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

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

1 January 2025 Chennai
As last year, Susindar and I got together for a Special New Year Lunch at New Woodlands Hotel. We sat at a long shared table where waiters laid down banana leaves for us, then began plopping little piles of vegetable dishes onto the leaves along with curd, tomato rasam (soup), appalam (papadam), and rice. We could have seconds of anything on request. The lunch took place in a large hall that’s normally used for marriages. When we finished, a table with desserts beckoned with a milky sweet, bananas, and a scoop of ice cream.
 
On his way home, Susindar dropped me off at my guesthouse, where I took a short rest before getting an Uber auto taxi to the Music Academy. This afternoon and evening the Academy would host two concerts of nadaswaram (nagaswaram), a long oboe-like instrument commonly played in pairs at temples and weddings of South India. As one of the world’s loudest non-brass acoustic instruments, it commands attention and is considered very auspicious. Traditionally the body of the nadaswaram is made out of a tree called ‘aacha’ and has a flared metal bell. I grew fond of its sound in temple visits during my first visit to Tamil Nadu. The instruments only occasionally appear in formal concerts, so I was glad the players would be performing today. A thavil (double-ended drum)—loud and high pitched enough to complement the nadaswaram—provides the beat. The thavil is a cylindrical shell hollowed out from a solid block of jackfruit wood with a water buffalo skin surface on the right played with the fingers and goat skin on the left played with a short stick. An hour-long concert began at 3:45 p.m. with the Adyar Brothers—J. Venkatesh and J. Balasubramani—on nadaswaram along with Adyar D. Senthil Kumar and Thiruneermalai B. Mani on thavil. Another man rang small hand cymbals.
 
The large auditorium began filling up for the 5 p.m. Sadas, an important awards ceremony for musicians and a musicologist associated with the Music Academy. Professor David Shulman, from Israel, who had first visited Tamil Nadu in 1972, gave a short talk and presented the awards. All this was interesting, and nearly all in English, but seemed too long at two hours.
 
After the awards ceremony, most of the audience departed, but I stayed for the second concert with S. Kasim and S. Babu on nadaswaram and Tiruppungur T.G. Muthukumarasamy and Madurai M. Vijaykumar on thavil, plus a fellow with the little hand cymbals. With two hours, the musicians could perform a wide variety of pieces including some quiet passages. And the drummers could perform energetic duos.
 
With the big lunch, I didn’t feel the need for dinner, but did cross the road for a banana split at the Snofield, an ice cream parlor connected to Amaravathi Restaurant. Then I caught an auto taxi to my guesthouse.
 
2 January Chennai
On another partly cloudy day I hopped into an Uber auto to Mylapore and got off at the vegetarian restaurant Adyar Ananda Bhavan (A2B) for a light lunch of tomato soup and a grilled veggie sandwich. Afterward I walked around Myalapore Tank, a reservoir on the west side of 7th-century Kapaleeshwarar Temple. A stone pavilion, Kabali Theeetham, stands in the middle of the vast tank. Oddly, few people visit the tank and I never see anyone in the water.
 
While walking along the adjacent street I heard loud bangs of firecrackers, then saw a procession of a drummers and a vehicle pulling a flower-garlanded cart. On the cart I saw two feet sticking out and realized this was a funeral procession.
 
I strolled past sidewalk fruit and vegetable vendors on the south side of the tank and continued east to Rasika Ranjani Sabha, where I watched some of a Bharatanatyam dance by Gauri S. Mathrakott. Next I headed to nearby Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan for a dance in the main hall, but the audio system was painfully loud—a recurrent problem here that often included squealing audio feedback—so I soon left. In the same building I went up to the first-floor Mini Hall where a vocal concert by Dharini Kalyanaraman was about to begin. She gave a wonderful performance, lasting more than two hours and accompanied by musicians on violin, mridangam, and ghatam. The mridangam and ghatam players engaged in a lively duet. Afterward I had a ‘mini meal’ and sweet lassi at Saravanaa Bhavan before getting an auto taxi back to my room. In the middle of the night I experience chills and heartburn, but luckily I had anti-acid medicine and the symptoms soon disappeared.
 
3 January Chennai
I had been thinking of taking a rest day, so did. I spent a lot of time on the computer, catching up on all my e-mails and sorting through all the many photos taken so far on this India visit. For dinner I walked around the corner to the very convenient Eatalica restaurant, going with spaghetti with spinach, mushrooms, and white sauce, then concluding with a chocolate milk shake.
 
4 January Chennai
Susindar and his wife invited me for lunch at their home, so I had the pleasure of dining on home-cooked South Indian cuisine. In the late afternoon Susindar phoned and suggested going to an event that evening at Narada Gana Sabha. We met there and got Rs. 600 tickets for “Ekasada Vishnum,” described as a “Mega Dance Drama” with 66 dancers. As the name suggests, it’s an epic story related to the Hindu god Vishnu, who appears during the performance as himself and as his 10 avatars. At the dramatic conclusion, all 11 forms of Vishnu appear, each with a winged Garuda, the divine mount of Vishnu. The skill of the dancers and choreography amazed me with the dancers keeping marvelously synchronized during the complex dances. The music was great too. Narration happened to be in Tamil, but Susindar filled me in on what was happening.
 
The catering service that served up great food behind the auditorium during December had vanished, so we tried to get a table at a little outdoor café in front, but it was very busy and we would likely have a long wait. Instead we drove to a branch of Sangeetha Veg Restaurant, where Susindar ordered dinner for both of us, choosing plates with a pair of dosas and plates of an appam, which is a thin pancake made with fermented rice batter and coconut milk. Both included a side dish of tasty vegetables. We also had sweet lassis and coffee (for Susindar) and special tea (with milk) for me. We made plans to meet in the morning for a series of dances at the Music Academy and possibly return in the evening to Narada Gana Sabha for another big dance drama.
 
5 January Chennai
I awoke with a sore throat and decided not to go out in the morning, but I was glad to hear that Susindar did go to the Music Academy morning-early afternoon dances. Life has been so busy lately that I haven’t finished an online journal for the Kraburi kayak trip in southern Thailand that I joined last November, so I worked on that much of the day.
 
I felt fine in the afternoon and headed to Narada Gana Sabha a bit over two hours early to get tickets for the evening performance, which Susindar predicted would be very popular. The ticket office had yet to open when I arrived, however, so I walked north to Andhra Tiffin Room for a series of classic South Indian snacks—a pair of idli, a vada, a malasa dosa, and a tea. Then I finished off with a Crunchy Crackle ice cream sundae at Snowfield, also part of the Amaravathi Restaurant. Back at Narada Gana Sabha I easily got a Rs. 600 ticket, then found a good seat. Susindar had planned to come, but thought parking would be too difficult. Tonight’s program AGRE PASHYAMI “The Divine in Front of Me” had a similar theme to last night’s performance with depictions of Vishnu and his avatars along with a poet, yet the presentation tonight was very different and even more dramatic. Again, this multimedia dance ballet had a great many dancers who performed under bold lighting and in complex musical soundscapes. A huge video screen provided atmospheric settings for each part of the dance. Narada Gana Sabha’s auditorium is relaxed about photography (stills only), and I got some good shots.
 
6 January Chennai
I started off by taking care of laundry and having guesthouse staff clean my room. Finances, photos, and writing work on the computer then filled most of the day. I also relaxed reading the hefty Sunday Times newspaper. In late afternoon I headed back to Narada Gana Sabha for the final event of the five-day Dance Ballet & Drama 2025: the Madurai R. Muralidharan production of SODHI KODUTHA SUDARKODI, which means “the woman who wore and gave her garland to Vishnu as an incarnation of Lakshmi.” As with the two previous evenings, the production had a large cast of dancers, beautiful music, memorable singing, and a giant video screen with dramatic graphics. Once again, Vishnu made appearances in the stories, especially as Krishna. The stories come from Andal, one of the twelve Hindu poet-saints of South India—and only female among them—who espoused bhakti (devotion) to the Hindu preserver deity Vishnu in their songs of longing, ecstasy, and service. According to his Wikipedia entry, “Madurai R. Muralidaran is an acclaimed dance guru, composer, dancer, choreographer, lyricist, playwright and director best known for his large body of modern compositions for Bharatanatyam dancers and his many elaborate dance musical productions.” He appeared on stage after the program to acknowledge the dancers and support staff. After the two-hour production, I walked north to Andhra Restaurant for their tasty South Indian thali (“Special Meals”) Maharaja Veg. Bhojanam.
 
7 January Chennai
In the morning I headed to the Music Academy for a series of performances by three solo dancers, beginning at 9:30 a.m. with Bharatanatyam by the male dancer P.V. Adithya. He started with a short piece about elephant-headed god Ganesh, then continued with two longer dances that interpreted stories about the divine cosmic dancer Shiva Nataraja and other Hindu deities, then concluded with a tillana. The orchestra at the side of the stage had a vocalist and players of a nattuvangam, veena, flute, and mridangam. Afterward I met Susindar, who had arrived during the first dances and we sat together for the next two performances. An advantage to coming to the Music Academy in the morning is that the events have free admission and one can sit in the front rows for the best views. After a short break, the female Bharatanatyam dancer Medha Hari performed an invocation dance followed by an interpretation of a woman in love with Shiva Nataraja, a depiction of a young Skanda’s amazement at seeing his divine parents Shiva and Parvathi merged into a single image, then a tillana. Her orchestra comprised a vocalist and artists on nattuvangam, veena, violin, and mridangam. Lastly, the female dancer Purvadhanashree performed a rarely seen Vilasini Natyam, an Indian classical dance from the state of Andhra Pradesh. Her movements and gestures followed different patterns from the familiar Bharatanatyam. The first part told stories related to Shiva and the second related ones about Krishna, and in the second she stopped to insert a bit of verse and song. The musicians included a player on flute, as expected in a dance with Krishna stories, plus a violin, mridangam, nattuvangam, and a vocalist.
 
The dances concluded about 1:45 p.m., then Susindar and I headed to nearby Woodlands Hotel and its main restaurant, the Krishna, for a wonderful South Indian thali. Each of us headed home for a rest, then I joined Susindar for an evening walk along Edward Elliot’s Beach, detouring along the way for a tea break. We also admired the large Catholic Annai Velankanni Church, lit up in colored lights.
 
8 January Chennai
On another sunny and hazy morning I had a simple breakfast at the hotel of two poori, coconut chutney, sambar, noodles, and tea. Then I caught an Uber auto to the Music Academy for the morning-early afternoon trio of Bharatanatyam dances. The young male dancer P.P. Athul Balu gave an energetic series of performances beginning with a short and ambitious portrayal of Shiva Nataraja. Next the artist depicted a love story, then in a reversal of the normal course of their relationship, Krishna seeks his chief consort and shakti Radha. A tillana concluded the program. Musicians accompanied on flute, violin, mridangam, nattuvangam, and vocals.
 
The woman dancer Meera Sreenarayanan attracted a large and enthusiastic crowd for her offering for a depiction of Ganapati and Hanuman, followed by a longer dance, then a conversation between goddesses Parvati and Lakshmi who talk about their husbands. Lastly the artist offered a tillana. Music came from players of violin, veena, mridangam, nattuvangam, and a vocalist.
 
Another male dancer, K.P. Rakesh, also provided a program of four dances including one with an expression of Radha’s love for Krishna, then ending with a tillana. Artists on flute, veena, mridangam, nattuvangam, and vocals accompanied the dances.
 
The seasonal canteen at the Music Academy looked very busy, so I cross the busy road to Andhra Tiffin Room for a light lunch of a pair of idli, two gulab jamun sweets, and a tea. I then hopped on an auto taxi for a ride on the usual traffic-clogged city roads back to my room and worked awhile writing up this journal. In late afternoon I caught an Uber auto to Susindar’s home for a visit. We headed to nearby Sangeetha Restaurant for a light dinner, idlis and vadas in sambar sauce for him and a tomato soup and a rava dosa (made with coarsely milled durum wheat). Susindar took me to his favorite sweet and fruit shop, Suriya Gardens, and I picked up a couple sweets for later consumption and a large tangerine for tomorrow’s breakfast. His parents live nearby, and we dropped in for a short visit.

 

On to Day 6: National Art Gallery Malaysia (Take 2)

Return to Contents