MY FESTIVAL - LEELA SAMSON
The experience of an early dawn
The world slept when we rose and readied ourselves. It was dark and wet, a slow drizzle reminding us it was a cold morning. Paddu teacher (Padmasini, a singer who was in charge of many things at Kalakshetra including the hostel) would huddle the few of us together, swiftly and silently negotiating the mile through the desolate campus and a sleepy village to the empty bus-stand in Tiruvanmiyur.
Arriving at the Music Academy or at the Krishna Gana Sabha, I was always amazed at how many people were already filling those seats, dressed and ready for a day at the concerts!
The air was filled with the soft shine of their pattu, with the gentle scent of malli and with that particular excitement that comes when a show is about to begin. We did the 7 a.m. lecture and rushed back to classes at 8.30 a.m. in Kalakshetra.
What we experienced in those days was not merely lessons in the Bhagavata or the particular intricacies of ragas and talas, but the experience of an early dawn in this city. Thirty and more years ago the streets were almost bare, barring potti kadais preparing for the day and milkmen wending their way to homes. Even the pookaaris were not up. Those who wore fresh flowers at six in the morning had bought them the previous evening and kept them carefully wrapped in a moist cloth all night.
I loved the harikatha. The mere passion of discourse was invigorating. The stories interpreted and verse deconstructed in so many different ways, made one wonder whether you ever thought you knew that tale of Sri Krishna or why he went into battle! Or the little nuances of the Ramayana we knew well.
Paddu teacher was an enthusiastic guide. She was also a strict disciplinarian. Harbouring a thought for the fragrant coffee brewing outside the sabha would have got us the sternest glare. That special pleasure waited till I was grown up and even then, I did not have the guts to enter the stall at the back of Music Academy, so tutored was I in the rigours of right and wrong. Alas, by the time we got back to Tiruvanmiyur, we had missed our tiffin there too!
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