1985, US TOUR-
I asked him anxiously, "What happened? Why so much delay?!"
He replied tiredly, "As you know this concert was a last minute inclusion and all flights are full, being weekend. At least I managed to get a ticket by a late morning flight. Pittsburg to L.A is a long flight too."
I nodded sympathetically. We rushed to the venue and finished our concert.
Post concert buffet was a nice spread of home cooked South Indian vegetarian food. Caught up with tuning my Veena and preparing for the concert I could not eat anything after an early brunch. My stomach growled midway of the lengthy 3-hours concert. I was ravenous and glanced eagerly at the tempting spread.
The organisers led Narendran and me to the buffet table. I helped myself generously and was about to taste my first mouthful of aromatic avial, my favourite dish.
"At which age did you start learning Veena?" A lady standing next to me asked me eagerly, her eyes shining with adoration.
Trying to swallow quickly I answered, "At 5 or 6. I don't remember."
I eagerly lifted the second spoonful.
"Who are your Gurus?"
I answered patiently, trying to ignore my protesting stomach, "My parents."
Her eyes widened in delight, "How nice!!"
"Gayathri!! Can you remember me? Tell me who I am?"
A voice asked from behind me.
Placing the spoon on the plate I turned around to see an old man. He looked familiar and I looked at him puzzled.
"What was the song you played after Kalyani?" Plate in hand one lady from the other side was asking me ardently.
Next to her was another lady who held my right hand tightly, "Do you remember Uma, your mother's student? I am her Aunt. I live here in L.A." She said, beaming.
I spotted another group of people approaching me, plates in their hands. Gazing longingly at my plate I heaved a sigh of despair.
Narendran was next to me, "I want you to meet somebody."
He led me to a far corner which had 2 chairs and we sat down with our plates.
I asked curiously, "Who did you want me to meet?"
"Nobody! I lied just to make you escape from that group, so that you could have your dinner in peace. Even I am too tired and hungry."
I laughed in relief. "Thanks so much! Really, I'll tell you, I was about to faint with hunger. Last thing I needed was to be bombarded by questions. My goodness!!" I rolled my eyes.
We ate in silence. We started our conversation after the initial hunger pangs started to subside.
"Narendran, I feel very stagnated. Feeling stuck in my mind musically. You know I was away from music for nearly 5 years. I went sailing with my husband for 2 years and after that my daughters were born. I became too busy with my personal life. I somehow feel my link has been cut off from music. I am feeling inadequate, I am unable to feel fully satisfied with what I am playing."
Narendran listened attentively. He ate a few spoonfuls in silence.
Lifting his head he said, "I think you must go to TMT."
My brows knit in puzzlement. "TMT?"
"T.M.Thyagarajan." He added, "I feel TMT is the only musician who can tap your creativity and release you from the stagnation."
My eyes grew big, "You mean learn from him?!"
"Ya, that's what I meant." He nodded .
My mind worked on the idea, and it began to grow in my thoughts. Even before the end of my concert tour I found myself impatient to reach India to meet the great legend-TMT.
