nivedita_n

Life's been really hectic. Here are some things that have happened since my last post:

1. Learnt a few kritis from Smt. Suguna Purushottaman and Smt. Suguna Varadachari at V.V.Sundaram Uncle's house. Met R.K.Srikantan mama - he totally loves Shashi sir's singing!

2. Been working really hard on one of Shashi sir's projects. Hoping it will be ready for release before the end of the season.

3. December 7th turned out to be a day I'll never forget. Here's why:

My guru almost never says 'good' or anything to that effect when I sing, because he wants every single note, anuswara and gamaka to be perfect. In all the years that I've been learning from him, he's said 'good' only about a dozen times. Sometimes, after I finish singing a kriti, all I get in response is a grunt, sometimes a 'this kriti needs more practice'. My class on Dec 7th was no exception.

In class, I learnt a Nilakantan Sivan kriti 'unnai tavira vErillai' in suruTTi and sang 'kaligiyuNTe' in kIravANi, which I'd learnt in the previous class. As usual, all I got was a grunt!

However, he called my mom promptly after my class and spoke at length about my singing (without my knowledge of course, because I had just left his place). He told her that I am now able to sing gamakas well and that I have a bright future in music.He also said a lot of other good things about my music, which I shall not post here, lest I sound pompous. It was almost unbelievable that he had such high praise for me! I believe that I have a really long way to go in music, but I do hope to achieve my dreams. Nevertheless, December 7th was undoubtedly, the best day of my life and Shashi sir is undoubtedly, the best guru in the world! Thank you, sir! :)

4. Heard one of the most divine concerts of my life - by Smt. Parassala Ponnamma, an 83-yr old veteran from Kerala. Shashi sir brought her to Chennai for the December Season. Like everyone else who truly understood the beauty of her music, I was speechless for a long time after her concert.

5. Sang two concerts. I think I'm improving and learning the tricks of the trade well. For the first ever time, I performed without my mom in the audience, because she's been in hospital for many days now.

Been doing a lot of other music-related stuff too, but they're too many to post.

P.S.: I've been running into many mamis lately and they've all been calling my mom and talking to her about my 'future'! So, to all the mamis of the world - no, I'm NOT going to get married. At least, not yet - I'm still too young for it. So it doesn't matter to me that your son/grandson/nephew/friend's son/neighbour's son is tall and handsome, well-read, earns well and knows music. :D