Remembering MS, a human nonpareil

Cheeniya · Dec 10, 2007

saraswathipv said: ↑

Hello Cheeniya sir,

It was a glowing tribute to the legend. I too had the opportunity of personally meeting her in 1986, when I was a school kid.
My mom's maternal uncle, the late Mi. Pa. Somasundaram,(Sahitya akademi winner, who was also the editor of kalki and director of AIR, Trichy for quite sometime), was a personal friend of MS...he had invited her for the wedding of his daughter. She came home for the engagement ceremony the previous evening. As she arrived, after the initial exchanges of pleasantaries and introduction, my thatha introduced me and my sister to MS. She asked us to be seated besides her...she enquired what we were studying and when we told her that we stay in Orissa and had come down to Chennai for the wedding...she was quick to enquire if we could speak Oriya, the local language there. Her gentle smile was the response to our reply.We were there with her for about half an hour. I do not remember much more of that evening, but ,I know there were gatecrashers as the word of her presence spread in the neighbourhood.
The next day for the wedding she and mr.sadasivam came and blessed the couple.

Though I could not realise much then , that not everyone, gets a chance to meet legends, I was proud that I met MS, the one who had enthralled the delegates with her voice in an opening session of the UN general assembly.
U R right sir...some meetings do leave a lasting impression in our minds....

Thanx for starting this topic and making me share this with u all..
Click to expand...

Dear Saraswathi
What an honour knowing the grand niece of one of the most erudite Tamil scholars that I have come across! Many may not know this that Rajaji sought the help of Mi.Pa.Somu in composing the immortal song 'Kurai ondrum illai'. This has been acknowledged by him and this information is contained in an article in "Kalki" Golden Jubilee Issue.
The devouts believe in 'Deivam manushya roopena' What other explantaion can there be for the strange emotions that we feel when we are in the presence of such great people as MS?
Sri

Cheeniya · Dec 10, 2007

Dear Chithra
Sorry I did not respond to your post script in my earlier response.
Music owes its eternal existence not only to the singers and composers but to the rasikas as well. If all of us had the kind of ears for music as Aurangzeb had, music would have perished long ago. Thyagaraja's 'Entharo Mahanubhavulu.." encompasses the rasikas like us as well!
Sri

Chitvish · Dec 10, 2007

Dear Sri,
You are 100 % right.
I know not all have an ear for classical music. We must thank God that you & I have a great interest in listening to music, though I am aware you sing as well !
Waiting to hear you sing, sometime !
Love,
Chithra.

sathya · Dec 10, 2007

hello sri

poonaigal pala
puliyay maara
pottukondathaam
choodu..
naam mattum
salaithavara enna
antha gaana kuyilai
pola
paadavum, udukkavum
menmayaga sirikkavum
kondayil konjam poovum
(athu seitha bagyam thaan ennavo?)
pottum porthiya thalaippum
kangalil mey marantha..paatum
subrapathamo, bhajanaigalo
andrum inrum
sila samayam kangalil neer malga
ninaithu ninaithu uruga
kurai onrum illay......

janmam endra thalaippil
kavithai varigalil ezhudi irukkiren...
adutha janmathilaavathu
antha kalai arasiyay pol pirakka
enna thavam seiiya vendum.....?

sathya

meenaprakash · Dec 10, 2007

Hello Cheeniya Sir,

Beautiful write-up on a beautiful MS.
I have this craze for B&W pictures and whenever I saw MS in the such pictures, I felt she had this divine beauty . Even in her older days, there was something about her that would claim all attention. Her looks, her voice – there’s nobody so beautiful and divine.

It’s really great to know of her human side – her contribution to charity, etc. etc. I’ve not learnt music but I do have the ears for it and I completely soak in it whenever possible and when I’m doing a puja even a simple one at home, I do play the divine songs of MS & yes, very true when you say, “ She has immortalized herself by laying a bridge between the Human and the Divine through her heavenly voice”.

aishu22 · Dec 10, 2007

Dear Sri,
This is one of your finest post for which had i missed to reply, i could have repented for.You have talked about a Divine soul and not human.Your title is so apt to MS amma.I had the opportunity to listen to her concert at kanchipuram during a festival. I was just 7years old then.My mom told me about M.S a lot.

I had another opp., to meet her at kanchi some 8 years back, she was looking so beautiful even at that age.Her face was as white as milk and glowing with divine rays.Her songs, bhajans and slokas are my energy boosters. I have spread that MS -cult if i can call it so.. in my in -laws house too. My hubby now listens to hanuman chalisa even in the car while travelling to office and says that gives him so much of mental peace, not because of the sloka, but coz of that Divine Voice.

Cheeniya · Dec 10, 2007

sathya said: ↑

hello sri

poonaigal pala
puliyay maara
pottukondathaam
choodu..
naam mattum
salaithavara enna
antha gaana kuyilai
pola
paadavum, udukkavum
menmayaga sirikkavum
kondayil konjam poovum
(athu seitha bagyam thaan ennavo?)
pottum porthiya thalaippum
kangalil mey marantha..paatum
subrapathamo, bhajanaigalo
andrum inrum
sila samayam kangalil neer malga
ninaithu ninaithu uruga
kurai onrum illay......

janmam endra thalaippil
kavithai varigalil ezhudi irukkiren...
adutha janmathilaavathu
antha kalai arasiyay pol pirakka
enna thavam seiiya vendum.....?

sathya
Click to expand...

Dear Sathya
Puzhuvai pirakkinum
punniya unnadi en manaththe
Vazhuvathirukka varam tharal vendum
Enpadhu pola edhuvai pirakkinum
Indha deiveega piravigalidaye
Pirakka vendum.
Avargalai pola pirakka vendum
Yenpathu peraasai allavo!
Sri

sunkan · Dec 10, 2007

dear sri,
wonderful post about MS, and her contribution each one has a small role in their own way, and who can deny the saying sangeetha gyanam bhakthi vina sanmargam, and any sangeetham is to the lord...you are one among the better souls to have seen them and taken blessing from them, so ungalukkey oru namaskaram let that blessing pass on here too..sunkan

Cheeniya · Dec 10, 2007

meenaprakash said: ↑

Hello Cheeniya Sir,

Beautiful write-up on a beautiful MS.
I have this craze for B&W pictures and whenever I saw MS in the such pictures, I felt she had this divine beauty . Even in her older days, there was something about her that would claim all attention. Her looks, her voice – there’s nobody so beautiful and divine.

It’s really great to know of her human side – her contribution to charity, etc. etc. I’ve not learnt music but I do have the ears for it and I completely soak in it whenever possible and when I’m doing a puja even a simple one at home, I do play the divine songs of MS & yes, very true when you say, “ She has immortalized herself by laying a bridge between the Human and the Divine through her heavenly voice”.
Click to expand...

Dear Meena
It was the beauty and purity of her soul that gave MS her serene look. We have observed it in the face of Mother Teresa too! MS had a Divine presence that made people fall at her feet when they encountered her. It was not just the purity of her music that made her a celebrity but the Divinity in the way she rendered her songs.The closed eyes, the ecstatic look and the reflection of the Divine in her lilting voice will ever remain etched in our memory.
Sri

Cheeniya · Dec 10, 2007

aishu22 said: ↑

Dear Sri,
This is one of your finest post for which had i missed to reply, i could have repented for.You have talked about a Divine soul and not human.Your title is so apt to MS amma.I had the opportunity to listen to her concert at kanchipuram during a festival. I was just 7years old then.My mom told me about M.S a lot.

I had another opp., to meet her at kanchi some 8 years back, she was looking so beautiful even at that age.Her face was as white as milk and glowing with divine rays.Her songs, bhajans and slokas are my energy boosters. I have spread that MS -cult if i can call it so.. in my in -laws house too. My hubby now listens to hanuman chalisa even in the car while travelling to office and says that gives him so much of mental peace, not because of the sloka, but coz of that Divine Voice.
Click to expand...

Dear Aishu
It will be difficult to say how many troubled souls have drawn solace from the Divine music of MS. More than the quality of her music it is the abiding Bhakthi in her rendition that has made her a cult figure. We have come across artists whose music is as superior as that of MS but none of them is revered like MS. She always looked upon her talent as the gift of God and dedicated it to the service of the Divine.
It is rather sad that the attitude of the present day artists is woefully lacking in evoking the kind of emotions that MS so successfully harnessed in us.
Sri