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Penchant for the past

Photos: r. ravindran (cover) and R. Shivaji Rao (above)

HEART IN HERITAGE V. Sriram

The village all declar’d how much he knew;
‘Twas certain he could write, and cipher too:
Lands he could measure, terms and tides presage,
And e’en the story ran that he could gauge.

(From Oliver Goldsmith’s The Village Schoolmaster)

When a man is hailed as an encyclopaedia on Carnatic music and the city of Madras, it is easy to settle into a mental picture of someone who has never lived away from the city, who has studied history for a degree and is a full-time musician.

If you hold such images of V. Sriram (music historian and heritage conservationist), reality will leave you stumped. When we requested him for an interview, he was on a globe-trotting spree but managed to find the time as he can’t resist talking about the past. As he juggles two big businesses (Sriram is chief operations officer of Broadgate Technical Services, a software developer catering for clients in the U.K., Singapore and the Middle East and, as a top gun of the family-run HVK group, handles an industrial hydraulics business that is allied to Eaton Corporation), it is no surprise that the interview is interrupted constantly — now by his secretary who wants his signature; and then by the fax operator who brings in an important communication.

With such professional responsibilities, how has he managed to find the time for four books (the fifth, which is about the history of the Music Academy, is on the way), multiple columns on Madras and music, heritage walks and heritage talks?

“I don’t watch television at all. Also, waking up at 4.30 a.m. has helped. Then, I have to thank my father-in-law N. Krishnan (chairman of the HVK Group) and my co-directors, who have respected my need to take time off to pursue my passions.”

Heading the list of people Sriram is grateful to, is paternal grandmother Seethalakshmi. He admits that, but for her, he would not be so rooted culturally.

Sriram was born in 1966 in London, but took his first step in Madras. He lived in the city until 1976, the year the family moved to Calcutta. In 1983, he went to Delhi, where he studied engineering and business administration. In 1989, he went to Mumbai on work; then, returned to Calcutta and worked there as an advertising professional until 1993, when he returned to Madras.

It was a return to a place and culture that he was surprisingly very familiar with. By way of stories, his grandmother had put of lot of Madras and the culture of its people in Sriram. “Her stories were anything but bland — insightful, they were related in an animated manner.”

Also, Seethalakshmi was Sriram’s first music teacher, constantly egging the boy to improve his singing. “She had never spoken in public, but showed me how to be a public speaker.” These early lessons proved helpful later.

When Sriram delivered a learned and witty speech at the launch of his friend T.S. Tirumurti’s book Clive Avenue, in 2003, nobody guessed that it was one of his early speaking assignments.

Laced with humour, Sriram’s storytelling style has contributed immensely to the success of his heritage walks. The other winning factors are the creativity and the research that go into them.

For example, a heritage walk called ‘Women of Marina’ was totally out of the box. He took his audience to memorials and institutions that reminded them of famous women down the ages. As he dwelt on the lives and times of women such as Miss De La Hey, Lady Willingdon, Sister Subbalakshmi, Muthulakshmi Reddy and Elena McDougal, the accounts were as touching as they were hilarious.

How does a high-flying businessman get the time for leisurely, knowledge-imparting walks?

“I don’t take on more than I can handle. Right now, I organise a heritage walk on Madras Day and another during the December music season.”

During the season in 2004, he took people on a heritage tour of Thanjavur. The group enjoyed the experience, but Sriram felt drained at the end of it. Since then, he has been sticking just to the streets of Chennai.

Teaming up with musician Sanjay Subrahmanyan, he started a music website sangeetham.com in 1999. For six years, it served well the cause of Carnatic music till they both realised they no longer could give it the time it deserved.

Apart from regular articles in mainstream newspapers and magazines, he handles columns in niche publications such as Madras Musings — he is the ‘Man from Madras Musings (MMM)’ who gives a commentary on happenings in the city.

But he does not accept more journalistic assignments than he can handle. This means he has time to write books and give lectures. Makes sense for someone who has mastered many ways of presenting the past.

To know more about him, visit http://sriramv.wordpress.com

Meet the author

Carnatic Summer, biographies of 22

major Carnatic musicians

Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer: Life and Music,

which he co-authored with his

guru V. Subrahmaniam

Fifty Historic Residences of Madras

The Devadasi And The Saint, a biography of

Bangalore Nagarathnamma, an iconoclastic

singer of yesteryear — this book won

Sriram the UNFPA Laadli Award for Gender

Sensitivity in Writing.

His fifth book, which is about the history of The Music Academy, is in the writing.

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