"atma shakti onga vendum ulagile"
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 ...