My mother Savithri Sabanayagam belonged
to an era when girls had to live by the rules and norms dictated by society
– she obeyed her parents implicitly – got married and the story of her
husband and children became her life. She did not deem it a great
sacrifice but derived great pleasure and pride in losing her identity and
living her life through them.
Born into an aristocratic family
– the eldest granddaughter of the Zaminder of Chunampet and the eldest
daughter of SS Rajan, landlord of Madurai - she was brought up loved and
protected. She was well educated and completed her graduate studies
from Presidency College. She was married to my father Mr. P Sabanayagam
IAS who rose to high levels of power and eminence in his civil service
career. This opened a whole new world to my mother. From a
much cocooned atmosphere she was thrown open to the outside world and her
adventure to all the good things in life began.
She made the best use of this exposure.
She became a very confident, articulate and a people's person and made
her presence and impact be felt wherever she went. She developed
an exquisite taste for sarees, jewellery, painting, and artifacts and her
greatest pleasure was shopping for her loved ones.
Read the article in the site
(Lalitha Venkat speaks to Professor Ramanujam at Thirukurungudi)Professor Ramanujam is a well-known Tamil theater director, a writer, a translator and a keen revivalist. He has worked on reinterpreting classics from Greek and Latin plays and rewriting many famous Greek tragedies for Tamil theater audiences. He has been involved as professor at Thanjavur University and has also been a director of several Tamil plays.He has been associated with Na Muthuswamy of Koothu-P-Pattarai for over 20 years and travels extensively within Tamilnadu as consultant and as a lecturer about theater.For the last 5 years, Prof. Ramanujam has been involved in the revival and reconstruction of the 13th century theatre ritual of Kaisika Natakam in the temple of Thirukurungudi in Tirunelveli district in Tamilnadu. This is a project supported by Arangham Trust and it has involved his working with artistes, musicians and scholars, writers and members of the traditional arts community associated with temples. The first revival performance after a gap of 50 years was staged in 1998 on the day of Kaisika Ekadasi and since then it has become an annual all night drama ritual in the temple town of Thirukurungudi.
Born on June 16, 1934, with a career span of more than five decades on the stage and three on the silver screen, Kamala, the prime disciple of Natyacharya Vazhuvoor Ramiah Pillai, is acknowledged as the foremost exponent of the 'Vazhuvoor Bani', a style characterised by grace, finesse and aesthetic appeal.When did you start your dance career?I started learning kathak from Lachu Maharaj, Prof. More and Sunderprasad when I was 3 and half years old. My first performance was in 1939 in Mumbai at Astik Samaj when I was 5 years old. I remember it was on Sriramanavami Day. I also learnt Hindustani music from Shankar Rao Vyas.
