The gorgeous ‘MS blue’ silk saris, synonymous with legendary Carnatic vocalist and Bharat Ratna M. S. Subbulakshmi was not ‘peacock neck’ blue as many believe but ‘middle sea’ blue, according to noted Carnatic singer T. N. Seshagopalan.
Addressing the centenary celebrations of M. S. Subbulakshmi, organised by the Karakidui Kamban Kazhagam here, he said Muthu Chettiar, a weaver in Madurai, the birth place of Madurai Shanmugavadivu Subbulakshmi, had specially made a sari in ‘middle sea’ blue colour for the singer.
It became ‘MS blue’, synonymous with the singer, popularly known as MS after she started wearing the blue colour saris in her concerts, he said.
Pala Palaniappan, secretary of Kamban Kazhagam gave another insight as how Sadasivam, husband of MS, learnt Kamba Ramayanam and became fond of the Tamil epic.
A freedom fighter, he was lodged in Alipore jail in West Bengal along with ‘Kamban Adipodi’ Sa Ganesan, when he fell in love with ‘Ramayanam’ written by Kamban, the medieval Tamil poet.
When Ganesan took Kamba Ramayanam classes for the jail inmates, Sadasivam could be seen in the front row, he said.
