If your initial attraction towards MS was more to do with her lovely charm than with her music, you are in the same league as I am.
Surrounded by old music lovers, who were die-hard old timers, MS's name always used to pop up in my household. As I grew up, I started picking up the gossip threads attached with that Tamil newspaper "Dinamani", which was steadfastly holding on to its old time turf,and which was one of my childhood penchants. It was through Dinamani Kathir, the sunday supplement of Dinamani, that I gained some knowledge about the stalwarts of musical era. During the historic occasion of the 50th anniversary of India's Independence(1997), there were articles on many eminent personalities and Sadasivam was one among them. Incidently he passed away that very same year and incidently there were more stories about him.
The book MS A Life In Music is also about Sadasivam, as much it is about MS. Changing the title as MS A Life in Sadasivam would certainly not be misleading. Fun apart the book is a good effort, probably the best, in encapturing the life of the legend called MS. I would like to share some of my ponderings on MS which had come through this book. Who was MS? A Musician? Probably that is the most known side of MS. But this book gives a picture of a woman who had no more aim in life than getting married and having children.
The ingenious mind that started off from Madurai in search of protection turned out to be one of the best voices of the century and that's history. But while narrating this journey the author takes us to 'Devadasi' Shanmuga vadivu's household in Madurai. The children of the household only had mother to identify and fathers were just approximations.Probably, this could be the reason behind MS's desire to 'settledown' The frailty of the position of Devadasis in a well paved social structure must have been a haunting reality for MS till the time she stayed with her mother. One can understand MS when she decides to leave to Madras against her mother's will, leaving behind her mother and the plump proposal of marrying a big shot.
How would it to feel to leave home and to become homeless , parentless and patronless, all of a sudden? As a woman in her early twenties and living in early twentieth century, the situation was by no means an ordinary one. Her decision to stay with Sadasivam,who was already married and was a father of two, should be viewed in this background. MS at this point is a woman at her best. The feminine psyche that has been longing for security during these millions of years of evolution was at work. It was not an impulsive decision but a decision driven by instinct. We can attach no other tags and the author sees this well. This was the only juncture on her life when MS acted on her own.How ever this development became subject matter of the gossip mill of the times.
In Madras with Sadasivam ,MS ,by then a knownsinger, starts off her career in cinema. After four cinemas of mediocre acting and good singing, Sadasivam puts an end to her acting. With that started a phenomenal career in music, meticulously planned and orchestrated by Sadasivam. Here one thing needs to be mentioned. The author's portrayal of Sadasivam is slightly tilted and he has less kind words for Sadasivam. Albeit he has every reason to give such portrayal.
The book stands out in many aspects. Firstly the lack of record base has every possibility to ruin the continuity and genuineness of the narration. The author has managed this reasonably well with available sources. The book views Carnatic Music becoming a popular culture from sociological point of view and the perspective is precise and crisp. Details on other women from Devadasis tradition like Balasaraswathi is very limited. More detail on these artists would have done well to the sociological angle of the history of classical art that is interwoven all along the book. Sadasivam was a dominating mentor, teacher, organiser, strategist etc. and MS was willingly his submissive counterpart. Repetition of details on Sadasivam's personal traits drags back the smooth flow of narration. The author has chosen to end the book with an appendix, titled, 'from MS with love' . MS is not available for comments on her love letters to GNB which, probably she wrote believing that it would remain confidential for ever.How she would have reacted to the author's choice of publishing it, is a difficult question. However, by choosing to include this, the author has tried only to be truthful to the subject and questioning his intention would be improper.
A good book . MUST READ for MS fans.
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