Thyagaraja Utsavam in Chicago Area : A Community Effort
I would never have believed that one day I would get to speak to a living legend like Dr.M.Balamuralikrishna. We heard him sing, and he graciously agreed to sign autographs and allowed his ardent fans to take photographs. He came, he sang and conquered our hearts for-ever. My husband and I, besides some seven hundred fans, owe it all to Prof.T.E.S.Raghavan , Bhargavi and Usha and the team of dedicated volunteers.
TheTeam
Instead of their usual Van Heusens, DKNYs and Kaspers, they donned their Kanjeevarams, handlooms and salwars. They left their Palms and Blackberries and weilded brochures, tickets, programs, signs, and serving spoons (in the dining area) instead. They were the Volunteers.
Leading these volunteers was Prof.T.E.S.Raghavan. He teaches Statistics at University of Illinois, Chicago. Prof.Raghavan is very committed to keeping the tradition of Carnatic Music alive.
Thanks to his not being averse to setting a trend, the year 2006 has been an year of many firsts.
This is the first year when Thyagaraja’s “Naukacharithra”, a less known work, was staged.
This is the first time that CTU has been able to get Dr.M.Balamuralikrishna to sing.
Dr.Saraswathi’s dance troupe performed in this area for the first time .
This is the first year since 1977 for “naadhaswaram*” to be included in the program. According to the Pancharathnam co-ordinator, the hall was packed.
Thank you Professor and team!
Thank you Professor and team, you made our wildest dreams come true!
More than a hundred volunteers were mobilized by him and it culminated in a great organization of a three-day Thyagaraja Utsavam (festival). Further, he has been doing this, with the help of his volunteers, for more than twenty-seven years. Many volunteers have been working with him for more than ten years.
Prof.Raghavan teaches Statistics at the University of Illinois, Chicago. When he is not busy teaching Statistics, he is keeping a great tradition alive.
The volunteers, grouped under the term, seem to fade away.
Its time we put the focus on them.
This article intends to do so by profiling some of them. The scope of this article is such that not everyone can be interviewed. Some of them will be covered in the near future.
Dr.T.E.S. Raghavan:
The most hard-working person in this group, he is the reason for CTU’s flourishing today. He started this tradition in 1977.
His message to potential volunteers: “Some of us have been doing this for a very long time . We need the younger generation to show more interest and take over from us.”
(I will try to write a separate article focussing on his activities, since this article cannot do justice to all that he has done.)
Dr.Kumaran:
He, along with his family, has been involved with the CTU for the past ten years. He gets to host the stalwart of Carnatic Music, Dr.M.Balamuralikrishna. He is, of course, “happy to do it.” “He is so child-like”, says Dr.Kumaran of his guest. The artistes are very unassuming according to him. Asked if he would do this again , he says he absolutely would. His wife was in charge of the coffees and teas. The lunches, the breakfasts and the dinners. A student of Dr.S.Saraswathi, she was present for Dr.M.Balamuralikrishna’s birthday celebrations in India last year.
Besides hosting the artistes, Dr.Kumaran is responsible for CTU’s official website.
His message to people who want to volunteer: CTU is in need of self-motivated, driven people, who would volunteer for the love of Carnatic music.
Dr.Kumaran holds a doctoral degree in computational science from the University of Iowa.
Ms.Deepa Nadhan
She has worked as a database administrator. During the festival, she was one of the main co-ordinators and volunteers for the meals. Donning an apron, she flitted in and out of the dining room, refilling trays with hot food to be served to the attendees. When she was requested to say a few lines about her role, she credited the dedicated team that she was working with her.” It seems that you are in-charge of everything”
” Every one of the volunteers here has contributed so much”, she said amidst smiles. She conveys that she does not want to be known as the team leader. Others on the team, besides Dr.Raghavan, inform me that Ms.Nadhan plans the menus, mobilizes culinary talent and jumps in whenever any labor is needed.
For example, there was a last-minute increase in the number of attendees: Ms.Nadhan along with the other volunteers shopped and made large batches of food. If that is not a team-player, who is. The pity was that due to the last minute changes, she and her team were only able to catch a few lines from the legend,
Dr.M. Balamuralikrishna. Soon,they were back in the kitchen preparing and serving food.
Mr.Nadhan
A software engineer by profession, Mr.Nadhan took on the onerous task of teaching the”Vishnu Sahasranaama sthothram” to sixty participants. On the days of the festival, he probably sat down for a few minutes during lunch and dinner. Rest of the time, he was directing seating arrangement, handling audio-visual equipment and co-ordinating volunteers.
According to Dr.Raghavan, Mr.Nadhan is the senior most volunteer.
He is one of the key persons for all the planning details, for stage management of complex programs like the Pancharatnas, Utsava Sampradaya Kritis, orchestral presentations, and in-fact any thing to do with rhythm. Of course he is one of the main directors of the organization, taking substantial responsibility. There is no Mr.Nadhan without his wife Deepa, who is in charge of the arrangements for the first day’s food, culinary talent and the co-ordination of food arrangements.
Mr.Muralee
He is responsible for the endless supply of the aromatic coffee served to more than seven hundred guests. Served piping hot! “He is the best.” say all the volunteers in the dining area. Deepa Nadhan introduces him as one of the most important contributors in the dining area. Given their self-effacing manner and constant praise of their fellow volunteers, it became hard to understand every one’s role. But its true that Muralee never left the kitchen area. He snatched some twenty minutes during the concert to listen to Dr.M.Balamuralikrishna.
Ms.Shubha Balu:
She is an accountant and happens to work full time.
According to Dr.Raghavan and fellow volunteers like Vani Vedam, Vasanthi Iyer and Deepa Nadhan, she has been doing this for the past ten years. She is here for the long-haul. Asked if her family is involved as well, she says that her kids do take an interest. She says that the volunteers put in hours of work a week before the concert starts for the menu.
In fact, as Dr.Kumaran has stated, Deepa, Shubha and their friends from the CTU get together every fortnight and discuss the outlines. The minutia are not left out either. Amidst all this, the soft-spoken Ms.Balu plows through with patience.
She has been volunteering for the past ten years. She is here for the long-haul.
“So what is it that you actually do?”
“Its not that one particular job is assigned after a certain point (While the jobs are allocated to the volunteers, one the day of the concert, everyone pitches in at the busy dining area. Please see the table for more information.) We serve, heat, prepare food, get the supplies…..” , she trails off. “We start working days before the event.” During the concert, she is downstairs in the basement with her friends getting everything ready. I literally have to drag her out for a picture with “the gang”. She has gotten to the venue early in the morning and one can see that like rest of the gang, she could use a little rest. She gives us a pretty smile and recedes into the back of the kitchen. When I talk to her,she reels off names of other volunteers who have done a lot. Sita Kumar is one of them. ” Its like a wedding, you know,” she says of the atmosphere during the concert. She is right.
She is here for the long-haul.
The pattern is obvious: the volunteers like Ms.Balu seek out things to be done and pitch in. No one has to tell them. A trend set by Dr.Raghavan is followed by these volunteers working round the year to keep a wonderful tradition alive. The best part is that they seem to enjoy themselves so much while putting in such long hours. The sad part is that the attendees assume that their jobs ends with the concerts. It does not. They teach, meet,plan and organize in-spite of the snowy winters, the hot summers and the beautiful spring. Then there are some donors who gift large sums to keep this tradition alive. The next time you attend a concert, hopefully you will remember the volunteers : the team working behind the scenes.
Vani Vedam and Tara deserve special mention: they man the “ticket counter”, from dawn till dusk. They provide tickets, information and directions to the attendees. Hopefully, they will be covered in the near future, in a separate article.
Vasanthi J. Iyer
An IBM AS400 programmer, she has been programming for the past ten years.Come weekends, she is the Pancharathnam co-ordinator. She teaches Carnatic Music at her residence and of course, co-ordinates the practice sessions.
She initiated attendance forms for the children who attend the practice sessions.
Asked why, she says that one has to be fair to the children who never miss a session. These dedicated children are subsequently seated in the first row during the performance at the Utsavam. Since they have been so disciplined, they do know all the krithis. You won’t see any of the students in the front row missing a note, she ensures that much.
Fair enough!
The programmer in her cannot resist creating an Excel Spreadsheet listing the students, the teachers, the krithis, ragaa, tala. The print-outs to our left when we face the stage ,( in the auditorium) give us all the information at a glance.
“How do you find the time? “, I ask her. She laughs and says that one has to make time. She puts in an average of ten hours per month. She has been doing this for the past two years. Her dedication shows when the students receive an ovation.
“How do the adults and the children do this? They must be busy with their schools, video games, football .-practice..” “Soccer Practice”, she corrects me quietly.
We move on to discuss the concert itself and she says that she finished with the chores in the dining area to be able to enjoy the performance. She usually notes down all the krithis and details, but this time, she is engrossed and forgets to do so. Who would not forget? Its Dr.M.Balamuralikrishna after all. “Did you take his autograph?” I ask. “My husband did !”, she says happily.
She informs me her husband is responsible for the transportation. (Please see table)
I asked her how she felt about Dr.M.Balamuralikrishna. She said that she was a great fan. ” I wanted to show the children what right way of singing was. I hoped that Dr.M.Balamuralikrishna would accept our invitation to sing. ” So you wanted to show the children the gold standard ?” Yes!” she said, agreeing.
Incidentally,her entire family is involved in keeping up the tradition of Carnatic music. She has two sons who have learnt Carnatic music. Her older son plays the violin. He is now away at college, studying Mech.Engg. We both agreed that there will not be another singer like him. We both have things to take care of. Hence, a very interesting conversation comes to an end.
If you would like to support CTU or attend their events, please visit the following:
http://www.tyagaraja-chicago.org/.
Without the community’s support, very little can be achieved. Please volunteer in whatever way you can.
If you are interested in inviting artistes and hosting a Carnatic Music Event, please contact Mrs Bhargavi Sundarrajan and her sister Usha Ranganathan. CTU would be able to provide their contact info.
Where did this event take place?
Hindu Temple
Lemont road, Ardmore-60439
*naadhaswaram : a musical instrument native to South India. It is a wind instrument and is usually played during festive occasions and celebrations. Its not unusual to find it being played in temples.
A list of some of the main volunteers, provided by Dr.Raghavan. Name Contribution Ms.Asha Hariprasad,Ms.Deepa Kumar Culinary gifts, and children’s items Mr.Hariprasad Accounts, Ticket management Mr.Iyer, Jagannathan Transportation, large scale movement of Utsavam related items Mr.Iyer, Kannan Photographer Mr.Iyer, Venkatachalam Accounts in charge- future treasurer Ms.Iyer,Vasanthi Pancharatnam Coordination, scheduling Dr.Kumaran Web master, Grant proposal in charge, host artistes Dr.Madhavan Brochure, flier design for the Utsavam, host artists, pick up artists Ms.Mala Krishnan Email coordinator for Utsava Sampradaya kriti scheduling. Mr.Murali Coffee and food sales management Mr.Nagarajan,Jagat Helping in printing and related matters. Ms.Nagarajan, Geeta Helping in printing and related matters. Mr.Narasimhan, Sreedhar Audio, video management Mr.Pariti, Ravi Utsava Sampradaya kriti coordination Dr.Raghavan, K CD sales. Mr.Rajan Advertisement coordinator, picnic arrangements Mr.Ramamurthy CD sales Mr.Sistla Advt search, hosting, hall management, CTU publications Dr.Srinivasan, KG CD sales Ms.Tara Raghavan and Mr.Manu Printing, Scheduling help to Dr.Raghavan , designing help to Madhavan, Nadhan, Bob Rajan related to their main tasks.
