sujith Somasundar, Tinu Yohannan,Lakshmipathi Balaji, Dinesh Mongiaand Hemang Badani, VasanthSaravanan, Badrinath, Vikram Kumar,Ajay Kudua, Parida and Tamil Kumaranwere some of the consistent performerswho brought Jolly Rovers glory.

For N Sankar, N Kumar, Vijay Sankarand the team management consisting ofBharat Reddy, Abdul Jabbar and RamMohan Rao, it was one of the proudestmoments of their association with thegroup’s flagship team.

Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble are both past members of the Chemplast team. Pictures and text courtesy: The Sportstar

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Princes and heads of state bowed to hermusic. The late Jawaharlal Nehru said,‘Who am I, a mere prime minister,before the queen of song?’ MahatmaGandhi once said: “I should prefer tohear the bhajan Hari, tum haro spokenby Subbulakshmi rather than sung byothers.” Few musicians among the manygreat stalwarts India has producedhave achieved the exalted eminenceof Madurai ShanmukhavadivuSubbulakshmi (1916-2004), known tomillions as ‘MS’, whom generationsworshipped as goddess incarnate.

Born in the temple town of Madurai on16 September 1916, to veena playerShanmukhavadivu, little Kunjamma asSubbulakshmi was known, brotherSaktivel and sister Vadivambal grew upsurrounded and filled by music.Grandmother Akkammal had been aviolinist. Their tiny home in the narrowHanumantharayan Lane was close to theMinakshi temple. Whenever the deitywas taken in procession through themain streets, the nagaswaramplayers would stop where this lanebranched off and play their best forShanmukhavadivu’s approval. Muchlater, experts would often wonder at theway in which MS vocally rendered therare modulations of both the veena andthe nagaswaram.

For mother and children, and thenumerous uncles and aunts who crowdedtheir home, it was a frugal existence.Vadivambal died young, before she couldfulfil her promise as a veena player.Subbulakshmi was recognised early forher rich voice. Guru Madurai SrinivasaIyengar died soon after she started lessonswith him. She listened to a lot of goodmusic, including Hindustani music, on

the neighbours’ radio seated on thewindow-sill above the staircase. She lovedto hear Abdul Karim Khan and BadeGhulam Ali Khan in the silence of thenight. Her formal schooling came to ahalt in class 5 when a teacher’s beatingwas identified as the cause of an attack ofwhooping cough. MS practised music forlong hours, lost in the vibrations of thetambura which she would tune reverently.This natural ability, consciouslydeveloped through a kind of yoga, led tothe electrifying effect her openingsyllables had on the audience all her life,and a fantastic voice range.

Lawyer-father Subramania Iyer lived afew streets away. She was his petdaughter and he was wont to saying thathe would arrange her marriage with a‘good boy’ who would love and cherishher music. He was a music lover anddevotee of the lord. In the yearlyRamanavami festivals he organised, therewould be puja, music and processions.

Gramophone records

MS accompanied her mother to Madrasand cut her first disc at the age of ten,and the Columbia GramophoneCompany records brought herrecognition before she turned 15.

Subbulakshmi soon graduated to soloperformances, and made her debut at theMadras Music Academy when she was17. A connoisseur wrote: ‘When she...ascended the dais in 1934 and burst intoclassical songs, experienced musicians ofthe top rank vied with one another inexpressing their delight in this new find.’

Tyagarajan Sadasivam, an advertisingprofessional and freedom fighter whoentered her life as a dashing suitor,became her husband in 1940.

Legends from the SouthM S Subbulakshmi

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This was the major turning point inSubbulakshmi’s life, beginning herascent from being a South Indiancelebrity to a national, even world,figure; and from a brilliant youngvirtuoso to the consummate artist shebecame in time. Her image, the courseof her career, the direction of her music,were all carefully fashioned bySadasivam.

Sadasivam introduced MS to the greatCongress leaders – Rajaji, Nehru andGandhiji. He not only planned herconcerts, but charted her whole career.Another prominent catalyst was ‘Kalki’Krishnamurthy, novelist, freedomfighter, and Sadasivam’s partner injournalism.

National integration

To Sadasivam and MS, who livedtogether for nearly 60 years as husbandand wife, until his death in 1997, themeans were always as important as theend. He persuaded her to act in a fewmovies with specific financial objectivesin mind, (including the launching of themagazine ‘Kalki’), but they were onidealistic themes, with the accent onmusic.

MS became a symbol of nationalintegration, including in her repertoirecompositions in languages from manyparts of India. Recognising sahitya orwords as an integral part of Carnaticmusic, MS cultivated impeccable dictionin the different languages of the lyricsshe sang. She was known for herattention to breath control, pauses in theright places, voice modulation, changesin emphasis and breaking phrases intotheir proper components.

The couple saw music as a vehicle forspreading spirituality among thepopulace, and channelled the proceedsof concerts into charitable endowments.Starting in 1944 with five concerts forthe Kasturba Memorial Fund, theirbenevolence grew into a public servicecontribution of major proportions.

Many worthy causes and institutionsbenefited from MS raising crores ofrupees through singing.

Many awards came to MS without herever having to seek patronage of anykind. The nation’s highest honour ofBharat Ratna was conferred on her as itwas to the present President of India,A P J Abdul Kalam, who remained anadmirer to the end.

When Subbulakshmi breathed her laston 11 December 2004 after a period ofillness, the President flew down fromDelhi to her Kotturpuram, Chennai,residence to pay his last respects to her.Thousands of mourners from all walksof life and different social strata gatheredto offer their homage to the uncrownedqueen of Indian music.

1940 Isai Vani.

1954 Padma Bhushan.

1956 The President’s Award (NowSangeet Natak Akademi award).

1968 Sangita Kalanidhi, MusicAcademy, Madras .

1970 Isai Perarignar, Tamil IsaiSangam, Madras.

1971 Doctor of Letters, SriVenkateswara University.

1973 Doctor of Letters, DelhiUniversity.

1974 The Ramon Magsaysay Award.

1975 Padma Vibhushan.1975 Saptagiri Sangita Vidwanmani,

Sri Venkateswara TyagarajaswamiFestival, Tirupati.

1975 Svar Vilas, Sur-singar Samsad.

1979 Doctor of Literature, IndiraKala Sangeet, Viswavidyalaya,Madhya Pradesh.

1979-80 Producer Emeritus, All IndiaRadio and Doordarshan.

1980 Thanipperum Kalaignar, TamilNadu Iyal Isai Naataka Manram.

1980 Doctor of Letters, BenaresHindu University.

1981 Member D’Honneur, theInternational Music Council.

1981 Desikottama, Doctoral Degree,Viswa Bharati University,Shantiniketan.

1986 Spirit of Freedom Award, VSTIndustries, Delhi.

1987 Doctor of Literature, Universityof Madras.

1988 Trustee for Indira GandhiNational Center for the Arts.

1988 Kalidas Samman.

1988 Ustad Hafeez Ali Khan Award.

1990 Indira Gandhi Award forNational Integration.

1991 Konarak Samman.

1996 The Rajah Sir AnnamalaiChettiar Birthday Award on her80th birthday.

1996 Kala Ratna, conferred by theRasika Ranjani Sabha conferredthe title of ‘Kala Ratna’.

1996 Gupta Award.

1997 Chandrasekharendra SaraswathiAward.

1997 Swaralaya Puraskar.

1998 Bharat Ratna.

1999 Sangita Sagara Award -CMANA, USA.

2000 S V N Rao Award.

Awards and honours

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Some years ago, the Indian cricketselectors had the unenviable task ofannouncing two teams for simultaneousparticipation in tournaments in twodifferent parts of the world. Both theSahara Cup at Toronto and theCommonwealth Games at KualaLumpur demanded India’s best team, aknotty problem that the selectors triedto untangle by fielding what they calledtwo equally formidable sides—in theevent, both came a-cropper.

The cricket selectors would have donewell to consult that uniquely SouthIndian body of men, the ubiquitoussabha secretaries. These miracle makersmanage year after year to conducthundreds of Carnatic music concertspacked into a fortnight of frenziedprogramming, featuring equallyformidable teams, at not two venues butdozens of far flung theatres of war. In amarvel of logistics, time and resourcemanagement, they detonate anexplosion of rhythm and raga razzmatazzthat leaves whole suburban populationsstunned. Their weaponry? Antiquatedamplification systems whose noise levelscreate world records on the Richter scale.

The early morning lec-dems investigatein minute detail such compellinglyseminal topics as “The Influence ofSchopenhauer and Nietzsche on theDevelopment of the Mela KartaScheme” or “Rap, Raga andRachmaninov: Were They Y2KCompliant?” That is where demure

The Chennai music seasonV Ramnarayan

damsels, fiery feminists, volublevocalists, and intimidatoryinstrumentalists vie for top honours withobstreperous octogenarians andsuperannuated scholars.

These are followed by the virgin volleysof child prodigies and teenage tyros,unleashed at an unsuspecting publicstraying idly in after a hearty repast atthe cafeteria. In fact, in some circles ithas been suggested that the ChennaiDecember season should be renamed theFood ’n Frolic Fest.

Some of these postprandialsomnambulists settle down into deepslumber even as the next batch of curiousonlookers fights its way towards the rareempty seat. By now they are hamperedby the growing crowd, and overzealousushers who learnt their job bycorrespondence and never got beyondlesson two, to borrow a simile from“English literature’s performing flea”,P.G. Wodehouse. This is the high pointof the unfolding drama—the last chancebefore the next season comes round, topass judgment on the stars of tomorrowwithout paying for admission.

Suitably stirred by the vigour of the vocalgymnastics on display during the nexttwo hours, these devout worshippers ofthe divine music of our ancestors, springinto action even as the last strains of themangalam begin to fill the auditorium.To make a quick dash for the door, andhead straight for the canteen is for themas effortless as drowning the vocalist’s

The Chennai ‘season’ is a unique festival of classical music of ever-growing proportions,in which every known musician of repute and every young aspirant in this highly evolvedand sophisticated system, take part. Audiences congregate from all over the world,especially the Indian Diaspora, and the excitement continues for more than a month.Here’s an irreverent, tongue-in-cheek view:

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feeble attempts at being heard is forviolinists and percussionists. Afterreviving themselves with a stiff coffee ortwo, they then cleverly take a detouraround the ticket window towards theexit, to rest and recuperate before theyhit the roads on the morrow. For this isthe hour that produces the man—thesupreme optimist at the ticket counterwho hopes against hope that this season’sshare of the uninitiated will pay to listento the senior vidwan featured here, andnot gravitate towards a free cutcherielsewhere.

What infinite variety this indefatigableband of music lovers present! Anendangered species is the doughty oldwarriors whose first season coincidedwith the debut of Ariyakudi RamanujaAyyangar, the trailblazer whom criticshave charged with inventing the modern

concert format. These are the mostadmirable segment of the audience, forthey have braved the rigours of classicalmusic in the severe Chennai winter forover half a century, sweater-and muffler-clad, and remaining stolidly critical ofsucceeding generations of vidwans.Anno Domini is catching up and alas,this species will soon be extinct, replacedentirely by more thick skinned listenerswhom the December cold leavesuntouched.

To earn the applause of a Chennaiaudience is not easy unless you happento be a Hindustani instrumentalist withlong hair, purple kurta and an Americanaccent with which you announce thatyou will treat them to the exotic delightof raag Hamsadhwani. The Carnaticmusician may occasionally mesmeriseaudiences abroad. But his manodharma

is scarcely equal to the irresistible lureof the 8.35 bus home. Everypercussionist from Palghat Mani Iyerdown to Vikku Vinayakram has lost outto the fatal attraction of the aroma ofcoffee wafting in from the canteen at taniavartanam time.

Increasingly, devotees from the wickedWest descend on staid old Chennaiduring the December season. Some ofthem look more Indian than Indians,veshti-jibba, sari-pigtails, jolna bags andall, but what really distinguishes theseseekers of nirvana through raga andgamaka is their glazed expression. Andthey, like their Indian counterparts, keepcoming back for more, such is theaddictive power of the season for allseasons.

Cartoons by Sarathy, courtesy Sruti magazine.

Musician’s fatigue syndrome A way to ensure quality amidst quantity?

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