Time is that unfathomable concept, a force and a mystery, present in movement and in stillness, that rules the mortal world unseen. Like nature, it has its contrasting faces. Among the beautiful ones are the myriad ways of marking time developed by musicians and dancers of every genre. This was the magnetic attraction of time for young Thiruvarur T.S. Shriram, a mridangam artist born, raised and trained in Delhi. In the length of time it takes many to figure out what they want to do with their life, Shriram had excelled at Carnatic percussion, begun a promising career as a stage artist, and also blazed a consistently superlative academic path.
“I noticed that even while talking about something else, his fingers were always moving as if playing the mridangam,” recalls Shriram’s guru, the West Delhi-based Kumbakonam N. Padmanabhan. “I haven’t seen this in many other students. He would have been a fine artist today had he been given the chance.”
But then time showed its other face. In 2017, Shriram, then employed as a software engineer in Bangalore and hardly 25, met with a motorcycle accident. A life full of promise and achievements was cut short. There was no laya, not summation, only loss, but the ultimate keeper of time brooks no appeal.
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“He was an unforgettable student, extremely brilliant. Whatever you taught him, he had the capacity to grasp it immediately and play it,” says Padmanabhan.
This Saturday, Guru Padmanabhan and his disciples along with other musicians will play a tribute concert to Shriram under the auspices of the Bal Shree Thiruvarur T.S. Shriram Memorial Trust set up by his parents, M.V. Thiagarajan and Santhi Thiagarajan.
In the many competitions organised for young students of classical music, the first prize to Shriram was a given. “He never even got a second prize,” says the guru. The other contestants would be awed by his calibre. “As soon as they saw him, they knew the first position would go to Shriram,” recalls Padmanabhan, who has prepared numerous young percussionists in the Capital over the years. Among other achievements, Shriram was the first of Padmanabhan’s disciples to receive the prestigious Bal Shree title instituted by the National Bal Bhawan of the Ministry of Human Resource Development.
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The immense discipline in Shriram’s approach owed a great deal to his parents, points out Padmanabhan. “He began learning from me in 1999 (age seven). His father was present in every class. Within a year, I started including him in talavadya presentations. He was very lively.”
Though excelling academically — “I never paid a paisa for school fees,” says Thiagarajan, “he was always exempted as a brilliant student” — Shriram’s mind was constantly on his art too.
To give him the best exposure, Thiagarajan, himself trained in Carnatic percussion and a member of Gayathri Fine Arts , made it a practice to organise regular concerts in the Capital so his son and other upcoming youngsters in the city had ample stage opportunities. Guruvayoor Manikandan’s Rasikapriya and Padmanabhan’s Talabhakti would collaborate, bringing together students of vocal, violin and mridangam for concerts.
Among the professional artists Shriram has accompanied on the mridangam are Chennai-based Carnatic vocalists Bharat K. Sundar, Erode S. Anantharaman, Brinda Manickavasagam and D.L. Prathochan, and violinists Sudha Iyer, Vittal Rangan and Kaushik Sivaramakrishnan.
Padmanabhan, who guides his students in how to interact with senior artists, notes that Shriram was always quick to call up the musicians with whom he was due to play to find out what they planned to present at the concert. Then he would look up the compositions on the internet and make sure he familiarised himself with every kriti to be well prepared for the concert.
Violinist Delhi R. Sridhar, who too benefited from the willingness of Delhi gurus to pool their resources and provide their students with opportunities for growth, says, “ Shriram was undoubtedly a prodigy. He was a confident, fearless, professional and dependable mridangam artist by his 5th grade and I was fortunate to witness his playing in a few concerts where we performed together. What is more commendable is that he achieved excellence being in Delhi and not in South [India].”
Shriram’s parents ensured their son was well versed in the melody aspects too, and enrolled him as a vocal student under Padma Nadesan. Additionally, he had opportunities to perform in Chennai during the Season concerts.
Guide and friend he was to his son, but no matter what conventional wisdom says about the parent being the first guru, Thiagarajan says, “Shriram is also one of my gurus. I learnt a lot from him. Whenever I had a doubt I would discuss with him, how to play the tala, the korvai, the mora….”
For the memorial event, Guru Padmanabhan will present a few percussion presentations, starting with his seven-to-eight-year-old students and culminating with the seniors. “Shriram loved talavadya kacheris,” says Padmanabhan fondly. “In all our presentations he would be the lead drummer. That’s why I planned this.”
(In remembrance of Thiruvarur T.S. Shriram, Talavadya ensemble featuring disciples of Kumabakonam Padmanabhan followed by violin concert by Delhi R. Sridhar September 21, Aishwarya Mahaganapathy Temple, Keshavpuram, Delhi, 7 p.m.)