To my knowledge, two very different people were very much involved in yoga almost all their lives. One is Kalaignar Karunanidi and the other was the Carnatic music and dance critic Mr. Subbudu.
This is the 100th birth centenary of my father Dr. S. Ramanathan, and recently I came to know that Subbudu was also born in the same year as my father — 1917. I had the fortune of meeting him a few times and was always impressed by his sense of humour and alertness.
In the 1970s and 1980s during the December Season, the audience waited not only to listen to concerts, but also to read Subbudu's reviews in the popular Tamil weeklies. As a matter of fact, he could make or break a musician's career; and that was the power and sharpness of his pen.
I still remember the first time I met him. Thanks to my sister Banumathy’s husband Raghuraman, I was able to meet Subbudu at his Delhi house. I was presenting a veena concert at a prestigious venue and wanted to invite him. He was reviewing for the Times of India then. I still remember the aroma of the filter coffee his wife offered and the pleasant chat we had with him that afternoon.
Subbudu attended my concert . At the end of the concert, before the mangalam, I played a Tiruppugazh, ‘Niraimathi mugamenum’ in Hamsanandi. Right after the concert, I was surprised when he mentioned that I did not change the tala string from Pa to Ma (since Hamsanandi is a panchama varjam). I was worried that he would write about it in his review, but he did not. He only mentioned it personally to me so that I would be alert in the future.
Good review
Incidentally, he wrote a beautiful review about both Raghuraman’s mridangam accompaniment and my veena playing. What an encouraging gesture and my respect for him went up several notches.
I was emerging as a Tamil short story writer and ran into Subbudu at the office of a Tamil magazine.
What struck me this time round was his sense of humour. He said that at the beginning of his career as a reviewer, he used to be thrilled with young and beautiful dancers always hanging around him, and he felt like Lord Krishna. Then with a mischievous wink, he added, “But you know what Geetha? All these beautiful apsaras would fall at my feet with these words — ‘Please bless me, Thatha...!’”
Subbudu never minced words when it came to what he thought of the performances of musicians or dancers — they could be famous, or budding artistes. In the process, he might have had disagreements with some musicians, but readers loved his punch lines. And Subbudu never disappointed them. (geethabennett@
gmail.com)
California-based Geetha Bennett, daughter of Dr. S. Ramanathan, is a vainika
