Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)
and Chennai (India) 2024-2025

CHENNAI Part 1: Mostly Music (Indian Classical Music and Dance Festival)

18 December Chennai
Avoiding the temptation to sleep until noon, I got up at 9 a.m. for the guesthouse’s free breakfast, which turned out to be a simple South Indian buffet with tea. One of the staff brought me a hard-boiled egg. I took it easy on what turned out to be a day of heavy rain. In the evening the rain had stopped for awhile and I walked around the corner to the convenient Eatalica restaurant, which has a wacky menu for its American (lots of burger options) and Italian (mostly pastas) offerings. I went with garlic bread, a vegetable lasagna (a bit spicy), and a cooling brownie milkshake.
 
19 December Chennai
A wet morning yielded to a cloudy but dry day. Again I began the day with the guesthouse’s South Indian breakfast. I worked on e-mails, writing, and photos for a few hours, then booked an auto taxi through the Uber app. Here in India an ‘auto’ means a little three-wheeler vehicle like the Thai tuk tuks. I rode northeast to Mylapore, an old area of Chennai centered on the magnificent Kapaleeshwarar Temple dedicated to Shiva and other Hindu gods. Unfortunately when trying to pay with a Rs. 500 note, I encountered India’s notorious “no change” and my driver went from shop to shop trying to break the note, then drove a bit farther and asked at more shops until he finally hit pay dirt. This is not high finance as a Rs. 500 note is just under $6. I was successful in my first task of finding an ATM, and as the withdrawal limit was only Rs. 10,000 ($117), I made two withdrawals. Also I needed to get a SIM card for my phone, as a person in India isn’t anybody without a fully functional mobile phone, but unfortunately today I couldn’t find a shop that could do this.
 
Mylapore has several major venues for the December-January Indian classical music and dance festival, and I headed into the main auditorium of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. At 4 p.m. the Sainrithya Dance Academy presented “Sishya Sharadanjali” by a group of seven Bharatanatyam dancers. At 5:30 p.m. a group of a dozen dancers with Srekala Bharath & Thejas offered “Deva Madhargal,” another thematic Bharatanatyam program, but unlike the recorded music used in the previous program, this one had live musicians and singers on a platform at the side of the stage. Lastly, the 7 p.m. event presented a woman singer Sriranjani Santhanagopalan surrounded by musicians on instruments including a violinist who played accompaniments and refrains to the singing. Two women played the tanpura, a fretless drone, one with four strings and the other with six strings. One man played a double-ended mridangam drum and another played a clay pot called a ‘ghatam.’ Each of the instrumentalists also played solo pieces to give the singer rest periods during the nearly two-hour program. All three events had free admission. Afterward I walked to the nearby South Indian restaurant Nithya Amirtham for dinner and found a busy and chaotic scene, but managed to get a tomato soup, an uttapam, idly, a rasgulla (sweet of a spongy cheese soaked in sugar syrup), and a special (milk) tea. I easily found an auto taxi to return to my room.
 
20 December Chennai
Clouds ruled the sky, but no rain fell. Again I had the buffet breakfast at my place and worked on computer stuff. In late afternoon I caught an Uber auto southeast to the home of Indian friend Susindar. We had met in the temple town of Chidambaram in December 1983 when he was a senior college student and I was riding Bessie the Bicycle on my first visit to India. He’s good at remembering names and got hold of me through internet searches in 2021, and we got together last year. During the many years since we first met he has married, raised two daughters, had a varied career as a business man, and is currently lives in Chennai. We chatted awhile, then he offered to take me to a dance concert and have dinner afterward. He drove north to Narada Gana Sabha and entered the large auditorium after purchasing Rp. 400 tickets. Tonight’s program offered a group Bharathanatyam dance ballet “Vishnu Sahasranamam” (Thousand Names of Vishnu) with many short dances about Vishnu and his incarnations and consorts. I recognized a few of the stories and Susindar knew all of them. We both very much enjoyed the program, which ran a bit over 1.5 hours. Afterward we went outside around the back of the auditorium to a very busy temporary restaurant, where we had to wait awhile for a place to sit down. Susindar explained that the food here is so good that people come to the venue just to dine. The menu was in Tamil, but Susindar made suggestions and I got a kind of lentil pancake and a plain dosa, both very tasty, and I could see why people flocked to this eatery, which runs only during the festival. Susindar then dropped me off at an intersection where I caught an auto taxi back to my place.
 
21 December Chennai
In the afternoon I got an Uber auto taxi for a return on my own to Narada Gana Sabha and got a Rs. 400 ticket for the two evening performances. At 4 p.m. I attended a Carnatic (South Indian) vocal concert by the Trichur brothers, Sri Krishna Mohan and Ramkumar Mohan, accompanied by musicians on violin, mridangam, kanjira (hand-held frame drum of the tambourine family), and a pair of tanpuras. At 7 p.m., Urmila Sathyanarayanan performed a solo Bharathanatyam, and because some of the dances illustrated stories of Krishna, the orchestra at the side of the stage included a man on flute as well as a vocalist and musicians on nattuvangam (small hand cymbals), violin, and mridangam. After the fine performances, I headed to the temporary restaurant in the back, but it was so crowded and chaotic that I gave up trying to get a meal. Instead I walked north to Amaravathi Restaurant, which specializes in cuisine of Andhra Pradesh, and had their Andhra Special Tiffin Virundhu. This mix of South Indian snacks included idly, parotta, idiyappam, uthappam, and veg. kurma. Afterward I easily found an auto taxi back to my place.
 
22 December Chennai
Traffic was noticeably lighter this Sunday as I sped northeast to Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in Mylapore. I caught the last of a vocal concert by woman artist Bhargavi Balasubramanian accompanied by violin, mridangam, and kanjira in the 1st floor Mini Hall. Today was the final one of the three-day Dance for Dance Festival and offered three Bharatanatyam performances. The first one had free admission, then I got a 500-rupee ticket for the second two. At 4 p.m. the woman dancer Meenakshi Grama offered a solo program “Ashma,” then at 6 p.m. the male dancer Praveen Kumar presented “Shvassa – Vishwaasa, The Life Breath.” Male dancers are far less common in Bharatanatyam and bring a different energy, as one would expect. Lastly at 7:30 p.m., Rama Vaidyanathan and her large group provided a mesmerizing series entitled “Storm Before the Calm.” Afterward I walked past an outdoor stage with religious singing in front of the Kapaleeswarar Temple and around to one of the prolific South Indian vegetarian restaurant chain Saravana Bhavan, where I went with North Indian food for a change, a veg. kohaluri (mixed vegetables in a spicy gravy).
 
23 December Chennai
On a pleasant mostly sunny day, I returned to Mylapore and got off at Nithya Amirtham for a filling special South Indian thali, topped off with a banana and a small scoop of ice cream. My little daypack had a ripped seam, which a tailor in a tiny shop fixed for just 25 cents. Over at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan I caught some of a vocal concert by woman artist Sruthi Ramesh in the Mini Hall, then headed into the Main Hall for a pair of dramatic solo Bharatanatyam dances, first by Roshini Muthusamy, then by Aiswarya Balasubramanian. Lastly Dr. Charulatha Mani, a woman vocalist, led a nearly two-hour-long recital during which she talked about some of her songs in a mix of English and Tamil, switching back and forth effortlessly between the two languages—something that’s common for educated people here. Musicians on a harmonium (small hand-pumped reed organ) and tabla (pair of hand drums)—more often found in North India—along with a violinist and mridangam player accompanied her. Lastly I had a snack of a small tomato soup, a pair of idlis, and special tea at Nithya Amirtham.
 
24 December Chennai
I still hadn’t obtained an Indian SIM card for my phone, so I got an Uber auto to an Airtel shop on CP Ramasamy Road, but staff told me that I would need two forms of identification connected to a residential address—my passport and hotel address wouldn’t work. That seems an unreasonable request for a tourist. I can manage OK without phone service, which is more of a convenience than a necessity, and I can still make calls with WhatsApp on wi-fi at my guesthouse. From Airtel I crossed the street to Sree Akshayam, a vegetarian restaurant with a huge selection of sweets and cakes, both Indian and Western, on the downstairs floor. I headed upstairs to the main restaurant and enjoyed a lovely set meal lunch “Divya Bojanam” with a soup, many veggie dishes, papadam, chapatti, rice, buttermilk, sweet, and ice cream—all very tasty and a bit more than I could eat.
 
Another auto taxi took me farther north to Narada Gana Sabha, where I attended two music concerts on a 400-rupee ticket: Ganesh and Kumaresh performed a wonderful violin duo at 4 p.m., and I was amazed how perfectly the timing of their playing matched. Anantha Krishna on mridangam and Guru Prasanna on kanjira provided percussion. Ramakrishnan Murthy offered a vocal concert at 7 p.m., accompanied by talented artists Charumathi Raghuraman on violin and Delhi Sairam on mridangam. Indian performers have amazing stamina, and each of tonight’s concerts lasted about 2.5 hours.
 
25 December (Christmas) Chennai
More violin instrumental music today at Narada Gana Sabha, starting with the last bit of a violin duo by M Chandrasekaran and G Bharathi in the main hall, then a solo violin by Tejas Murali upstairs in the Mini Hall. Following the violins, I attended a concert by C. Charulatha who played a veena, an instrument with a large supporting gourd more commonly found in northern India.
 
In late afternoon I headed to the home of Susindar and met his family including the eldest daughter, who lives in Texas and had come for a short visit. Next Susindar took me to the apartment of his parents, who are in their 80s and doing well. Afterward he dropped me off at Sangeetha Veg Restaurant, where I had a light dinner of a peas utthapam—the first one I’ve ever had—along with sambar vadai, tomato soup, and a sweet lassi. The restaurant has a large selection of Indian sweets and Western bakeries, including the seasonal plum cake.
 
26 December Chennai
I returned again to Narada Gana Sabha and attended a solo Bharatanatyam at 1:45 p.m. by Bilva Raman, followed at 4 p.m. with a vocal by the Akkarai Sisters Subhalakshmi and Sornalatha. The evening closed with a solo vocal by S. Mahathi at 7 p.m. Today I had better luck at the seasonal dining hall behind the auditorium run by Sri Sasthalaya Catering Service, which can be crazy busy but not so bad today. A waiter helped with ordering because the menu is only in Tamil. I swung by between the last two concerts for a late lunch of tomato utthapam (a favorite of mine) and a koa jangree (sweet similar to jalebi except made with dal-based flour instead of from wheat). After the concerts I returned for a late dinner of two poori with vegetables, then a cheese dosa—all very tasty. A light rain started up when I caught an auto taxi back to my place, then a heavy rain fell briefly late at night.
 
27 December Chennai
On a pleasant sunny day I returned to Narada Gana Sabha, this time with a camera, and began the afternoon at 1:45 p.m. with a solo Bharatanatyam by Medha Hari. Unusually, a veena player accompanied the usual vocalist as well as artists on nattuvangam, violin, and mridangam. After a short introductory dance, the artist performed the main event about a devotee worshiping Shiva. Next the dancer expresses the fear and wonderment of Skanda, the oldest son of Shiva and Parvati, when he first experiences the merging of his parents into a single fusion of masculine and feminine properties. The fourth dance depicted a love story, followed by a tillana, a rhythmic dance commonly presented at the end of a South Indian Carnatic performance. Lastly the dancer offered a shlokam, a short dance of gratitude to the stage, musicians, and audience.
 
At 4 p.m. the Malladi Brothers—Shriram Prasad and Ravikuma—offered a vocal recital along with musicians on violin, mridangam, and ghatam. At 7 p.m. Roja Kannan presented a group Bharatanatyam thematic dance “Bhajay Pandurangam” about the Varkari Saints, who worship a form of Vishnu. The nearly two-hour production with a vocalist, nattuvangam, violin, flute, and mridangam had a lot of drama, along with a lot of narration in Tamil that I couldn’t follow. Dancers expressed a wide range of emotions including despair and ecstasy, but the story ended happily.
 
As yesterday, I dined at the temporary food hall out back run by Sri Sasthalaya Catering Service. Another diner told me that the catering service provides food at weddings, so staff are accustomed to serving very tasty food that’s a bit different from what one would find at restaurants. I had a tomato uttapam with a carrot halwa sweet for a late lunch, then a Sasthalaya special dosai with a sweet coconut custard drink for a late dinner.
 
28 December Chennai
In the morning I headed to Mylapore for a Carnatic vocal concert at Rasika Ranjani Sabha, one of the many cultural venues here. Susindar and his wife especially wished to attend because the singer, Aarya V. Lakshmanan, is a niece of Susindar’s wife. The artist currently studies neuroscience at a university in Boulder, Colorado, while also training in Carnatic music. She gave a fine concert accompanied by highly regarded musicians on violin, mridangam, and ghatam. The singer’s proud parents were in attendance, and after the concert all were invited upstairs to a tasty South Indian lunch.
 
A little tailor shop in Mylapore again quickly took care of a few minor clothing repairs and at a very low cost. I walked to nearby Bharathiya Vidhya Bhavan and its 2nd-floor Mini Hall for three concerts of the festival Marghazhi Matram, which honors World (dis) Ability Day. At 2:30 p.m. Kumari Kanmoni Sasi of Kerala State offered a vocal performance with musicians. Although she had no arms and her legs were stunted, she could still walk and, of course, sing beautifully. At 4 p.m. Uma Ranganathan, who currently lives in Norway, offered a solo vocal along with violin and mridangam musicians. At 5:30 p.m. two men from the San Francisco Bay Area, Hrishikesh and Priyanka Chary, presented a veena duo along with a mridangam, but it took nearly half an hour to get the sound system working properly. I almost left, but was glad I stayed as the music sounded so great. They would play together and other times alternating.
 
Lastly I headed downstairs to the Main Hall for the Bharatanatyam performance “Jaya Jaya Sankara” by Dr. Padma Subrahmanyam and Mahati Kannan. The title translates as “Victory to Lord Shankara (Shiva),” so the songs and dances honored Hindu gods and philosophy. I found the music especially beautiful, with a vocalist, (one with hand bells), violin, veena, and mridangam. The dancers would alternate and rarely appeared on the stage at the same time.
 
The long day concluded with a late dinner at Saravanaa Bhavan for a dosa, tomato soup, sweet lassi, and tea, then I easily got an auto taxi back to my place.
 
29 December Chennai
A hazy morning gave way to a cloudy afternoon. Susindar recommended the two evening events at the Music Academy as being especially promising. He phoned the Academy and found that tickets might sell out, so I caught an Uber auto taxi there and bought two balcony tickets at Rs. 750 ($8.80) each. Of the many venues for the Indian classical music and dance festival, the Music Academy is the best known and has an excellent auditorium.
 
I then walked a short way to the Tanjore, one of several restaurants at New Woodlands Hotel. There’s no menu at this small restaurant because only one thing is served—a traditional South Indian lunch on a banana leaf. After I sat down, roving waiters began plopping down different kinds of vegetable preparations on my banana leaf along with a plain curd, a crispy papadum, a sweet chapatti, condiments, and a scoop of rice. I could select which things to have, but they were all good and I could have seconds.
 
Back at the Music Academy I went inside for a Harikatha, a devotional program with a woman singer and accompanying instruments. She spent most of the time just talking (in Tamil) with only short songs, so I used the time mostly for reading on my phone. Afterward I met Susindar and we took our seats. At 4 p.m. the woman vocalist Sangita Kalanidhi Sudha Ragunathan along with musicians on violin, mridangam, and morsing (an instrument similar to the Jew’s harp) began a lovely concert. It lasted an incredible 2.5 hours, with the singer getting short breaks when the instrumentalists played solos or duets.
 
A little before 7 p.m. the male singer Sikkil C.Gurucharan began his performance along with a violin, mridangam, and ghatam. Susindar was especially excited because he has long known and admired the mridangam artist, Sangita Kalanidhi Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umayalpuram_K._Sivaraman. Susindar has played the mridangam, so he can especially appreciate the playing by others. During concerts it’s possible for friends of the artists to sit on the stage floor or even on the dais, and Susindar got permission to do so. I was also invited but wouldn’t survive long sitting on the hard floor, so I had to decline. Susindar returned to his plush balcony seat about half way through. This concert also lasted about 2.5 hours, and I was especially impressed that the mridangam player is 89 years old! After the concert we met him outside the stage door.
 
Both performances had extremely beautiful singing and accompaniments, with the singers at times zipping through the verses at high speeds, other times proceeding sedately, and often times at a moderate pace.
 
The Music Academy has a large tented area on one side with a catering service dishing up meals and snacks, so we headed there after the performances. With some effort we caught hold of the busy waiters and put in orders for thattu idlis (‘Thattu’ means ‘plate’ as this type is larger and flatter than the regular idlis.), then a shared adai (lentil savory pancake) with avial (vegetables in coconut & yogurt-based gravy) and a butter masala dosa followed by coffee (for Susindar), tea (for me), and hot badam (almond) drinks for both of us. Susindar kindly dropped me off at my guesthouse even though it was out of the way for him.
 
30 December Chennai
Morning clouds gave way to partly cloudy skies. My guesthouse has a free clothes washing machine, so I took care of laundry after breakfast. The wi-fi wasn’t working this morning, a minor inconvenience and said to be caused by a ‘power problem,’ not uncommon in India. Even so I was able to get a lot done on the computer with journal writing.
 
I like to attend unusual concerts, and in the afternoon headed back to the Music Academy for a violin trio. Of the trio, the woman violinist Sangita Kalanidhi A. Kanyakumari led the playing along with two men, Embar S. Kannan and Dr. Nishanth Chandran. The artists K.V. Prasad on mridangam and N. Amrit on kanjira provided percussion. I thought hearing the three violins in unison to have a richer sound quality compared to a solo instrument. Pacing ranged from fast and furious to slow and stately. Lots of variety ensued with the three violinists playing in turn, in duets, and solos as well as together. After a lively 2.5 hours, the concert ended and the audience had a 15-minute break before the final event of the evening. Sandeep Narayan then gave a wonderful male vocal performance accompanied by V.V.S. Murari on violin, Sangita Kalanidhi Trichy Sankaran on mridangam, and K.V. Gopalakrishnan on kanjira.
 
After the enchanting music, I headed across the road to Amaravathi Restaurant for a very nice vegetarian thali, served on a banana leaf plus a sweet lassi. Lastly I caught an auto taxi back to the guesthouse.
 
31 December Chennai
I took it easy this morning, then did some journal writing. In the afternoon I headed to Mylapore for a Bharatanatyam solo by Athriya Krishnan Balaji at Rasika Ranjani Sabha, which I had visited three days ago. The dances, full of emotion and action, began with one in honor of Ganapati, the elephant headed god also known as ‘Ganesh.’ Other dances related stories about Hindu gods and their roles in great epics. Then, as is common in Bharatnatyam performances, the dancer concluded with a tillana (rhythmic dance) and a short dance of gratitude.
 
Susindar had invited me to a vocal performance that featured his much-admired mridangam drummer master Umayalpuram Sri K. Sivaraman, who organized this concert at Srinivasa Sastri Hall. Although a short distance west of Mylapore, it was easiest for me to take an auto taxi through the traffic-clogged streets to get there. The hall was full of eager listeners, all presided over by Umayalpuram Sri K. Sivaraman. Sri Vinay Sharva provided the main vocals while Mannargudi Sri Shankarraman added vocals to some songs and played harmonium in others. Sri Amith Nadig played flute, of which he had three sizes of bamboo instruments. Sri Arunkumar provided additional percussion with an electronic rhythm pad. Everyone played beautifully during the concert, which lasted 2.5 hours. The audience especially seemed to like a duo between the mridangam and rhythm pad.
 
Afterward, Susindar waited to meet the artists and snap photos. We drove to Eating Circles, an upstairs South Indian restaurant in Alwarpet for a light, late dinner. I had a pair of the large, flattened thattu idlis and a Mysore masala dosa while Susindar went with a pair of sambar idlis and a dosa. We both had a refreshing mint lemonade twister. I didn’t do anything special to ring in the New Year. A few loud firecrackers went off during the night, then quiet. 

 

On to CHENNAI Part 2: Mostly Dance (Indian Classical Music and Dance Festival)

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