The spirit of music at Thiruvayaru

It was 5 in the morning. I was walking through the narrow lanes of the
veedhi sloshed with dregs of sleep, thrusting my legs forward amongst
the early risers of this holy town. The cold air was suffused by the
divine chants breezing from the typical antiquated wide mouthed
speakers hung at tall poles throughout the mud lanes of Thiruvayaru.
The mud lanes looked more intense; thanks to the sodium vapour lamps
hanging from the towering iron towers. I had started from Chennai to
Thiruvayaru with my IT pals. This time, the Bahula panchami, the
auspicious star for the Thyagaraja Utsavam befell serendipitously on a
Sunday, making it very convenient for working folks like me. Sankar,
the dulcet voiced classical singer, Sriimathy, the pretty mellifluous
singer and Yashwant, the tall, perky ,moustached violinist were my
comrades in this musical jaunt. Sankar began to set his Canon Digital
Camera on roll and started capturing what all his eyes laid on. Cloth
banners of various organizations like THE HINDU and STATE BANK
OF INDIA hung in the air welcoming us to the 161st Thyagaraja
Aradhana with the immortal words of Lord Thyagaraja “Endharo
Mahanubhavulu Andhariki Vandhanamu”. We trudged through the
narrow roads leading to Ammal Agraharam where we stayed in
Sankar’s relative’s place. The green fields on both the sides of the
narrow roads soothed our eyes which were fed on a staple diet of
flickering monitor screens and never ending lines of incomprehensible
code. We stayed in an orthodox Brahmin family taking care of the Veda
Patashala. After tantalizing our senses with larger than life davaras of
filter kaapi and pongal, we started our journey towards the gargantuan
Brihadeeshwara Temple. As soon as I reached the entrance of the
temple, the incongruity of the texture of the sanctum disturbed my eyes.
It was blatantly evident that the main raja gopuram had been renovated
recently. The dull and morose brown hues defiled the beautiful
imposing structure. As I went inside, I however found that more than
one half of the temple was under renovation.
Movies often have that indescribable power to blur reality with
fantasy. As I walked past the gargantuan Nandi statue, I could see my
favorite thespian of yester years, Shivaji Ganesan (aka RajaRaja
Chozhan )walking around in his inimitable regal demeanor inspecting
the construction work of Nandi. As I walked by the Devi Sannadhi, the
devotional vocal strains coming from the prahaaram beguiled me. The
divine Lalitha sahasranamam was blended with bass guitar chords and
techno frippery. It was as if, the pious lady with big bindi and vase of
jasmine flowers, L.R.Easwari replaced with a singing chick sporting
junk jewellery and a small dash of vibhuti in her forehead. I fell for the
song, the moment I heard it. I never knew slokas could sound so
rocking. Just like any other famous heritage monument, this temple was
full of scores of foreigners with sleek, sexy video cameras, enchanted
by the astounding architecture of the temple. Many NRIs, desirous to
get back to their roots had also thronged the temple. The temple pujari,
enamored by their videshi connections, performed archanai with slokas
like “C2C Project Management Namyaha!!” While we were returning
in our rented car, the driver proudly claimed that his car was a favorite
among doyens of carnatic musicians. He recalled with glee, how Sriram
Parasuram and Anuradha Sriram would move around in his car, singing
carnatic numbers zestfully reveling in the spirit of Carnatic music. We
went to the Kallanai (stone dam) where the good ol’ sacred Kaveri river
flows through. Carnatic music shares a special bonding with Kaveri
rivers. During our journey, we came across several villages which
became inseparable part of musicians’ name. Interestingly most of
those villages came under the Cauvery belt. I was thrilled to see a small
plaque written Umayalpuram as my car zoomed past the titular small
village. As my car vroomed along the narrow muddy lane of the
village, I wondered if I could hear the perfectly shruti aligned singing
mridangam of Shri. Umayalpuram Sivaraman amidst the rustling of
trees and ---. We returned back early to our house, lest we should miss
any part of the action