The condolence meeting at Ragasudha Hall saw senior musicians, colleagues, his disciples and rasikas sharing their grief in voices overcome with emotion at the sudden passing away of T.V. Vasan. Two words – music and service -- guided Vasan's life.
P.S. Narayanaswami and Chinglepet Ranganathan said Vasan put all else behind when it came to serving people. He was adept at playing the mridangam and the tavil; and he was a singer too. Sirkazhi Jayaraman spoke of his appropriate and elegant strokes on the ghatam.
Guruvayur Durai said Vasan was one who knew the exact areas in which the ghatam had to be tapped -- to obtain the ideal nadam. For V.V. Subramaniam, the parting was unbearable and he could only recall Kannadasan's mystic words, “Will death never meet its end?”
Tape-editing skills
Cleveland Sundaram remembered the post-cutcheri discussions he had had with Vasan about AIR's broadcasts. K.V. Prasad and V.V. Ravi, who had watched him at work at AIR, touched upon his extraordinary tape-editing skills. Nadopasana Srinivasan said Vasan treated sabhas, and vidwans big and small on a par. He respected all. A. S. Murali, his disciple on the ghatam, said his Guru had directed him to pursue vocal music under PSN.
A.S. Shankar, his other disciple, spoke of Vasan's teaching style that could make things clear even to the layman. Both of them talked of how well Vasan had mastered the art of adapting the strokes of the mridangam to make it suitable to ghatam playing.
T.V. Gopalakrishnan, his brother, said, “Vasan's choice of the ghatam was made intentionally to humble his own role in the field of Carnatic music. He never wanted to overshoot anyone. His helping tendency is incomparable.” He profusely thanked those who had arranged the meeting and those who had assembled to pay their homage. A few video clips showing Vasan's specific capabilities on various laya vadhyams were screened towards the end.
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