In The Capital - Memories from 2010

Late Ghatam Vidwan, Sri. T.V.Vasan passed away in New Delhi on the 29th of September. He had accompanied me on the mridangam and ghatam for several concerts and I have known him since my Baby Gayathri days. An extremely knowledgeable and versatile musician, he was also a great human being. Destiny brought us together for an official assignment during the last two days of his life. The conference that lasted for nearly 8 hours on both days had many unforgettable moments. Excerpts from our conversation:-

SEPTEMBER 27TH, 2010. 9.50A.M Walking out of the lift I stared at the long, dark corridor which reminded me of a scene in a Japanese horror movie. Not a soul! Was it the wrong floor? Puzzled, I walked slowly past a row of rooms. I was unable to find the name board of the official I was scheduled to meet. Deciding to call the officer I reached for the mobile in my handbag.
"Gaay! Gaay! We are here!!" There was only one musician who called me by that name. Instantly recognising the voice I turned to look behind.TV Vasan was waving at me from the end of the corridor, a broad grin on his face. Feeling relieved I quickened my pace towards him, my footsteps echoing in the hallway.
"Hello! How come I didn't see this room?!"
Preceding me into the room, T.V.Vasan said, "We are the first ones to arrive here!"
Nadaswaram vidwan, Seshampatti Sivalingam was seated in a sofa. Raising his hand in greeting Sivalingam asked me in chaste tamil, "Sowkyama Amma?"
Amidst exchange of pleasantries I learnt that T.V.Vasan and Seshampatti Sivalingam were sharing a hotel room in Karol Bagh.
"If not for Vasan Sir I would never have agreed to come to Delhi. I cannot manage here alone without any knowledge of English or Hindi." Sivalingam said with an innocent smile.
"You know Gaay, I told his wife that I would be his bodyguard in Delhi. I promised to take care  of her husband's safety."  T.V.Vasan laughed, shaking Seshampatti Sivalingam's hand playfully. Seshampatti Sivalingam nodded his head in innocent fervour.
I watched their exchange in amusement, marvelling at the naivette of the veteran Nadaswaram Vidwan.
Turning towards T.V.Vasan I asked,"Oh, so your wife is staying with her brother and family?"
"Ya!"
Wondering about the others who were going to join us I asked,"Who are the others?" The other artistes arrived one by one and we were all shown our assigned seats.T.V.Vasan bent to touch Sri.G.S.Mani's feet,"Namsthey Guruji!"
T.V.Vasan was shown the seat right opposite to me and typically he became the life of the meeting. His anecdotes about musicians, his experiences in the music field and his mimicry of artistes had us in splits.
"Gaay, have you heard Pantula Rama? Her music is superb."
I looked up from my file,"Yeah, I saw her perform on SVBC. Real neat!"
"You know how the announcer in AIR struggled to pronounce her surname?! You Andhra artistes sure have surnames like tongue-twisters. Thank God you call yourself E.Gayathri. What does "E" stand for anyway?" T.V.Vasan asked with a wide grin.
"Echampati".
"Better don't use it! They will call you E Chapathi Gayathri" which drew laughter from everybody including myself.
"Sir, madam, can we see this?" The official smilingly drew our attention to the job on hand.
TV Vasan remarked, "R.K.Srikanthan Mama is out of the world! What a voice he has at his age!" 
I countered, " Kalpagam Swaminathan is like him in veena."
Laying down the pen on his papers, T.V.Vasan stood up and joined his hands, prostrating in respectful acceptance of Smt.Kalpagam Swaminathan's vidwat.
Picking at his lunch, T.V.Vasan asked in general,"Did you know, they spotted a snake at the CWG village?"
"Ya, I read about it in today's paper." I replied.
Evening by 5 p.m. I waved bye to T.V.Vasan, he replied in turn,"Come a little late by 10.15, why hang around here? I will come only by 10.30!"
SEPTEMBER 28TH, 2010. 10.15 A.M
The next day as I walked in by 10.15 in the morning I was surprised to find T.V.Vasan and Seshampatti Sivalingam already seated in the room. Raising my eyebrows I asked, "I thought you said you would be coming only by 10.30!"
Laughing sheepishly T.V.Vasan replied, "No Gaay, I found transportation immediately after breakfast. Instead of waiting in the hotel we both decided to come here and do the waiting."
Sivalingam nodded in agreement.
The work proceeded smoothly, punctuated by T.V.Vasan's jokes and anecdotes, with G.S.Mani contributing his share to the conversation.
Lunch was ordered from Saravana Bhavan and not from the canteen like the previous day.
"What a relief! I am starved." I opened my parcel. Watching T.V.Vasan pick at his food, I told him assuringly, "It is from Saravana Bhavan. You will like it."
"I know, but don't know why, no appetite."
After lunch I proudly showed my grand daughter Shreeya's photo which was on my mobile to T.V.Vasan.
He looked at the photo with a smile, "Looks a lot like your daughter Deepthi."
"Deeptha", I corrected.
"Ya, I remember Deeptha used to come to office with your mother. Your grand daughter looks cute. What's her name?"
"What?! Gayathri has a grand daughter?!" G.S.Mani asked in surprise. I passed my mobile to Sri.Mani with a smile.
Post lunch dragged on. Narendran's heart surgery was brought up in discussion.
"I saw him just 4 days back, before leaving for Delhi. He is recovering well." T.V.Vasan said.
"Gaay, I heard your mother's student! What an expert your mother is in training students to concert level!"
I raised an eyebrow, "Even after she has switched loyalties and changed her style?!"
T.V.Vasan looked at me sharply, "However hard she may try, she cannot conceal all the benefits she has derived from your mother over the years!"
I smiled resignedly. G.S.Mani was telling the group about the power of affirmations.
"I am in my perfect health! I am in my perfect weight! Keep repeating this to yourselves and just watch how your health improves. You will not even put on weight."
"Oh wow!" I said.
The conversation shifted to the untimely demise of Trivandrum Sri.Venkataraman, the great veena vidwan.
"I always used to tell him to get himself a Santro. But he was loyal to his fiat. He used to chide me,'Arre what do you know about my car, just get inside and let me drive you around. You will then know about the greatness of a fiat car!' " T.V.Vasan imitated late Sri.Venkataraman and went on to describe the fatal car accident of Sri.Venkataraman.
"Ya,his accident was horrible! What a loss for the field of veena!"I said and T.V.Vasan nodded fiercely.
Glancing at my watch I saw that it was nearing 5.pm. I was impatient for a long walk to exercise my limbs and to breathe in fresh air.
Shivering, I asked, "Isn't it freezing in here?"
"Wait, let me adjust the temperature." T.V.Vasan went to the window a/c, shutting off the cooler and allowing the fan to run. Looking at me he asked,"Is it better?"
"Ya, now it is better, thank you" I said gratefully.
We signed the register and got up to leave. I told the official, "Please drop me at Khan Market. I want to walk."
The officer looked at me doubtfully,"Do you know your way from there to India International Centre (the place of my stay)?"
"Ya, I know." I assured him.
T.V.Vasan got up and stretched, looking at Seshampatti Sivalingam he asked, " what shall we do today? Even I feel like walking."
"You want to join me for the walk?" I asked T.V.Vasan.
"No, I have a slight catch here (indicating the right side of his lower back), I can't walk too much."
"Oh is it?" my brows knit in concern, I added "Please take it easy. I will see you tomorrow, bye!" I walked along with the official, waving at T.V.Vasan.
I opened the door,"Gaay" T.V.Vasan's voice stopped me in my tracks.
I turned behind to look at him.
"Want me to pick you up tomorrow?"
I thought about it before asking tentatively,"Won't it be difficult for you? You are in Karol Bagh and I am this side in Lodhi Garden."
T.V. Vasan looked thoughful. I assured him,"Please don't worry, I will hail a cab. There are plenty near IIC."
"Ok." As an after thought he added, "Call me if you change your mind."
"Sure". Not knowing that it would be my last glimpse of him, I smiled at him, "Bye!"

SEPTEMBER 29TH, 2010. 10.10 A.M Almost expecting to find T.V.Vasan and Seshampatti Sivalingam, I was surprised to find only two vidushis seated in the room.
"How come T. V.Vasan has still not arrived?!" I asked them.
They nodded in agreement, "Ya even we were saying the same..."
""Did you hear what happened??!!" An anxious voice cut into our conversation. We turned to look at the official who rushed into the room. His face was ashen and his eyes bore the expression of shock and sadness.
We asked in unison, "Yenna, what happened?!!"
"Vasan has had a massive heart attack and is admitted to a hospital!"
"Where?"..... "When?"..... "How?"...... our voices collided with each other in our anxiety.
"This morning, even I haven't got the exact picture. Seshampatti is with him in the hospital. Doctors are giving only 1% guarantee, God.......... I can't believe this!" The official sank into his seat, a look of acute pain across his face.
Trying to digest the news I spoke automatically,"I want to go to the hospital, where is it?"
The officer stopped me,"No point, he is in ICU and we will not be allowed to go inside to see him."
G.S.Mani spoke assuringly, "He will be fine and they will bring him to the ward. Let us all go to see him as soon as he is brought to the ward."
A second official voiced his support,"Nowadays everything is diagnosed as heart attack. A heartburn is interpreted as a heart attack for commercial gains. Vasan was so lively and vibrant! Nothing will happen to him. He will be fine, it must be a case of acidity."
A pall of gloom descended on us and we sat in silence, deeply absorbed in our thoughts about T.V.Vasan and the two days we had spent in his company. The silence was punctuated by phone calls from the hospital and enquiries from well wishers.
Time seemed to drag on indefinitely and at a point I saw the official seated next to me rushing out of the room, the mobile ringing in his hand.
He returned and collapsed in his seat next to me. His attitude and body language confirmed our worst fears.
Holding his head in his hands he whispered,"Vasan passed away."
All of us stared at each other in utter disbelief. Turning my head, I looked at the seat right opposite to me. It seemed to echo with T.V.Vasan's laughter and chatter, his smiling countenance flashing before my eyes.
T.V.Vasan's offer to pick me up on his way to office still ringing in my ears, I prepared to go to the hospital with the group of officials and artistes. The bumpy ride to the hospital in an old car with all the men squeezed together in the back seat seemed to stretch endlessly. I glimpsed at my raw silk saree, which looked glaringly incongruous in the given situation."Ek Do Teen............" the song playing on the sound system blared loudly, scraping on my nerves. Something snapped within me and I turned sharply towards the car driver. Sensitive to my gaze he explained, "Wo gaana bahar se hain, gaadi ke andar nahin."
Walking like a zombie along with the group through the hateful hospital corridors, I reached the ICU where T.V.Vasan had been struggling for his life for the past few hours. I could not believe the sight of his lifeless face, slightly darkened by the pain and struggle of the past few hours.
Aware of his soul hovering near the body, I tried to communicate, "You are with God."
I found his dazed wife, leaning against a wall in the far end of the hospital corridor.Tongue-tied and speechless with grief I managed to press her hand silently as she gazed at me, her eyes vacant.
Back in the office, at 5 pm after signing the register I eagerly turned the pages backwards.
The official tried to take the book from my hands, explaining "No need Madam, those are yesterday's papers."
Taking the register back from his hand I said, "I know that, I just wanted to look at T.V.Vasan's signature."
The official nodded sadly as he handed me back the register.
(Sri.T.V.Vasan told us conversationally that he would wake up at 2.30 in the morning in his hotel room to do abhishekam for "saligramam" , sandhyaavandanam and other pooja routine. He had obviously completed his pooja routine even on the day of his demise. Soul departing from the northern region of human body attains "Urdhva Lokas" [residence of the Devas] according to our Upanishads.Sri T.V.Vasan passing away in the northern region of our country and so close to the "Deva Bhoomis" [Haridwar, Rishikesh etc.,]is a sure indicator of his soul's after-life journey.)