A tete-a-tete with Revathy Sankkaran who hails her mom and grandmom on the occasion of Women's Day.
Good articulation, mellifluous voice, timely anecdotes, dance gestures and above all an memory are the hallmarks of Revathy Sankkaran. Her abilities are seen and enjoyed to be believed. With exuding warmth and confidence she welcomes you into her well-kept home. She does not believe in having a domestic help and all the chores are divided between her and Mr. Sankkaran. Even before you begin your conversation, you are bowled over by her intelligence and awesome memory power.
Quickly understanding your quizzical expressions, she quips: “It is all stored in this hard disk and the programmes are updated every minute.” How does she do this? She is a voracious reader and a devout learner. She strongly believes in ‘Learn whatever comes your way.' As a result, there is not an art she does not know. Right from drawing kolams to singing jingles, to acting in films and ad films she has been successful in whatever she has chosen to do. Whatever and wherever she is involved, even if more than a dozen are involved, she is easily the show-stealer.
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But how is it possible? “Full credit goes to my grand mom and mom. My capabilities are their abilities,” she emphasises.
“I believe in perfection. My grand mother was a perfectionist and the quality rubbed off on me as I was brought up by her in Chennai till the age of 12.”
It was here that she learnt classical music from Pattamadai Sundaram. Hymns from the Thevaram became child's play due to the tutoring she obtained from Dharmapuram Swaminathan.
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“Every evening I used to memorise, recite and go with my friends to sing the hymns in temples and my dance background helped me portray the meaning to the onlookers with good abhinaya” she says. Revathy lends a helping hand to the needy, irrespective of their caste and creed, again an attitude she inherited from her mother and grandmother. They always motivated her to be a constant learner. “Be a thirsty knowledge seeker, drink as much as you can so that when desire germinates in your mind it will take this water and grow well. So learn as much as you can when you are young for it can never be erased from your mind,” saying so she bursts into a Kandar Alankaram which she had learnt, decades ago.
She strongly feels that there is no need to celebrate Mother's Day. Why should they be glorified only on one day, she asks. She advises women to give their best in all that they do and not to expect a special celebration for that. Elaborating this point she says: As a daughter be grateful to your parents. As a wife do your household chores and be affectionate to your family and learn to balance it well with your career.
Having children is also a question of attitude, she says. Neither are we able to let go of the children in their teens nor are we able to let them go when they grow up. This is the reason for the elderly being shown the door or landing up in old-age homes, she opines.
It is with these people she spends hours, singing old film songs. To them, she brings back their youth through songs of M.K. Thiyagaraja Bhagavathar, P.U. Chinnappa and Bhanumathy. Of course, M.S. is her speciality. “Some of them are so old that they can hardly hear but are immensely happy to observe my lip movement.”
She is blessed by all of them and it matters a lot to her. “Vazhga, Valarga, Uyarga, Uyarthuga” is her motto.
Her message for this Women's Day: Be thirsty for knowledge. Live like the tamarind fruit. Enjoy the youth, attend to the family during your middle age and let go of your desires in your old age.