Chicago Tyagaraja Utsavam fondly remembers with great respect the contributions of dedicated community volunteers.

September 2024

Mrs. Lalitha Rao

By today Mrs Lalitha Rao’s Subhasweekaram should have been completed with all dignity at Mrs. Lalitha Rao’s son Tesh’s place in North Carolina. It was a great shock when we heard from Chellam and Hari that she had to bear a lot of body pain till she passed away at the hospital on September 14 , 2024 at 11:15am.Often many institutions and cultural organizations have a start only due to a small set of families dedicated to the main cause. In the case of Chicago Tyagaraja Utsavam, it all began with the help of Dr S.T. Rao and Mrs. Lalitha Rao of Madison, Wisconsin. The simplest requirement from day 1 of the CTU was that people who attend the function should be happy not just with music, but also with good food as part of such a start. Nowadays we can call people for Navaratri Golu, Marriage reception, and whatnot, without any one of the organizers knowing any Indian cooking. There are enough caterers around and Indian restaurants and temples to supply lunch or snack or dinner items without the host doing any cooking . The kitchen teams’ main task for many festivals these days is to decide an appropriate menu which is a mixture of South Indian, North Indian and even Italian snacks , and spend hours on efficient distribution of these items to different caterers.

That was not the case in 1977 when CTU started at Madison, Wisconsin. Mrs Lalitha Rao was willing to invite 50 people, cook a succulent lunch, snacks and provide coffee. Dr S.T. Rao was willing to bear the whole food cost. Hailing from the Marathi Brahmin family of the Tanjore district, their pride was to sustain Carnatic music and especially mimic Thiruvayyar Tyagaraja Aradhana in some form.

I am trying to recall some of the the first attendees:
S.T. Rao, Lalitha Rao, (kids Asha, Tesh)
T.E.S. Raghavan , Usha Raghavan ( kid Deepa 6 years old)
Ravindra Bapat ( My Graduate student )
West Bend Subramanyam, Mrs Prabha Subramanyam ( kids Vegahahini, Sriram)
T Parthasarathy, Ranjani ( kid Srini 8 year old)
Krishnamachari, Kalyani ( kid Bhooma)
Dr K.S. Rajan , Chakku ( kids Malini, Neena)
Dr Seshadri , Mrs Saroja Seshadri (kids Vyju and Sumi )
Prasanna Rao, Manjula Rao
Dr Raja and Vasantha Raja
Dr B.N. Sridharan and Lakshmi Sridharan ( kid: Anjali)
Swamy
S.A. Balakrishnan and Chellam Balakrishnan (kids Sudha, Vidya)
Dr Rangaraj and Sridevi Rangaraj
Mark Bala and Usha
Narasinga Rao , Mrs Narasinga Rao (?)
Yedavallii Subramanyam
Rajeev ( violinist)
Some folks who were graduate students from Dr Rao’s department
Dr Chaks and Vatsala

The ace menu items were Banana chips, Cabbage Pakoda, Bell pepper sambar, Porichakoottu, rasam, payasam , Alu , cucumber pachadi, Pongal vadai , Thayir Sadam, lemon pickle. ALL MADE BY LALITHA RAO WITH AT BEST VEGETABLE CUTTING AND FRYING HELP FROM DR. ST RAO. It is one thing to make many items, but it is quite another thing to make them with great flavor and superb proportions. Lalitha Rao in my opinion was simply the master cook.

Mrs Lalitha Rao was always worried about Rao as a chain smoker and when he said he quit smoking one day with a deep promise, Lalitha Rao invited us for a special dinner, celebrating this promise.

Till 1987-88, we used to go to Madison almost every alternate week and Raos used to surprise us with a new home computer, computer games , dot matrix printer with the ability to make address labels for CTU, a new VHS player all had to be maneuvered by ST Rao, given as gifts to Lalitha by her kids Tesh and Asha. Of course Lalitha Rao never even used them once!! Their house at 202 Marinette trail , Madison was virtually heaven to us and to our kids Deepa and Tara.

Lalitha Rao’s specialties were also awaited during the annual Pongal party. Even though she started working full time in an insurance company, she never quit the traditional festivals, and always invited guests for Pongal parties. Virtually 80 to 100 people will be attending the party and many were Indian students both graduates and undergraduates from Madison, Milwaukee, and so on. It would have cost a fortune, but their grand attitude and generous entertainment, I am yet to see from any one in our community. ( Of course I should say Usha Ranganathan with her magnificent Navaratri golu).

To me I would say, that one exception among us even in those days was Savitri and Mani ( ASP Iyer’s daughter and son-in-law) .

Like Lalitha Rao and ST Rao, they have always lived for others.

Our biweekly trips between us came to a sad grinding halt when they moved to Columbus , Ohio. The frequencies reduced drastically and the contacts were mainly during our annual CTU during Memorial Day weekend. To the best of my knowledge, Rao’s health deteriorated fast and Lalitha Rao would do all sorts of special functions for his health improvements. Once Asha and Tesh were married, Lalitha’s adaptability to US life , especially after Dr Rao’s passing away meant many complex decisions moving back and forth between USA and India. The last time I saw her was at my son in law Sampath’s mother Rukmini Mami’s funeral. It is a pity I had to recognize many close Madison friends and their relatives only at her own funeral time. She truly loved Balamurali’s music and poured her affection on almost all young kids.

We owe to Lalitha Rao, the superb recipe for Cabbage Pakoda and the thin sliced Banana chips.

In grief and gratitude,
TES Raghavan

July 2024

Sri Chandanasseri Ramachandran

This year is quite a shocking year, especially for CTU as it is losing some of the ultra-core family members who were greatly instrumental to the progress of Chicago Tyagaraja Utsavam. The family of Sri Chandanasseri Ramachandran [or, Ramachandran Mama – as we knew him] created the biggest musical jump for CTU when he moved to the Chicago area with his wife Rajalakshmi Mami, son Prasod, and daughters Jayanthi and Jyothi.

In a small two bedroom apartment, Ramachandran Mama would encourage Mami to organize Carnatic music class, and encourage Prasod to teach Carnatic violin to beginners. What I personally noticed among the Palghat Brahmins community was their dedication to the work they took to sustain a large family. No one would ride on the other family member’s sweat. Ramachandran Mama would work at the reception desk at HTGC which was just making its presence among the Chicago Hindu community. The entire family valued Carnatic music and was central to its propagation in the Chicago area. Mama set an example to the immigrant community, with four important values.

Value 1: There is great merit in a joint family system.
Value 2: Inspire children to be truly responsible for one’s parents in their last days.
Value 3: Shocks and tragedies are to be accepted with grace in one’s life.
Value 4: Mutual respect and noninterference between the decisions of elders and preferences for the youth have to be gracefully carried out.

Having lived a long life, Ramachandran Mama who passed away yesterday (Thu, July 25, 2024, 6:41 am), at the age of 97, leaves our community with the main message to nurture our culture and tradition, not by lecturing on these values, but by personally living, setting an example and being a role model. He was the true leader of such a family.

TES Raghavan

May 2023

Professor T.S. Ramakrishnan

I am deeply shocked beyond imagination that Professor T.S. Ramakrishnan, one of our ultra- core volunteers of the Chicago Tyagaraja Utsavam  had suddenly succumbed to a heart attack on Friday the 19th May 21, 2023 at the Christ Hospital, Oak Lawn,  leaving behind his wife Nithya Rajan and daughters Nandini and Madhavi and son-in-law, Aravinth.

Only two weeks back (May 6th, 2023), he was actively chanting Ramanuja Nootranthathi at HTGC temple. As a strong lover of classical and light music exclusively in Tamil language, apparently, he enjoyed every bit of the concert of Ranjani and Gayatri on the music of Ilayaraja, called Raja by Raga ( May 13, 2023). 

He would constantly try to remind me that we should under CTU promote a special day for classical Carnatic composers of even pre-Tyagaraja days, like those of Muthu Thandavar (1525-1600), Marimutha Pillai (1712-1787) and Arunachala Kavi (1711-1779). 

Only on Monday, May 15th I saw a youtube video by Vignesh Easwar and Ashwath Narayanan on Tamil compositions, exclusively devoted to Chidambaram. I genuinely wanted to reach him that same night but all my emails and phone numbers to them backfired.  I hectically contacted other core volunteers like Dr. K.G. Srinivasan and many others somehow reach him.  It looks as though it is God’s will  that he has to leave not just his immediate family , but every one of us alone and reach His abode as we read from ThirukkuraL 

வையத்துள் வாழ்வாங்கு வாழ்பவன் வான் உறையும் 

தெய்வத்துள் வைக்கப்படும்.

Only a year back he was very proud of his daughter, Nandini married to a Tamil family with the full hope that his daughter Nandini, will promote Tamil culture and traditions.  

Even from their elementary school days, he demanded his children to work as volunteers for CTU.   His daughters as teenagers would take care of all gifts and certificates and will stay till all participants have received the gifts and certificates.  When we organized annual music competitions, we had great difficulty in grading the performances that were often left with oral comments by the judges.  Professor Ramakrishnan with his experience as the chairman of the accounting department at UIC had the clear vision and scientific knowledge to make the proper ranking with many statistical tools. 

He also wanted his wife Nithya Rajan to make sure that she spends her time and effort to look for  appealing gift items for all participating youths at the annual Tyagaraja Utsavam.  I have myself seen in various houses where the participants have preciously,  kept them on their desks.  I wanted to thank the whole family when I found a top professional musician in Chennai carrying books in our CTU gift bag proudly. 

His love for Tamil literature and especially Kamba Ramayanam was so great that one day he even organized in his house a special series of talks by many local people to share their experience on various aspects of Tamil literature that they gathered at schools and colleges. 

In grief,

TES Raghavan

Jan 2023

Sri S.A. Balakrishnan

It is with a great sense of sadness I would like to share with you all, the passing away of Sri S.A. Balakrishnan who leaves behind, his wife Chellam, elder daughter Sudha, her husband Dr. Giri and granddaughter Sahana, and younger daughter Vidya, her husband Etienne and granddaughter Asha along with innumerable number of relatives from India.

My association with the Balakrishnans dates back to September 1969. With no relatives for us in the city, the closest were these new friends with common cultural and religious interest. There were no temples, no relatives, one Indian condiment shop, on Belmont Avenue and the weekly social meet of a set of 5 families included Balakrishnans very prominently. Their love for our classical music, their connections to great musicians like KVN, Alappuzhai Venkatesan, Trichur Ramachandran, Semmangudi and all through Chellam’s brother Sri S.V. Krishnan (SVK) running the Ragha Sudha at Coimbatore gave the real connections to initiate CTU in Chicago. Balakrishnan (SAB) was one of the key persons responsible for the registration of CTU as a 501(3)(C) non-profit tax-exempt organization in the State of Illinois. I have visited his brother in Germany, his sister in Delhi university campus, and needless to say SVK at Coimbatore and later at Madras. What T.M.Narasimhan does now for CTU like storing many CTU items like audio equipment etc. in his house – used to be done by SAB under great care in their apartments that would change from year to year and finally at Buffalo Grove in the early years of CTU.

Chellam’s mom would carry many items from India not just for their daughter and son-in-law but for almost all of us close to the family. Any item on sale at the Sears Company would be informed to all of us by SAB through whom we would get the best deals on many household items at great discount. When carpets were delivered or when furniture had to be moved in their house or apartment the members of our small group were ready with our primitive skills. If there was any sibling fight or difference of opinion on family issues, SAB would call me and he treated me as his own brother to discuss even personal family problems.

Ever since he took early retirement, the family had to face a new SAB with accruing health problems. His moving closer to Sudha and Giri, and his love for our Carnatic music reached its pinnacle when he would sincerely attend CTU programs on a wheelchair. Like Ramaswamy, the enormous strain to move out of the house on wheelchair, to listen to live concerts would show how much one is willing to bear to attend a live CTU program.

The most recent move to a new apartment to escape climbing steps unfortunately did not help. His deteriorating health with a slowly deteriorating health of Chellam are showing warnings for our older society of first generation immigrants. Their love to entertain close friends with ordered food and some items made under great strain by them all show SAB’s commitment to the older values.

Even though he might not have read the Thirukkural
இருந்தோம்பி இல்வாழ்வதெல்லாம்
விருந்தோம்பி வேளாண்மை செய்தற் பொருட்டு.

The family has been practicing this meticulously

(The rough meaning of the thirukkural: The purpose of any family life is mainly to entertain guests).

People like SAB and Dr Ramamurthy are quite hard to find in societies. CTU owes a lot to such people for their instantaneous help.

SAB reminds me of another famous Thirukkural
உடுக்கை இழந்தவன் கைபோல ஆங்கே
இடுக்கண் களைவதாம் நட்பு

 

In grief,

Dr. T.E.S. Raghavan

Aug 2022

DR. V.S. Vedam

With all my accumulated grief I would like to inform the CTU community that Dr. V.S. Vedam, who was involved in a major car accident, finally succumbed to the sudden demise on Tue, 30th August, 2022, leaving behind, his wife Hyma,  daughter Vani, and sons Hari and Ram. He was a great scholar in the Telugu community and remained a very orthodox person with no compromises to any of the daily rituals. 

CTU as an organization could not have existed without a set of families like that of Dr. Vedam where every member of the family would put in their heart and soul into CTU’s success. They have never dropped out with excuses.  It could be in the form of hosting, culinary help, hall management, kitchen management, airport pickups, continued monetary support to CTU at their highest  levels as  Annadhatas and Patrons. He instilled in his children that every one of them must commit to be part of the organization as both genuine volunteers and also as generous donors. 

In the new world of proud parents with self-promoting youths as their children, he was a true exception who meticulously instilled in his children, the notion of  “kainkaryam” as the way to reach higher goals in life. 

His children continue to live for the higher values and this family sets a solid example  for what young volunteer parents should  strive for as ultimate goals  in their own lives.  

In grief,

Dr. T.E.S Raghavan

Apr 2022

Dr. N. V. Raghavan – a major CTU donor

On April 25, 2022, CTU lost one of our major donors  — Dr. N.V. Raghavan — a dedicated Annadhata for more than 8 years in a row.

For various health reasons including a major surgery that was done the previous week, he has never attended the Utsavam in the recent past. But this did not stop him from sincerely sending in his contribution every year! In fact in 2017, Dr. N.V. Raghavan was mailing the CTU donation just a couple of days after our festival and was very apologetic.

Only the previous day I talked to him at length about Mathematician Ramanujan and Mrs Janaki Ramanujan. Since he was deeply rooted in our ritualistic temple practices, he arranged for the shipment of big vahanams like the Gaja Vahanam and Garuda Vahanam and donated them to Sri Venkateswara Swami (Balaji) Temple, Aurora, IL.

I knew his family from 1969. When I emailed the sudden demise of Dr. N.V. Raghavan to Kalyani Krishnamachari (another dedicated CTU volunteer from the past), she sent her son and daughter all the way from New York, to attend his last rites.

In grief,

Dr. T.E.S. Raghavan

Mar 2022

Dr. Subramanian Ramamurthy – a devout member of CTU

It is a great shock and a permanent loss to many of us who are core volunteers of Chicago Tyagaraja Utsavam that Dr. S. Ramamurthy, a devout member of the organization right from its early days is no more with us. He passed away on March 9th at 7:08PM after a long terminal fight with some terminal disease. Such shocks are very hard to swallow for me. Without even checking whether he can, on many issues for CTU, I would always count on his instantaneous help in every possible way. Apparently, many other organizations and institutions around Chicago will also express the same way as I do for CTU.

My personal association with Dr. Ramamurthy and his family goes back to several decades. In the initial stages when he lived very close to Chinmaya Mission, himself and his wife Dr. Lalitha Ramamurthy would put their heart and soul into volunteering for Chinmaya Mission. He would take all the initiative to arrange for Chinmaya Mission hall for CTU concerts and the first ever concerts under CTU by Sanjay Subramanyam, Master Shashank, Mysore Nagaraj and Manjunath were made possible at Chinmaya Mission hall only thanks to Dr. Ramamurthy and his wife Dr.. Lalitha Ramamurthy.

He would call us exclusively for lunch to spend time on a one on one basis and such things are now a rare feature in our community and even among close relatives in India. In the Chicago area, (apparently it is so also in India), people tend to meet at marriage parties, at temple festivals, in concerts or in CTU rehearsals. When they moved to a much bigger house in Burr Ridge, it was not meant as a showpiece or a property to be boasted about, but was meant truly for running many organizational activities where he was just a member. He would happily use the house for many to visit, and have several programs of very distinct types. For all practical purposes, many visiting musicians to Chicago Tyagaraja Utsavam were happily hosted by Dr. Ramamurthy, who himself would cook for them even after his wife passed away. While many families hesitate to make an item for the Utsavam, single-handedly he would cook a major food item for the Utsavam.

Such commitments to CTU have always touched my heart with a deep sense of gratitude. He had varied interests besides CTU. He was a committed member to local Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam,: he was a true lover of light music and Tamil film songs; He loved to encourage programs by local talents in both classical and light music in his house under some pretext; he was able to quickly adapt himself to enjoying even modern Tamil films and their rhythmic contents. His conversations and Facebook activities connected him with the younger generations.

He will send occasional queries to me about the doubtful raga for any recent movie song that would certainly test me all the time. He had a whole dictionary of songs and ragas in his cell phone and in the middle of concerts he will convince his initial guess with the music dictionary and feel thrilled. His monetary contributions to CTU was always substantial and apparently he had similar commitments to many other organizations, say RR International, say new temples ( GG Temple for example), say Cleveland Tyagaraja Aradhana. Apparently he often took care of musicians with sudden health problems, and hosting issues etc. I have heard this from many visiting musicians.

I know personally that he hosted people like Akkarai Suubalakshmi and her sister, T.V. Gopalakrishnan and other pakka vadhyam artists for CTU. He loved to treat great musicians as though they are his own family members. Such an attitude requires tremendous magnanimity besides generosity.

He loved not only good music and hosting artists, he also liked the traditional food items and would not mind spelling out his desire for some. He loved Puliyodarai (with cashews and not peanuts, typical Iyengar style), authentic Kancheepuram Idli, homemade mixture, Avial and what not. During covid season, he would show up just outside our house to pick up some such item if we say we have made it specially for him.

His greatest asset is his instantaneous ability to connect with the people in the age groups 5-10, 12-20, 25-30. 35-50, 55-65, 70 and above and speaking in their language. His Facebook apparently is his hour to hour history. I know this only through my daughter Tara who could tell virtually his day’s activities via Facebook.

He was quite close to K.G. Srinivasan and Saroja Srinivasan and they even traveled together to several places in India as they had many common interests. He loved snacks from Jaya and Ramaswamy and moved with ease with many of his friends from Pondicherry Medical college. He was very close to his sister in India.

I have never seen him talking about anything about his sons or their families or their achievements. Often people can lose faith in their religious beliefs when they face unexpected catastrophe. He faced several personal tragedies in his life and never ever he lost his religious faith. He is a personality found one in a million, and to many of us it would be a great challenge to get anywhere close to his level of broad interests and soaked in a deeper sense of social commitment.

I can only say this: Me and my wife Usha and my whole family (including my two daughters and son) have personally lost a true friend. We have personally lost a true well wisher of CTU. Alas! The community has lost a noble soul.

Deeply upset and yet to recover
TES Raghavan

Dec 2021

Mr. Kalyanasundaram Natarajan – A devout CTU Volunteer

I was shocked beyond imagination when I received an email from Mr. E.G. Nadhan. It stated that Mr. Kalyanasundaram Natarajan had passed away suddenly while on a personal visit to California.

Mr. Kalyanasundaram, a retired chief reporter of the Hindu, was a well-wisher of Chicago Tyagaraja Utsavam (CTU). Words cannot adequately express what he has done for CTU and me personally. It is hard to build a friendship when one is old. Yet, Mr. Kalyanasundaram became virtually my elder brother, educating me on today’s Chennai, its political aspects of music, TV, radio, and just about everything. Anytime I arrived at Chennai, he would call and ask what he could do for CTU or me personally within a day.

Around 2006 or 2007, CTU started professional video recording of its music and dance concerts. I wanted audiences in India, particularly Chennai, to see and appreciate these. This would give CTU trans-national stature.

Giving CTU’s work exposed in India is a worthy target for CTU funds. So I chose Dr. Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna’s CTU concert to air from the New Delhi Doordarshan to reach viewers all over India. Their Chennai station would later broadcast excerpts from many CTU concerts.

Later, I discussed the same vision with Mr. Kalyanasundaram. He said he could get it done with no additional expenses for CTU. He introduced me to several top officials at Jaya TV, which had the highest viewership in Tamil Nadu. I could see that Mr. Kalyanasundaram commanded the highest respect among Jaya TV executives.

Mr. Kalyanasundaram was the chief reporter of The Hindu and was in service at Chennai, Vellore, and other cities. He had cultivated influence among influential people wherever he went. Podiagai TV and Jaya TV executives Mr. Thillai and Mr. Sunil were among these. He went out of his way to introduce me to leaders at Jaya TV. Without Mr. Kalyanasundaram, there was no way I could have accessed them to promote CTU. His strategy was simple: impress upon the media management, CTU’s herculean efforts to propagate our classical music and dance in the USA. Thus he got me live on the air on Jaya TV one morning. After that, Mr. Sunil, Mr. Kalyanasundaram’s friend, got five or six CTU episodes broadcast on TV. Mr. Kalyanasundaram thus put the spotlight on CTU at the most valuable cultural venue, Chennai.

Jaya TV’s administration changed and was no longer responsive to our goals. Undaunted, Mr. Kalyanasundaram switched his attention to Sun TV. His philosophy was to strive selflessly with no expectation of rewards: Karmanyeva-adikaaras-te maa phaleshu kadaachana.

I often wanted to accord him formal recognition as a great well-wisher and contributor to CTU. I wish I had done that more grandly. His gifts to CTU are comparable to those of Dr. S.T. Rao, our Co-Founder.

I have lost my elder brother. My deepest condolences go to Mrs. Jaya Kalyanasundaram. We will never forget her hospitality.

My wife Usha expresses her grief to Mrs. Jaya Kalyanasundaram.

CTU has lost one of its devout and dynamic volunteer-advisor and well-wisher. To us, he is irreplaceable.

In grief,
TES and Usha Raghavan

Oct 2021

Mrs. Sharada Venkataraman – A promoter of culture and talent

Chicago music lovers will be deeply shocked by the sudden demise (October 27, 2021) of Mrs.  Sharada Venkataraman.  She is survived by her son Srikanth and daughter Lakshmi, son-in-law Dave and her grandchildren.

I knew them from as early as 1982-83.  Though he got his initial training as a potential genius from local teachers, Ranjani Narayanaswamy and Manjula Rao, the remarkable promise that Srikanth had as a solo violinist needed a higher level of training from a top professional violinist from India.  The renowned violinist Sri T.N. Krishnan was visiting the USA with his family- probably around 1985. His was the first ever performance under CTU by a professional artist from India.  It was through the efforts of Dr C.N. Krishnaswamy that we could organize it at the prestigious Wheaton College music auditorium.  Sharada was keen on inviting them for a dinner in their house in Crestwood, IL.  Sri T.N. Krishnan had come with his wife and daughter and was keen on staying in one place for a longer period in the USA.  C.N. Krishnaswamy immediately came up with a brilliant idea.  If Sharada and Venkataraman were willing, he could suggest them as their host, which opens up as a unique opportunity for Srikanth to be trained right at home and it will be a win-win situation for both sides.  Sharada Venkataraman was excited with this unique advice and opportunity even more than Dr. Venkataraman. Sharada was ready to get up early in the morning and prepare lunch and dinner for all of them before leaving for her office in the Naperville area.  All she wanted was that her musical genius son would pick up the nuances of our Carnatic music under a true Gurukulam system.   Sharada, as an excellent cook, was always ready to entertain anyone who had an interest in our classical music.  What could be more rewarding to her, than her son and daughter to learn right at their home, the subtle ghamakas of many major ragas like Begada, Thodi, Kharaharapriya, and so on from one of the greatest all-time masters of Carnatic violin. At Sharada’s request, Srikanth got a lot more training visiting Sri T.N. Krishnan in New Delhi during the whole summer. 

Though Chicago Tyagaraja Utsavam, as a festival started in 1977, it took 9 more years to formally register CTU as a not-for-profit organization. It required signatures from American citizens.  I could not be one as I was (and still am) just a permanent resident.    Sharada wanted her husband to be the first signatory.   As it turned out, Dr V.K. Venkataraman, S.A. Balakrishnan, Nagalakshmi Sridharan, Dr. Vedam Venkata Subrahmanyam, Lalitha Tyagaraja Rao were the first signatories for CTU registration (30^th November 1986.)

While the two temples – S.V.S (Balaji) Temple, Aurora and HTGC, Lemont – had their Kumbabhishekam in 1986, they were keen on organizing cultural programs to attract more temple visitors. 

Venkatramans decided to become active members of the S.V.S (Balaji) Temple, Aurora and were in charge of the cultural committee. Under their joint efforts, they organized very many concerts and dance programs of very distinguished musicians and dancers.  They organized annually a festival called All Saints’ Day and preferred never to conflict or compete with CTU and its main effort to promote the music and message of Saint Tyagaraja.  It is certainly to their credit to have organized many dance programs including the dance program of the legendary dancer Kamala Lakshman who at the age of 65 thrilled the audience with a nonstop major varnam for 45 minutes.  They tried to promote Bharata Natyam in a big way by encouraging all local dance schools.  I am sure that Vanita Veeravalli and Sushmita Arunkumar were genuinely promoted by Mrs.  Sharada Venkataraman. Needless to say, giving opportunities for young and upcoming dancers was possible only thanks to their genuine commitment for cultural promotion and an efficient application of their position at the Balaji temple as cultural committee heads.  As a senior executive at AT&T, she had enough persuasive skills to have the S.V. Temple hall at their call. 

Over the years they tried to build a network of budding musicians across the Midwest.  Thanks to their efforts, CTU jointly with the S.V.S (Balaji) Temple, Aurora organized for the first time a music festival for three days encouraging many local talents across the Midwest. Though we wanted this to continue year after year, it was not monetarily viable and we had to drop it off. 

When Pandit Jasraj was passing through the Chicago area (probably in 1991) both Venkataraman and Sharada needed in the last minute additional monetary support to organize the concert of Pandit Jasraj. I have always felt this was a win-win situation for both CTU and the cultural focus at Balaji temple. Pundit Jasraj was all praise for their hospitality and her succulent dinner at Crestwood after the concert.  

Certainly, she was very happy that her son Srikanth turned out to be a very fine accompaniment to many great task masters like Sri.  KV Narayanaswamy, Flute Ramani, Sri Kalyanaraman, Sri. T.N. Seshagopalan and Sri. Trichy Sankaran.  

When Dr Venkataraman was facing serious health problems, she decided to slow down from cultural organizational activities. She stood courageous by her husband and decided to retire from organizational activities once for all.    

Sharada had great regard for CTU as an organization for its values and was genuinely proud of its progress over the years. She would not miss the Utsavam if she were in the Chicago area. Even with her poor and deteriorating health, she never stopped supporting the Memorial Day CTU festival with her generous donations.  Just a month back we received her donation for this year’s Fall festival (2021). 

Her greatest achievement is not just love for classical music, but in recognizing talents and positioning them for a successful cultural career.  I can certainly say one thing for sure. She truly succeeded in nurturing a son and a daughter, who are supremely modest, utterly simple and unassuming and very caring. I tried to call Srikanth this afternoon, but he has gone to Washington to do the last rites in the company of his sister Lakshmi.  

Truly shocked 

TES Raghavan

May 2020

Mrs. Visalakshi Ramaswamy – a dedicated volunteer from Madison, Wisconsin

We came to know through Dr. Vatsala Chaks Srinivasan that Mrs. Visalakshi Ramaswamy ( mother of Laksmi Sridharan of Madison, Wisconsin) passed away on April 3rd at Madison, Wisconsin. Chicago Tyagaraja Utsavam’s association with the family of Lakshmi and Sridharan has been long standing. From the year 1984 till year 2000, we used to get our CTU annual Brochure printed by Dr. B.N. Sridharan ex gratis at Madison, Wisconsin and often a team of two or three (T.E.S Raghavan, M.G. Srinivasan and M.K. Sadagopan) would go to Madison, the week before Utsavam and Lakshmi’s mother Visalakshi mami used to cook specially for us and wait for our arrival. When we came back from a set of loose sheets for 10 brochures, Mami would meticulously assemble them and a team will work very fast to make 10 copies and staple them. Later with Mami, Sridharans will show up for the Utsavam bringing close to 250 copies for Utsavam distribution. This they continued till year 2000. Lakshmi’s parents lived with them for nearly 40 years and Mami represented a true volunteer with no comments, not even a suggestion, but was a karmayogi. I talked to Lakshmi and she broke down and I can understand the tragedy of losing one’s mom however old the person is.

Utsavam’s strength has been mainly through the cooperation of many such dedicated and self effacing volunteers , old and young.

Mar 2020

Smt. Kamakshi Lakshminarayanan — a big loss to CTU

I was just informed by Chellam Balakrishnan the sad news that that Smt. Kamakshi Lakshminarayanan passed away just half an hour back. The loss of such people is a loss to CTU .
The family hailing from Alathur Brothers’ family was always committed to highest forms of our classical music and Kamakshi per se was an excellent cook who would always help in large scale cooking for CTU programs.  On her own, she would ask her daughter and son to contribute substantially to CTU and the children too were always eager to strictly obey their parents’ wishes. Daughter Gayatri Sundaresan is herself a practicing doctor who was always emotional and generous. Her husband, Dr Sundaresan was some one who touched the hearts of many local Americans who attended with their children and whole family when Dr Sundaresan’s last rites were performed.

Emotionally choked,

TES and Usha Raghavan

Feb 2019

Smt. Nimmi Ketty — a genuine CTU supporter

The sudden demise of Smt. Nimmi Ketty is a truly very sad event for the family and even more so for CTU. From day 1, the Ketty family has been ardent supporters of the Utsavam and the family’s commitment to Utsavam rehearsals and in particular to the C-Shruti Pancharatnam are too well known to the CTU volunteers and participants.  We will miss a genuine supporter of Chicago Tyagaraja Utsavam. When I tried to pull up Dr. Janardhan Ketty’s e-mail address, it was sad her name came as the contact name and I didn’t know what to do or how to react !! On behalf of Chicago Tyagaraja Utsavam, Usha and I convey our heartfelt grief to Dr. Janardhan Ketty and his daughter whom I have seen once when they had organized a C-Shruti pancharatnam rehearsal in their house.

CTU C-Shruti participants owe a special silence with prayer to Lord Rama for Smt. Nimmi Ketty’s salvation in Sri Vaikuntam.  I also want to make sure we observe this silence in the final rehearsal for this year in my house.

In grief,
TES and Usha Raghavan

Mar 2017

Dr. K.S.Rajan — A cultural guidepost for CTU

I would like to share with the new generation of CTU volunteers and music lovers at large, that the sudden demise of Dr. K.S. Rajan is a great shock to my whole family personally and to many of us who have been greatly influenced by his guidance in holding on to the strong faith in our traditions, values and culture. His close friendship with Kalki Sadasivam and Bharata Ratna M.S. Subbulakshmi, or for that matter his inseparable friendship with our legendary violin maestro Padmabhooshan Sri Lalgudi Jayaraman, or for that matter Padmabhooshan Dr. M. Balamurali Krishna is well known to all of us. These great musicians were also great admirers of Dr. Rajan and Sakuntala Rajan for their deep rooted faith in our music culture and true hospitality. Each time the Rajans visited India, they made it a point to visit MS Ammal and Sadasivam and also visit Sri Lalgudi Jayaraman as close friends. Lalgudi preferred to stay with Rajans during his visits to Chicago area. 

It all started with the East West society of New York, trying to organize the tour of Lalgudi and Ramani with Ramnad Raghavan on a musical duet tour of USA. It was 1970-71 period and we had very few South Indians and fewer still, admirers of classical music. Rajan worked for IIT Research Institute in Chicago and he managed to get the auditorium of IIT for free, encouraging the few musically-minded Indian students to go to the administration and petition for cultural support via organizing concerts of great musicians. But for Dr. Rajan, it would be have been next to impossible to get such a fine and ideal hall for the attending youngsters and graduate students across Midwest. I directly contacted and encouraged music lovers from Madison, West Bend, and Oshkosh from the state of Wisconsin, music lovers from Purdue, Bloomington and Indianapolis from the state of Indiana, and lovers from Ann Arbor and Detroit from the state of Michigan (all graduate students or young faculty members) to come to Chicago to attend the concert — and also stay overnight with us and with Rajans for a private concert next day at Dr. Rajan’s house. It is a concert which I treasure and I was able to collect $185 in all from students and families. I asked Usha to stay home and not attend the concert but take care of young kids and make the lunch for all including the visiting legends. I do realize such dictates will be next to impossible these days with modern couples. I used to work in unison planning with Dr S.T. Rao and Dr K.S. Rajan in initiating a potential Tyagaraja Utsavam in the Midwest area. Rajan and Chakku (Mrs. Sakuntala Rajan) were ready to do anything to nurture our culture and traditions. Satkala Mandir was one of his initiations with Dr. Janakiraman.

In 1984, when M.S. Subbulakshmi visited USA, Dr. Rajan made special efforts to organize her concert in Chicago. Rajans were living in Elmhurst and he had to go to Elmhurst village office several times to get the Yorktown school hall facilities for the concert. He always dressed impeccably in full suit and his polished speaking impressed many local Americans. He was quite a winner of many federal grants for IIT Research Institute. Once he took me to a grant deliberation and defended me as a deep researcher in statistical applications and wanted to include me into his research project. Many of us used to admire his skills and we realized that we had to learn a lot from his multiple talents. Imagine getting permission from Mr Sadasivam to record MS’s Chicago concert. Even the most astute businessmen and record companies India were unable to negotiate easily with Sadasivam for recording rights. Dr Rajan had that charisma to win over the heart of Mr. Sadasivam.

At least two days in a week, my family and Rajans’ family would meet and have lunch or dinner in each other’s house.

In 1979, Dr. M. Balamurali Krishna was touring USA. In fact Chakku and Rajan hosted them and while Rajan preferred people from nearby towns to attend the single grand concert in Chicago, he did not like the idea of multiple programs for Dr Balamurali Krishna at all small towns. I had the opposite view and we had heated arguments with strong differences of opinion and some friction, for sure. Without Dr. Rajan’s knowledge, I had negotiated for concerts at Urbana University, music department and at Milwaukee music society through one Mr Narasinga Rao and with contacts through one Yedavalli Rao against the wish of Rajan. As one drawn into the melody-choked music of Dr. Balamurali Krishna from my Calcutta days, I felt like spending as much time as possible with this musical genius discussing creative aspects of music. I was craving to travel with this genius musician and wait like a chataka bird to hear many musical anecdotes about great musicians. He would talk about his close friendship with Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, his musical contributions to movies like “Hamsa Geethe”, his conflicts with many music sabhas in Chennai etc. openly and with no fear of any consequences. On the issue of concerts for Balamurali Krishna, Rajan preferred to keep them in one place with a big bang of one concert in Chicago. Local Telugu people were keen on inviting Balamurali Krishna to their houses. The musician was not keen on such visits and when I tried to talk to Rajan and when he said it is not possible, I mistook him as I thought that it was his own decision. For a while I was not talking to Rajan. When we started inviting great musicians for CTU, the problem of secrecy of the location of musicians became quite critical and I realized why Dr Rajan took such a firm stand.

The family of Rajan and Chakku especially was always ready to share lots of kitchen duties, transportation of people and cooperative cooking activities during the slowly emerging CTU. During 1969-71, we had to totally depend on Rajans for all car rides to various shops, malls, friends’ houses, for festival parties and so on.

Once his children were grown and married, he was slowing down in many musical activities but was more serious in the construction of a Hindu temple in greater Chicago area. Before HTGC came to existence, the local Hindu community was doing Pooja and many local Hindus took turns to act as priests for a Ganesha idol donated by Sivaya Subramanya Swamy of Hawaii and I came to know that Rajan was also recruited for this task.

Ever since we started the Annadhatas for CTU, he has been an ardent supporter of the scheme. The commitment continued till last year and we have lost one of our greatest elderly cultural guide post. Not just myself and Usha, but also my daughters Deepa, Tara and my son Manu will remember him and we pray for his soul to rest in peace at the feet of our Lord.

TES Raghavan

Chairman

Nov 2016

Sri T.V. Ramachandran

The sudden demise of Sri T.V. Ramachandran is a sad news to Chicago Tyagaraja Utsavam. From the very beginning, Ramachandran’s extended family has been one of the ardent supporters of the Utsavam. His family would happily commit to different voluntary services. In addition to hosting CTU Pancharatnam practice sessions, they were often willing to host visiting artists and the artists in turn have explicitly thanked us for choosing such a hospitable family as their host. A good concert performance is possible only when the artists are treated well by the host. Since artists travel from one city to another, they have serious problems in adjusting to different types of cooking. Often a good host who treats the artists as family members result in an excellent concert performance by the artists. When I went to console Mrs Seetha Ramachandran and her children, she said they will continue their support as that will be his wish. Often one realizes one’s contributions to the community only after one passes away.

Nov 2015

Sakti Vadivel- an old friend and a true CTU volunteer

With saddened heart I write this to share the news: Dr. Sakti Vadivel is no more. Sakti was a person close to my heart and to my family, and one of the greatest volunteers for CTU during 1970-90.

Dr. Sakti Vadivel was a bachelor and a close friend of Dr. S. T. Rao. We used to meet him in Rao’s house. He was a frail, simple man, a radiologist by profession. There was nothing about his outward appearance for us to guess that he even got past high school. He would wash the kitchen utensils and will refuse to join us for lunch or dinner till the end and would happily eat the leftover, which embarrassed us no end. Even in our apartment days he would visit us with the Rao family, following them his own small car all alone, like an appendix. I remember his visits to our newly bought house here in Villa Park.

On the evening before the Utsavam, Sakti used to arrive rather late. The Raos, Swamys, West Bend Subramanyams and their kids would be asleep, cuddled in the living room. The Raos routinely brought home-made banana chips, Swamys brought home made Mysore Paks, Subramanyams brought geometrically perfect almond cakes or some snacks for next day’s Utsavam. We would be chatting about music and what not, with excitement. Vegetables to be cut and vessels to be washed would all be waiting for Sakti’s arrival. As soon as he came, he would carry all the items from the cars into the house. The he would be ready to wash all the big vessels needed to prepare the sambar, rasam and koottu for some 150 people attending the Utsavam next day.

Usha would freely assign multiple tasks for Sakti to do, which he greatly enjoyed. Cut the pumpkin for sambar, load the cars by 5:30 am with the lamps, pictures, portable TV and more. He used to take leave of absence during the Utsavam weekend, just to give a helping hand. In the early years CTU had to move from one school auditorium to another, and everything was uncertain till the last minute. Sakti’s endless chore was to clean up the messes our “music lovers” and their children created, also unendingly. One time, an attending “music lover” complained to Sakti that the hall was dirty, and he (Sakti) should do his job “properly”. Since Sakti was not Chicago based, he was not known to the locals, some of whom mistook him for hired help.

Once in the late seventies, I asked Sakti about his family. He hesitatingly mentioned that his father was Justice Palani Sami Kounder and his uncle, Justice Kailasam. They were truly distinguished persons – actually, household names in Tamil Nadu. When his parents visited the US, upon our request, Sakti dropped them off at our house for some four or five days.

With passing years, as the Utsavam found more and more volunteers, Sakti began losing interest in many things in the society, and in life in general. He chose to work part time, shuttling between USA and India. Despite our many requests his visits to the Utsavam or to our house became rare, though he sent in donations off and on.

Unannounced and unexpectedly, he would ring our bell and bring gifts for my children – almond cakes or baklava from a local shop. He would spend an hour or two with the children or start washing kitchen vessels. He would leave, saying he had to visit his classmate (Dr. Indraraj). We got used to this.

Sakti’s timely and voluntary loan support at a critical moment for me, reminds me of the Thirukkural couplet on friendship.

உடுக்கை இழந்தவன் கை போல ஆங்கே
இடுக்கண் களைவதாம் நட்பு

The hand leaps in a reflex, to catch the slipping robe,
To save one’s honor – that’s friendship.

A few years ago, Sakti was attacked by robbers in his parent’s house in India. I read about it in the Tamil news paper தினத்தந்தி (Dalily Thanthi) and rushed by train from Chennai to see him and his father – my first ever visit to Erode.

Two years ago he suddenly showed up at our home to stay overnight. Usha and I were overjoyed to see him. When people lose interest in life, either they become religious or get into temporary solutions. Unfortunately Sakti chose the second option. From what I gather from his folks, it appears that he was hospitalized for a brief period and passed away on Thursday November 19, 2015.

For all the service he has rendered to CTU, for all his personal help to my family at critical times, I can only mentally imagine for myself carrying his body on one side to the cremation ground.

TES Raghavan

Feb 2014

Dr. S. N. Devanathan

On behalf of CTU we convey our heartfelt grievances to the family of Dr. S.N. Devanathan who passed away  on saturday, February 8, 2014. Dr. Devanathan, besides supporting the Utsavam with generous contributions continuously, was deeply interested in hosting  rehearsals for Pancharatnam with grand feast for the participants all specially prepared for the occasion . He  also loved to host visiting artists of CTU cutting across castes and creeds and they have hosted many such CTU artists in the past, . He used to  make special efforts to organize special programs for visiting CTU artists giving additional support, often a crucial element in CTU’s sucess.

Feb 2011

Obituary: CTU loses its founding father, Tyagaraja Rao

From T.E.S. Raghavan:

Dr. S.T. Rao, the founding father and backbone behind the Chicago Tyagaraja Utsavam passed away on 1 Feb, 2011 at 2:30am at Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Let us join together to share our grief and condolences with his family (Mrs Lalitha Rao, Venkatesh(son), Revathi (daughter-in-law), Asha (daughter), Hariprasad(son-in-law) and grand children.

I would like to share with you all some of my personal reminiscences and his key role in being very instrumental to steering CTU’s  course of action virtually from 1977 till 1990.

My association with Dr. S.T. Rao dates back to 1969.  It was a long trip from Cleveland to Chicago.  In his car besides Tyagaraja Rao and Lalitha Rao, we were two (TES and Usha) and we also had, Swamy (Madison) &  Venkatesh Athreya. The entire trip was spent listening to Madurai Somu’s full concert with Lalgudi in a cassette player blasting in full volume. He dropped us at  our apartment in 5500 South Shore Drive, Flamingo.  He  was making a move from Case Western Reserve University to Madison, Wisconsin as a new faculty member in the dept of Biochemistry. All I knew in that 6 hour trip was that he is from Tanjavoor, his pet choice was  the music of Mali, His classmate from school was flutist  Ramani, he  was a friend of my classmate T. Parthasarathy at Cleveland. In two weeks he visited  us in Chicago to exchange musical interests. I had no musical possessions other than the 45 rpm records of Balamurali (Nagumomu, Devadideva, Neerajadala Lochani), , Ne Podagonte(MSG), Mokshamugalada (Lagudi), Yamihe (Natabhairavi), Hindola tillana ( Balamurali with Lagudi on violin-78 rpm), Salamad- Nazakat- Bhoop and Malkauns (33rpm), Pithukkuli ( Nadalola thimikita, 33rpm), Chittibabu (Kuil song + ??33rpm) ,  I never possessed any  record player and  I had just moved to USA from England with these records. I was too possessive to part with them and he said, we should visit him where he has a record player, and a tape recorder to play tapes etc. He was renting a 2 bedroom apartment .

Within two months my friend T. Parthasarathy with Ranjani  visited us with his friends Nair, Radha Nair, Shankar, Santhanam and we all decided to visit S.T. Rao in Madison in Pacha’s  car. Only Pacha and Nair knew any driving and we took 7 full hours to reach Madison.  We made several iterations before we could get out of Chicago. Rao’s were  waiting patiently for us to arrive and we had a feast, that I cannot forget in my life. Only men folks could go as there was no space in the car for all.

In 1971 he moved to Purdue University as part of a sabbatical deal and my visit to Rao’s apartment increased more, roughly once every three weeks. Panju, Vittal Rao, Kannan , Radhakrishnan (the person who knew MDR and who took me to MDR’s house )  were all ardent music fans and so many were part of our musical association. In 1971 Ramani, and Lalgudi were visiting USA  on a concert tour for the first time and Dr K. S Rajan helped us to organize their program as part of IIT (Indian) cultural program. Ramani stayed with us in our apartment ( South Commons 2921) and needless to say the music related conversation lasted from 8pm  till 4am and we were all itching to talk to the great musician and his normal life and Ramani being Rao’s schoolmate from  Tiruvaroor school, we were simply excited to hear him play casually  ragas like Chandrajyoti, Punnagavarali, and what not. Lalgudi’s Arabhi start in the private concert simply thrilled us and so was Ramani’s nagumomu and their Desh and so on.. Rao was keen on attending their concert in Ann Arbor and I was excited and with perhaps Panju we went to  Ann Arbor, MI and stayed with  CM Venkatachalam a close friend of Rao.  I had heated arguments with Venkatachalam and Rao was trying to pacify both sides. For me Balamurali was the musical ultimate while Venkatachalam, formally musically trained and drawn to totally conservative music  was all in all for Semmangudi. Having been exposed to Hindustani musicians and their music, I could not find any one closer to them in voice and emotions among Carnatic musicians other than Balamurali.

The period 1972-77 was full of social activities and we used to spend virtually every alternate week in Madison and they will visit us in Forest Park and Oak Park apartments invariably in the last week of each month. .

After I returned from my Sabbatical in 1976, Rao was very keen on initiating  formal musical programs and he said why not we celebrate Tyagaraja Utsavam. While I loved concerts, I had very little exposure  the notions of a kriti, sangati, and peculiarities of the ghamakas in  our music.  However from my school days I had exposure through listening to great musicians and doyens like Ariyakkudi ( at leat 5 concerts), GNB with Lagudi ( Parthasarathy temple, Triplicane Cultural academy etc 6 or 7 concerts for sure), Alathoor Bros ( 3 concerts), Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer ( 4 concerts) MLV ( two concerts), Vedaranyam Vedamurthy, Karukurichy and so on. I heard Chemmangudi (1964) for the first time in Calcutta, Somu in Calcutta (1963), Mali ( 4 concerts, one in GT Madras amman Kovil- Bommulu Iyer Street, Elephant gate) and a few more like Radha Jayalakshmi,  Pappa, Chowdiah, and at least 10 concerts of Madurai Mani Iyer ( all Big street Pilliar Kovil or Kapali kovil  concerts).

Rao called me one day in 1977, during close to bahula panchami time and said his house is there for me to plan and Lalitha is there  to feed all guests for a lunch and dinner.

I decided to take his gesture and simply used the stencil pink copies to make 50 copies and mail it to music loving friends in Chicago area. People like SA Balakrishnan, Savitri Subramaniam, Usha Bala, Sharada Venkatraman, Dr Rangaraj (Sridevi), T Partahasarathy, my student Bapat, KS Rajans, Seshadris (Saroja), Krishnamachari, AVL , may be Dr Vidhyasagars and a few more I am unable to remember all went to Madison to be part of the first ever Utsavam. He played the pancharatna kritis on tape, and we all chimed the last phrase each time. No one knew fully even one pancharatnam and we had succulent lunch and dinner. There was one Narasinga Rao from Andhra who had a superb voice like Jesudoss and he was the ace performer for 20 minutes. I organized USK based on Balamurali’s AIR recording ( Ranjani, Kalyani, Saroja Seshadri, Usha) were the singers with me and  Bapat gave Harmonium support. This was  a surprise program . Rao was very very happy to have done this and we dissected every one’s performance and the next day we were leaving half heartedly to  Chicago.

It was on his personal advice that I decided to move the Utsavam permanently to Chicago as the main audience was only from  greater Chicago. But WestBend  Subramaniam, Swamy, Sakti, Sridharan and students from Madison were all part of the Utsavam and from 1982 on and it settled to Memorial Day weekend with the name Chicago Tyagaraja Utsavam.

While Hema Rajagopal with her very first set of 4 or 5 students organized Sadinchane in 1979 (CTU at Vivekananda Vedanta society basement), from 1982 dance became a major aspect of the Utsavam .  Rao liked the idea of keeping dance and adding new themes each year.

The Friday night of the Utsavam weekend was the most exciting thing to all of us. His family will arrive by 8PM and so will   Swamy, Neela, Sakti  Prabha and Subramaniam.  We really felt we were part of a big family.  We were simply one family separated by a mere distance of 137 miles. Crossing 12/18 Madison and the Whitney way exit with its TV towers was virtually like heaven and it brought so much happiness to us and in particular to Deepa and Tara as kids going to Madison. People like BN Sridharan, Lakshmi Sridharan, Krishna Athreya and many other people from Milwaukee etc used to become part of CTU.

In 1984 it was Rao who decided to bring out CTU brochure and he managed to convince Dr BN Sridharan to print them as gratis by Sridharan of Xerox Corporation. Thanks to Rao’s great initiation,  and thanks to BN Sridharan’s help we used to virtually continue this till 1996 or 1997. This meant we will visit Madison and even spend the night at Sridharan’s house or Swamy’s house or Rao’s house ( By we I mean: TES, with MG, or TES with Sadagopan or TES with MG and Sadagopan).

It was Rao who wanted us to formally register CTU as a not for profit organization and needless to say Lalitha, and Rao were the first two to sign. I was not ( and still I am not) a citizen, I could not sign the application and Chellam, SA Balakrishnan, KG, and Sharada Venkatraman were all part of those activities.

It was Rao who said we should encourage local teachers by elevating them as CTU  teachers no matter what they teach and what their musical levels are .  We should leave that judgment to parents  who choose to seek them as teachers for their children’s musical  training . This notion of CTU teachers picked up great momentum and we now see what it is. One of the ace singers in those days was Dr Vijaya Sastri, who stunned us by performing all the pancharatna kritis in 1978 ( West Bend, Wisconsin CTU)  and over the years we realize how much it has grown .

The phone conversations about the Utsavam and organization, the fixing of menu for the year, the order in which music will go,  how much to charge as donation, in all such things Rao played a major role and I simply respected his personal judgment We used to have long hours of discussions and phone conversations that are now crystallized  to CTU meetings.

It was Rao who started the idea of serving  Banana  chips (nendrangai varuval) for the Utsavam. He will buy a carton of Nendrangais  and spend two to 3 days with Laalitha Rao making them at home and let us sample right after their Friday arrival. It was Swamy who will make the tastiest Mysore Pak each year for the Utsavam. It was Sridharan who will get the brochure printed free of cost. It was Sakti who will cut the pumpkin (night 1am) for the Sambar or More kuzhambu to be made for all. Sakti and Valathoor shared the cleaning responsibilities at the hall and everywhere. CN Krishnaswamy, Chari with grad students from Wisconsin shared front desk collections. Prabha Subramaniam will make a new and surprise sweet each year. Male guests at my house went to KG s house if necessary for morning ablutions. For all practical purposes, Rao coordinated efforts from Wisconsin side. I tried to coordinate from Chicago side. For all practical purpose we could call it Chicago_Madison Tyagaraja Utsavam.

While his health deteriorated after moving to Columbus Ohio, even there he quickly initiated the so called  Columbus, Music society and gave a real boost to run it efficiently by hosting all  visiting musicians to pass through Columbus. Even with serious health  conditions he made it a point to drive  from Columbus to Chicago to attend CTU. Recently when his health further deteriorated, he moved to Chapel Hill, to spend his last days with his son Tesh,  He had to make complex dialysis arrangements to spend a week with daughter Asha.

Recently when we went to Durham, I spent one  whole day with Rao and Lalitha and Tesh and his usual sense of humor was quite fertile. We were talking about the bygone days.

I wanted some music of S. Kalyana Raman that Rajalakshmi Mami wanted and he made it a point to copy some  concerts of him.  He considered Kalyanaraman as a musician’s musician. In his worst health conditions he  wanted to make sure my request is immediately attended.

Academically Rao was a brilliant student of the famous physicist Prof. G.N. Ramachandran, his BSC Hons (Physics) record in Madras University will speak for itself. Of course Prof.  S. Chandrasekhar’s total score was just higher. Rao was admired as a brilliant  crystallographer by many researchers  all over the world and many people around the Physics community from GNR’s group will miss him.

CTU has lost its founding father.

I  have lost a close friend, virtually a brother.

My children have lost a loving Rao uncle.

In grief

TES Raghavan.

Feb 2010

Obituary: CTU loses a founding member

Chicago Tyagaraja Utsavam mourns the loss of Mrs. Sakuntala Rajan (alias Chakku Rajan).  She was seriously ill for months and she passed away in the afternoon on Wed, Feb 24, 2010.  

Dr. K.S. Rajan and Mrs Sakuntala Rajan were one of the foremost members of the Indian community dedicated to the preservation of our traditions and values. They initiated several organizations and have several accomplishments to their credit in the field of Carnatic music  — notably the following:

• The first ever to organize a  Lalgudi-Ramani concert in Chicago in 1970
• They were instrumental to the formation of Satkala Mandir which continues to function with its main goals
• Chakku was an active participant in the list of volunteers to nurture Chicago Tyagaraja Utsavam from the early days of its inception
• MS Subbulakshmi/ Sadasivam and all when they gave the first concert in Chicago, it was Chakku and Rajan who meticulously took care of all the concert arrangements and the artists
• When HTGC was a dream, this family would actively participate in the prayer meetings, and even do Poojas  with temporary icons
• Chakku was one of the ardent supporters of the annadhata scheme of CTU  for many years
• Being conservative and traditional, they brought their  two daughters Malini and Neena in the most traditional fashion possible, and both are doing very well
• There were 6 or 7 families: Rajan Chakku, Savitri-Mani, TES-Usha , Chellam Balakrishnan, Lakshmi Natarajan, Usha-Bala, Rajani-Ranji who used to meet in each other’s house virtually every weekend. Later it extended to many others who came to Chicago around mid seventies. Every one moved around two pivotal families- Savitri-Mani and Rajan-Chakku.
• Chakku and Rajan made special efforts to organize concerts of Balamurali Krishna in late 70’s.

I am just recalling those times and events with fond memories as I ruminate over the days gone by.  I am yet to find another person like Chakku for the incredible memory on the major as well as details of any social gatherings, experiences dates, visits, timing, dresses, colors and what not.

Needless to say we feel sad missing such a person.

TES Raghavan

Chicago Tyagaraja Utsavam

Jan 2009

CTU loses a devoted well-wisher and volunteer

Chicago Tyagaraja Utsavam mourns the loss of Dr. Lalitha Ramamurthy who passed away at 1 am on Tuesday, January 06, 2009 at the Loyola Medical Center in Chicago.

Dear CTU core /supporters and ardent learners of the Bhagavad Gita and devotees of  spiritual saints :

It is with great sadness that I would like to inform all of you that Mrs. Lalitha Ramamurthy, one of the ardent supporters and committed persons to CTU goals its values and aspirations has passed away this morning (1:00 AM) at the Loyola Medical Center.  It was  a tragic and unexpected death that Dr. Ramamurthy (our CTU’s front desk in charge) and his sons Santhosh and his wife, Lakshmy and  the recently married second son Vasanth and his wife, Sowmya and more tragic still, Lalitha’s father (eighty plus)  and Dr. Ramamurthy’s mother (in eighty plus) all have to swallow the shock of their lives.

Lailtha, herself a medical doctor was very devoted to Hindu scriptures, Sanskrit learning and teaching with proper pronunciation, and in the early stages she was active in CTU Sahasranamam group learning.  As a  FAMILY Ramamurthy’s have always committed to our traditions and values irrespective of who propagates those values.  Many great Vedantic scholars and vedantic exponents like Uncle Mani, and  Mr. Ganesan of Tiruvannamalai Ramanasram and so on  visited  Chinmaya Mission for a series of lectures and  discourses,  and for long stay this FAMILY took great care in terms of cooking and carrying lunch and dinner for them.  For many years our CTU Mandapam was part of their Pooja room in their house.

Over the years Lalitha got greatly attached to Guru poojas, especially to Kanchi Paramacharyal.  While doing the pooja in her family Pooja room with madisar and trying to light the kuthuvilakku with a candle apparently she got fire on her sari on the backside that she did not notice immediately and when she noticed it, it was too late with the complicated madisar of nine yards. 

Whether it is CTU or the Temples  or Chinmaya mission or Satsangs or Asrams there are only a small number of devout Hindus who as  FAMILIES commit to our traditions and spiritual values and learning .  Some years back the renowned Mathematician Prof. SRS Varadhan came to my house to collect donations for the Hindu Mission Hospital intiated by Kanchi Acharyals. Ramamurthy’s were one of the seven or eight families present for that occasion and they have never hesitated to donate the maximum for such occasions and for such causes.

As professional doctors, their commitment to our traditions is quite exceptional.  I have rarely seen this level of commitment among such families. CTU’s main goal is not just to master or train our next generation into the music of Saint Tyagaraja but to inculcate in their minds also his deeper spiritual values.   Many children have formally learnt the Bhagavad Geeta from Lalitha Ramamurthy. 

While in CTU we strive to inculcate our traditions via the imparting of Sri Vishnu Sahasranamam, families like Ramamurthys and many organizations have been actively imparting the recitation of the Bhagavad Geetha.

In grief
TES Raghavan
Chicago Tyagaraja Utsavam

 

Dec 2008

Obituary: CTU loses an ardent supporter

Chicago Tyagaraja Utsavam mourns the loss of Dr. N. Krishnamachari (alias Chari ) who passed away at 3am on Thursday, December 18, 2008 at the University of Illinois Hospital in Chicago.

I knew Krishnamachari from 1970. He had a Ph. D in Chemistry from Canada and moved to Chicago as a post doctoral researcher in Chemistry at the University of Chicago.  His wife (just married) Kalyani got a job at the University Book stores.  He realized that the scope was little for postdocs in Chemistry and  decided to switch jobs.  He  took an M.B.A from the University of Chicago and had his first job with a company close to AT &T . Even though I knew him as an orthodox and tradition loving person, even though with my friend T.Parthasarathy and Ranjani we used to play cards and found him a brilliant person whatever he chose to do,  I had the unique opportunity to see his emotional and human side. My mother passed away in India in 1979 and I was emotionally shattered . People had assembled in my Oak Park apartment to console me. I had a call from my uncle Pattu Mama in India who said that it is my duty as her only son to come to India, not alone but with my family to do the last rites for my mother.  I wanted to have a glimpse of her but in orthodox families the body had to be cremated within hours.  He said even if I show up after 5 days, it won’t matter.  Tara was a month old baby and Deepa’s passport and Usha’s passports had expired. Tara had to get a passport. (Hema) Rajagopalan used his charge card to charge for the flight tickets for all of us and he arranged for that. I needed some one to take me around downtown to apply for passport, get that the same day, etc. Chari had just taken up his new job. I don’t know what arrangement he made at his new office.  He took me in his car to various offices, will make rounds and wait at places to speed up the process and we came home in the evening. He was crying with me with emotion and was talking about his mother and her own struggles in her life and so on.

When CTU as an organization was initiated by Dr ST Rao of Madison, Wisconsin, the excitement of organizing the Utsavam kept several families as close kith and kin.  He made his best attempts to train his children to learn music under Mrs Saroja Seshadri (for Bhooma) and Sri. Prasad Ramachandran (violin for Govindan).  He was very particular that Sahasranamam chanting must be a serious and integral part of the Utsavam.  People like C.N Krishnaswamy, MV Sunder, Chari, MG Srinivasan were all part and parcel of the organization and so were many core volunteers.  Dr. KG Srinivasan, Dr. ST Rao, Dr. Venkatraman, Dr. BN Sridharan (Madison) were very instrumental to registering the organization. While Chari was taking care of all accounting and cash collection right at the hall, during Utsavam days I heard from his coworkers at the front desk (grad students from Wisconsin that no one could escape his eyes if they ever attempted any free ride. His meticulous accounting would need a separate chapter on its own.

He found Dr M.G Srinivasan as the right companion to his tasks at the front desk and as devout and religious persons they enjoyed each other’s company at the front desk. Though I knew MG Srinivasan from early seventies,  his active involvement at the Utsavam started with group practice of Sahasranamam which was often headed by Chari. That is when we all realized our recitation limitations and slowly we felt that E.G. Nadhan is the best among us for running the Sahsranamam sessions. While some of us cared for pure recitation,  Chari wanted people to know the meaning of all slokas and he did independently a lot of work in this direction and has summarized the commentaries of Adi Sankara and Parasara Bhattar and so on. Many hours he spent with MG Srinivasan in proof correcting CTU versions in Tamil, Devanagari, and Roman fonts. In proof correction he was a true master.

It was only with the meticulous listening and correction on the spot in our pronunciation that we could make a recording of Sahasranamam with repetition (Sandai-Nadhan–Geetha Sadagopan-TES).

He decided to devote his time fully to temple activities and Vaishnavism in the last few years and when I asked him as to who will shoulder this task besides Sampath Ayyangar and Alamelu, his clear choice was Venkatesh and he had a real affection for Venkatesh as one very religious and quite professional in the field of accounting. Sampath and virtually any one and every one said the same. He wanted me to quit CTU activities and devote my energy to temple related activities.

Grief stricken,
TES Raghavan

Chicago Tyagaraja Utsavam

Feb 2007

Mr S.V. Krishnan passes

Dear friends and music lovers

I would like to share with you all about a real music lover, organizer, one of the early pillars for the growth of the Chicago Tyagaraja Utsavam at every stage .

Coming from traditional Palakkad families, he was very successful as a Real Estate person in Coimbatore and could feel in his conversation his business acumen. There are millions like him and it has no value for me or for music at large. He used to visit his sister Chellam Balakrishnan more or less every year and in one of those years we accidentally got to know each other sharing some music of Lalgudi, Balamurali etc. and I never had any inkling he had real musical interest beyond tape collection. Being a Real Estate person, he was able to design a nice Music Sabha in Coimbatore for the Carnatic music community at large and started organizing a series of concerts- called ragha Sudha-Gokulashtami series and son. The hall was well equipped with excellent recording facilities for thoise days and the greatest of veteran and prodigy musicians like Chemmangudi, Lalgudi, MSG, Ramani, Nedunuri, DK Jayaraman, TV Sankaranarayanan , Seshagopalan , Mandolin Srinivas and many many others were very happy to perform in his sabha as a prestigious place to perform. One year as a family we stayed for 3 days with him listening to some concerts of Aruna Sairam (?, Geetha Raja) and son. Over the years he decided to transplant the same Sabha into madras area and nothing could be better than a sabha of size (150-200 at most) fully air conditioned and even more than anything in the heart of music place- Mylapore close to Sastri Hall. There are many many sabhas in Madras organizing our music and in what se nse he was special.

He started believing in two things: 1. There should be no compromise on the traditional conservative music. 2. Ragas like Todi, Bhairavi, Atana, Kambhodhi must be part of any concert for the musicians to be considered worthy. 2. Once established musicians tend to demand more and he never liked the idea of compromising with quality concerts at nominal cost kind. This lead him to make a major policy change in his sabha concerts: Encourage young and upcoming musicians who won’t compromise their traditional music for box office. Thus many veteran musicians who are not in the box office market, but highly scholarly tend to perform in his sabha.

I used to spend 3 to 4 hours in his house talking to him about music and publications etc. He virtually treated his house as a godown for many music books that cannot be easily stored and I remember seeing the magnum opus book of TK Govinda Rao on Carnatic music book of 600 or 800 pages stored in his house. Any time a musician was coming to Chicago, I will call him and talk to him direct about: What do you think of so and so? He was very blunt and he was also enthusiastic about several musicians and wanted me to arrange their programs in Chicago as superb upcoming musicians.

One day, he wanted me to come to his house in Bhimasena Gardens and have dinner with him. The two girls Ranjani and Gayatri came in Pavadai Melakku with Mr Balasubramaniam (their father). SVK said, the highest of music you should get from these two girls. They played duet violin very beautifully, but having heard people like Lalgudi, MSG and so on, it did not leave the impression I should have had-for lack of understanding of the pracheena ragas.
When we now listen to Ranjani/Gayatri now we know where they stand and what people like him have done for them to blossom. One year I was struggling to find a suitable main musician for Utsavam. I had to entirely depend on Shashank’s father for help. All I had wa s a CD called Rasanubhavam by Sanjay Subramaniam. Shashank’s father suggested Sanjay and I was handling all these deals from Germany while on a research assignment. SVK said emphatically that “Raghavan- Sanjay and TM Krishna are two names that will be like solid rock in Carnatic music. Believe me. While I missed the concert, I felt happy for the very successful program. Same applies to Mysore Nagaraj/Manjunath concert. We buy many products based on LOGO. I could go by the words of SV Krishnan.

We were trying to make the silver Jubilee a grand festival. It had two aspects: Arranging concerts. bringing out a special brochure. I have never ever talked to
Chemmangudi or DKP or KVN . I wanted these veteran musicians blessing for our CTU. In fact I was very keen on blessings from MS, TN Krishnan, Lalgudi, Nedunuri and many more. In fact SVK promised to contact each of these musicians and get for CTU their blessing letters. Dr KS Rajan was willing to approach MS and Lalg udi. I was making phone calls after phone calls and when I received the first letter from Chemmangudi I was in tears. CTU has done nothing to many of them. It is documented in the silver jubilee volume where we have blessings from: Cehmmangudi, DK Pattammal, KV Narayanaswamy, Lalgudi, TK Govinda Rao. Time was running out. Otherwise SVK would have worked wonders on many more. When our CTU books were produced, SVK said, that your book will have no value without the stamp of a professional musician.

As you all know we give some token gift to core volunteers in the form of some Tanjore paintings. SVK will spend the money and buy them and pack them ready for some one to pick up. He was willing to mail them too. He would openly tell to audience in his Sabha at the end of some concerts that I attended- “Friends- Professor Raghavan and his core volunteers celebrate Tyagaraja Utsavam in Chicago and they do what I am doing here Raga Sudha.”

CTU has lost a permanen t and crucial musical contact once and for all. I have lost one of my best friends. Madras music community has lost one of the best organizers with clear musical vision. Chellam Balakrishna has lost her dear and loving brother. I tried to Mrs Krishnan in India. They are all busy with organizing the last rights .

In grief
TES Raghavan

Jan 2007

Indu Mami

CTU owes Indu Mami — as we affectionately refer to Indu Krishnamurthy — a debt of gratitude for her enormous efforts in organizing Chicago Tyagaraja Utsavam’s Western Orchestra program for a large number of students. Without Indu-Mami there would have been no Western Orchestra program.

I have known for decades that Revati and Natesan have been very supportive and successful in encouraging CTU children – especially young girls – for Sahasranama learning and musical chanting. However, only in the mid 90’s for the first time I learned from Tyagaraja Rao, that Indu Mami had organized a Western Orchestra playing Tyagaraja Kritis with Indian and American students in the Houston and Dallas area. I was immediately keen on bringing that group to perform at our Utsavam. Though Indu mami had been attending our Utsavam from the early eighties, she was more a part of the audience than taking an active part in CTU. I could say the same about MG Srinivasan or Ramaswamy or Sunder or any of our core volunteers. I contacted Indu Mami (about the Western Orchestra) and to my surprise she said she could train our kids, just as well (as the Houston kids), for such a performance. My calculations were only on the expenses and transportation costs and suddenly I realized that she could simply tap the western instrumental training of Indian kids for a grand performance at a minimal cost. I jumped at the idea. I did not realize what a tremendous potential she had, till I saw her in action.
The rehearsals had to be scheduled only after each student getting at least three private lesson from her. She was very quick in correcting the students’ errors on bowing, tuning and aberrations of musical notes. Her ability to spot and correct the errors then and there was phenomenal. Her quick distribution of written music in western notation for several Kritis, her scheduling of 30 to 40 children for rehearsals and doing them successfully- these were remarkable feats by any standard. Finally, on the big day, I could not believe my ears when my son Manu played Vatapi (Hamsadhwani) on the violin, though he had zero formal training or understanding of what a raga meant.
I knew from the late 70’s that Indu Mami was cinema actor Ranjan’s sister and that she was my father’s student. Brinda and Indu as they were affectionately called by my father (the sisters) were taught Sanskrit at their tender age of 8 or 9, that too around 5am everyday! That was in Triplicane, Madras. My father was all praise for their sharpness and discipline. I vaguely remember visiting a spectacular Navaratri Golu in their house.
Indu Mami was also an outstanding professional artistic painter. When I came to know that, my immediate interest was in getting a genuine painting for the cover of the CTU Brochure Tyagaraja Vijayam. From then on, she would happily send me the originals which I continued to request for many, many years. The serene illustration of Vishnu on the cover of the CTU’s Vishnu Sahasranama Stotram booklet is her gift to CTU. While people were bringing bazaar calendars to copy for the cover picture, Indu Mami gifted the best for the Utsavam.
This year (2006) in February when I spoke about CTU in Madras television and Jaya TV, one of the basic queries was how we should inspire Western trained students to play our music. I made it a point to specifically mention Mami’s immortal contribution to CTU, her musical gifts, and her unique books on Carnatic music in Western notation.
When I came back from India in March 2006, I had a sudden call from Mami. She apparently came to know that I had specifically talked in Madras Television about her contributions to CTU. She said she had tears in her eyes when she heard about my talk. And she said, though due to old age she could not continue to train kids for the orchestra, she would somehow organize the Western Orchestra once again, for the next year (2007). Unfortunately this will not be. Our young and enthusiastic children who are good in Western music have been denied a superb teacher, as Indu Mami is no more around to inspire them into Carnatic music.

Indu Mami is a teacher, a scholar and a devout lover of music, painting, and the arts, Sanskrit and the classics. Needless to say, such persons are rare and we were fortunate to have known and been associated with such a volunteer for CTU.

TES Raghavan