I was under cloud nine-Really

It was Saturday(i.e day before yesterday),one of the rarest days when i woke up early in the morning.It was 5.15 a.m i suppose, i got up and i was searching for my mobile which i usually have it above my pillow.It wasn't there.I called my number from my LAN line.SHIT,It reached voice mail box.For a moment i thought i lost it ,after moments of panic and hesitation,i dared to disturb my friend kishore (who is having sleeping disorder-"somniloquy"-,speaks a lot as he does in the day time :) )who was sleeping next to me,i assured that he didn't speak anything because of nightmares :) ,and then conveyed him about my mobile .He too searched for it but for no effect.After retracing so many times , i finally got a clue.I went and opened the book which i was studying last night before i slept.God it was there in the middle of the papers ,only then i breathed easily.

Then by 7.00 am i called one of my friends named gurumoorthy as we planned for a meet.He asked me to come Tambaram by 10.00 , i went there accompanied him till his place (singaperumal koil) which was 22 km from tambaram.Finished my lunch there,got few glimpses of ashes and Ind-SA 1 st test match which is a comeback match for dada.After collecting few books ,study mat and cds and i started my travel back home.When i almost made it ,i found my mobile ringing.It was karthik,who called me to ask whether i was interested in attending yesudas concert which was happening in krishna gana sabha.knowing that i was a great fan of his,and karthik was little hesitant in attending it ,he gave me the free ticket which was offered to him at his office.Before that i didnt plan for any frolic as we had SNAP test the next day.But since it was more than a surreal to attend a jesudas concert ,that too at december month (which is a margazhi season at chennai),and i shud be a galah who turns it down,i took that gracious offer.I looked my mobile for time( as i dont have the habit of wearing watch right from childhood ,for some untold reasons :) ),it was 3.25.The concert was starting at 4'o clock in the evening.First
i was bit hesitant of going,then even one kiruthi in his voice is enough,that thought kept me going.I got ready, collected the ticket and kick- started my friend kish's bike all the way to krishna gana sabha,Tnagar.

I somehow managed to reach there (with lot of traffic as it was weekend and i didnt know exactly where the sabha located).By the time everyone seemed settled as i was late.When i was parking my vehicle ,a white accent came in front of the sabha front gate.The security came to them ,opened the car door,grinned and wished a fellow who came in white kurtha .For a moment i thought it was a "royal-reception". when i entered the gate ,on the pavement i noticed banners of many sponsors.TCS was one among them and why not if it envisions cultural blend?.Another sight which is worth mentioning and allured me more than any was two ladies (around 20 and 22)wearing traditional kachipuram silk and they were sitting on chairs in front of the table which contained flowers of various colours.Obviously those two looked more majestic and beautiful than those flowers to my eyes.

Because of this distraction and since i didnt noticed it was a 1oo rs ticket,i tried entering the first door of the sabha(they were many nearly four,leading to different distant section of the sabha seatings,depends on the ticket value),which leads to the first row in front of the podium,a man stopped me and checked my ticket.He said it was 1000 rs entrance and showed me the direction of 100 rs.When i was heading ,i thought to myself that "those who paid 1000 rs for the concert doesnt necessarily mean that he is a better fan or adore music more than one who watches from the last row of the sabha and enjoys ".I consolated myself and entered my door,the mellifluous voice of his reached my ever waiting ears,i stood still bound when a man interfered and first took me to the iron chair where a lady was sitting next to me .Then he thought for a while ( i dunno the reason why) and asked me to come to another cushion seat which is in the middle of another row where everyone seemed settled and i dared to take risk of passing those beating foots,without stampede.Now i was seated bit relaxedly again between a lady and a man,again the lady changed her seat leaving one seat empty on my right side which allowed me to get a clear picture of the happenings in front.When i looked around there were many black and white frames hanging all over the sabha walls at even spaces.Few names i could recognise was Papanasam sivan,Muthuswamy dikshidharand great Thyagarajaswami.

I was only nine when i saw jesudas live in action when my uncle took my family to a similar concert at vani mahal .Over the years he has changed very a little as a singer.The ease and aplomb with which he handles the gamagams, and innumerous krithis of thyagrayaswami was astounding.The assuasive voice of his was a rare gift to him.When i wonder what makes this once christian and padhma shree award winner to sing this fluent and to sunk into the divine sublimes of music,Is it sheer practice ?Dedication and involvement ?I still cant find an answer how a cristian by birth can sing sankrit with that ease .The answer is very simple ,a combination of every such jargons and logical implication of unseen super natural forces.He is a great living example of the thought that "music never complies with the boundaries in the name of caste,Religion ,country and language".

The first piece i heared was "kandhani " in ragam pavapriya ,and thalam thodi(Eventually he disclosed it ,otherwise i wudnt know as i didnt know the technicalities involved).The second one was "Enthukku ennad iyaa-raamayya" in which he gave enough oppurtunity to showcause the "pakka vathiyams" .The violinist , miruthangam and kadam player used this effectively .They all brought in the synergy.The best part for me was ,he sung songs like "kannanai kandayo malli kodiye" from the "kannan en kadhalan " section of Bharathiar songs.I prefer tamil carnatic songs than any language .Then came one of its gem "krishna ne begane-baro" for which he got a great applause. Then since it was followed by song on lord iyyapa since it was the season,.It wud be a void had he not done it ,yes finally it came for the much awaiting audience,The song "harivarasanam".By this time every audience started clapping rhythamically along with the song .I wudnt recount any singer in this earth who can sing(in a bit husky voice) this song that effectively as he does.When i closed my eyes,it was more than a feeling of soothing and solacing .No words to describe, literally on air.Finally after a Bajan he sung the mangalam .

There were few embaracing moments , like when the sabha maintained pin drop silence ( even fan was not running as it wud take away the concentration of the artiste),there were many cell phones ringing.As this continued ,even it resulted in a temporary halt of the concert,jesudhas,who was taken away from the concentration ,got irritated and came up with strong words like "gnana sooniyam (equivalent to zero) " for bashing.I assured once again that my mobile was switched off.Barring those,It was a sang-froid concert and i enjoyed every moment of it as i better know him as a human being,who even once protested the priest,clergies who went against him for singing hindu devotional songs and his personal interest in lord iyyappa and in the aftermath,he anounced himself that he is no more cristian.In simple terms attending his concert was a feeling of an elation more than relief.I thought of attending more of his concerts in future when i was on my way back to room.