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Malaccan moment The perfect ‘Discovery’ moment arrived soon after I landed in Melaka. The beautiful little, post-colonial city dotted with Churches, museum, an old city street with temples of all kind and Mosques, is a real delight. Having just few hours in hand to go around and explore the city, I found the cycle rickshaws, with a cover, floral decoration and even a Bhaja (music system) an ideal way to get my orientation. It is a bit steep at MR 40 for an hour – but I was lured in by the offer to play Hindi songs. From ‘kuch kuch hota hai’ to ‘sapney’ I did get a taste of Indian music and the rickshaw puller’s love of Bollywood and his favourite star Shah Rukh Khan. There I go on the streets of Melaka humming ‘vennilave vennilave…’. The Portuguese fort, l’amosa stands in ruins, amidst well manicured lawns and witnessing the retail revolution spring up in front – the local store of global chain Carrefour stands tall in front of the amosa. A few furlongs away from amosa stands...

I had no intention of following up on Gayatri Devi's death, for I had known very little about her apart from the constant reference being made to her as one of the world's most beautiful woman and a maharani. When I saw television channels following up on that for a second day, just commented "see because she was royalty and a beautiful woman that channels are still airing the news of her death". That is when my father brought up the subject of her having been a founder member of Rajaji's Swatantara Party. Exactly at that time NDTV announced that it is going to repeat Shekhar Gupta's, Walk the Talk with Maharani Gayatri Devi. "See, it is Shekhar Gupta's interview and she would definitely talk about Swatantra Party and Rajaji," my father said. "She hated Nehru's democratic socialism, was its critic and supported Rajaji." I found it interesting, for I knew not the keen interest Gayatri Devi had in politics, political thought. So, I sa...

For an uninitiated listener, her music was a simple tutorial. For someone whose knowledge of swaras were limited, her crystal clear rendering of sahityas was an entry point into the world of carnatic music. To begin with, it was not her music that drew me to D.K.Pattammal. The D in her initials was fascinating and brought me to close to her. Damal was her native village and it was the village my maternal grand father hailed. And her face and the underlying innocence and simplicity was just as my maternal grand mother. But once I was drawn into her music, the rest of the identities that drew me to her became irrelevant. Like so many Tamilians, my first introduction to D.K.Pattammal was through her famous songs in the movie 'Naam Iruvar'. “Aaduvome pally paaduvome” and “Vetri yettu thikkum yetta kottu murase” – the relationship with the writer (Bharatiyar) and the singer were made the day I heard them. From that day, somewhere in early seventies to date, I have continued to ...