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Musiri Subramania Iyer.

Madras, Mar 28 - Vidwan Musiri Subramania Aiyar and other artistes returned this morning from the Malaya States where they gave performances in aid of the Ramakrishna Mission Students Home, accompanied by Rao Bahadur C. Ramanujachariar. They were given a rousing reception on their arrival at the Harbour.

Behind that brief write-up was an interesting tale. The Home was begun by C. Ramaswami Iyengar (Ramu), a clerk in the Public Works and Labour Secretariat of Madras in 1905, when he came across a group of poor students from Andhra Pradesh who had come to the big city hoping to find some sponsor for furthering their education.

Ramu obtained the blessings of Swami Ramakrishnananda of the Ramakrishna Mutt and on February 17, the Home formally came into existence at Keshavaperumal South Mada Street, Mylapore. Thanks to the efforts of Ramu and other munificent patrons, the Home grew from strength to strength, and by 1917 acquired its own property on Sullivans Gardens Road, where it moved in 1921. Ramu was joined in the work of supporting the Home by C. Ramanujachariar, a cousin who, having joined as a clerk at the Madras Secretariat rose to the post of Under Secretary.

In 1926, Ramu was afflicted with paralysis and it was Ramanujachariar who took on most of the work. Ramu died in 1932 and his cousin became the champion of the Home after that.

Those were the years when Musiri Subramania Iyer was at the peak of his performing career.

A fellow Mylaporean, he knew Ramanujachariar quite well and before long he had allowed himself to be persuaded to undertake a fund-raising tour of the Federated Malay States or Malaya as the place was then called.

It was a fairly courageous decision on the part of Musiri, for, while travelling to Rangoon (via Calcutta) and to Colombo (across the waters) was acceptable; going to Malaya was still taboo among the orthodox community which frowned on people crossing the black waters. Musiri convinced a team of accompanists which comprised Madras Balakrishna Iyer (violin), Thanjavur Vaidyanatha Iyer (mridangam) and Palakkad Sacchidanandam Iyer (morsing) and the party duly set off.

The details of their tour do not appear in the popular press of the day, but Musiri, on his return, penned an article for the Ananda Vikatan Deepavali Malar of 1936 on the subject, laced with his characteristic humour. From that piece we get to know all.

The party arrived in Colombo and gave a performance and the next day embarked on the French ship Aramis for Singapore.

Travelling by ship was the main reason for which some of Musiri’s close relatives dissociated from him on his return, their claim being that he could not have performed his daily rituals on the vessel.

Musiri wryly observed in his article that unlike on land there were no distractions on board a ship and that was possibly the best place to perform one’s rituals and contemplate on God. And, he added, when the ocean was turbulent and the ship was tossed from side to side, one’s thoughts automatically turned to God and therefore it was the most divine spot on earth!

Food was a problem on board the ship for the four vegetarians, but they had their own cook, Subramaniam, who went down to the ship’s kitchen and prepared their mid-day meal much to the amusement of the ship’s crew.

A friendly stewardess who knew only French brought them bread, fruits and milk each evening and as Musiri wrote, it was a sight to see the team communicating with her through signs.

One evening on the journey, the passengers on board the ship persuaded Musiri and Party to give a performance in the ship’s auditorium.

The audience comprising several nationalities clapped and cheered probably out of courtesy, wrote Musiri, but the morsing stole the show and sent them into ecstasy. The cruise included a day’s outing on Nicobar Islands.

Arriving in Singapore, Musiri and his friends went sight-seeing and wandered into the naval base where they were refused permission. But an officer from Madras on discovering that this was Musiri, obtained the necessary permits.

The concert at Singapore’s Town Hall was a big success as were the performances in Ipoh, Penang, Kuala Lumpur and other cities of Malaya. The tour was a happy one, both for the team and the cause it espoused.

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