Treasure trove of kacheris

Music Treat

The ‘aaa, aaaha, ahaa,’ sounded like music to my untrained ears at 10.30 in the night on the lawns of the house that had witnessed many a memorable run of Kacheris. It was none other than one of the greatest singers in Karnatak music, Yesudas, who after a three hour concert at Jagan Mohan Palace auditorium, was giving this writer an interview at the ‘Home called Parvati,’ and the man responsible for this interview was lawyer K Srikantiah, the proud descedant of the memorable house.

This is just one of the anecdotes that this house has and years later, at the same place where this home stood, as I ring the bell and the door opens, the neatly dressed octogenarian Srikantiah welcomes me with the same warmth he had displayed to invite me to his home to interview Yesudas.

The reminiscences are so many that the advocate who was instrumental in organising the best kacheris in his home, all because of the passion for music and the bhakti for lord Rama, that he not only spoke about the run of kacheris in his home, but also the association he had with some of the greatest minds the country has produced.

“I have all the autographed books of foreign editions of writer R K Narayan, in my home in Bangalore. I remember Narayan one of my closest friends who used to frequent my house and we would go for long walks on Kukkarahalli tank bundh or near Lalitha Mahal,” he told City Herald.

“Narayan was always known for his terrific wit. But one thing stands in my memory. It was the time when he had lost his only daughter Hema and we had gone to pay condolence at his Chennai home. I was concerned as to how he would have taken her death. But the poignant words he uttered when he saw me, still rings in my ear and is a lesson for many in this world as to how to take life. Narayan said, ‘Hema jumped the queue,’ like a true philosopher,” recalled Srikantiah.

What is it about Parvati that still lingers in the memory of thousands of rasikas and also untrained music listeners, of this great cultural city, Mysore.

As teenagers, come Ramanavami festival usually in the month of April, the peak examination season, the road leading from the Ramaswamy circle towards the law court would be jam packed with thousands witness to some of the finest classical music ever, we also would line up to listen. The list of musicians was endless. Most of us never understood music. It was more to see the crowd, the beautiful women and men who had gathered inside the pandal of Parvati,’ that we would go to watch without understanding what we were imbibing. It is only years later, now we understand what Srikantiah gave to us and the city of Mysore. A veritable feast of music, all free of cost.

“Parvathi was the home which my father K Putturao built on a plot of 370 ft x 225 feet. He was a very close friend of violin maestro T Chowdiah. Even though I was years younger to Chowdiah, the bonding continued even after my father’s death,” said Srikantiah.

In the words of veteran journalist Krishna Vattam, himself a rasika, who had been a witness to many concerts at Parvati, “While the Ganesha festival concerts were held in the hall in Parvati (chamber music), Sri Ramanavami concerts were being arranged in the open space abutting the Home. What was striking about Parvati was the divinity that permeated the premises, inspiring the artistes to feel a sense of bliss as they rendered. The open ground where Sri Ramanavami concerts were organised was in no way less in importance in the awesome ambience it was graced with. A photo, very big in size, of Sri Ramachandra, Seetha, Lakshmana, Satrugna and Hanuman used to be placed on the dais and a parijata tree just above the photo, serving as it were a divine umbrella, was dropping its fragrant flowers on the photo to the sweet strains of music, evoking a feeling of "ananda."

However, Srikantiah’s memories goes back to the time when concerts were being held in Bidaram Krishan Mandira of which his father was also the president. It is another matter that today, he refuses to even allow the portrait of his father to adorn the walls of some organisations for unveiling after his father’s demise, because of a prior incident.

As his memory plays hide and seek, Srikantiah (he is a good singer, tells his wife Vatsala shyly) recalls the time when the first governor general of the country Rajagopalachari praised his mother Parvati. “Sadisivam, the husband of this one and only lady to whom Gandhi himself had turned in a direct appeal to hear "Hari Tuma Haro Jana Ke bhi," M S Subbalakshmi, told Srikantiah about the fondess Rajaji had for ‘Sandige.’ And during one of his visits to Mysore, Sadasivan had packed the Sandige to give it to Rajaji. These were the words which Rajaji uttered after eating it " Sadasivam, three things about this 'Sandigai' which you have given me: (1) This has to be from Mysore only (2) It is made by a lady and (3) The lady is about seventy years old..."

The name of Srikatiah had spread far and wide and the great artistes were more keen on performing on this platform than bother about their remuneration. “Performing 25 marriages was probably easier than conducting ten-day long festivals for 40 years. But not a day did any artiste be it M S Subbalakshmi, M L Vasanthakumari, Parveen Sultana, Madurai Somasundaram, Chitti Babu, Doreswamy Iyengar, Yesudas, Mandolin Srinvas, the list is endless and the performance has been going on for more than 40 years, did they demand a fixed remuneration,” he said.

Today Parvati, the home, which many all over the world are keen to come and see, sadly, is no more. In its place the name called Parvati with a prefix stands tall and as this writer takes leave, only the memories linger, while Srikantiah, wife Vatsala and daughter Mysore Prabha get ready to make arrangements for the next concert at Jagan Mohan Palace where the Putturao Memorial is being held.