Gurur Brahma Gurur Vishnu Gurur Devo Maheshwara:
Gurur Saakshaath Param Brahma Thasmai Shri Gurave Namaha ||

From my childhood I have been a part of my guru’s family. My mother Nalini Anantaraman was her student previously and I used to visit Pattamma amma’s home for classes and listened to the classes. During one such lucky visits on a Sunday afternoon, my mother was learning the Kalyani Nava varna krithi of Mutthuswami Dikshithar ’Kamalaambaam bhajare’, I had been listening to it with rapt attention. It seems I repeated the sangathis and the whole pallavi in a few minutes. D.K.Pattammal Amma hugged me and said ‘Indha Kuzhandhaikku nan daan guru’and with those words began my musical journey. That was the age of 5.

From then on, it was a ‘Chakkani raja maargam’ for my musical learning process. I was guided every little step in spite of Pattamma’s ill health or buzy schedules. It’s now a 19 year young love story that I share with Amma.

Every minute in her presence is a lesson. It was indeed a gift to learn from ‘The Kaalidas Samman, Sangeetha Kalanidhi, Gana Saraswathi’ who never showed that she was a very great person. She remains a loving grandmother to me and to many other students. It’s just like any other music class when I sit cross-legged before Pattamma, keeping time with her hand, while we both sing in a slow cadence many numerous beautiful Krithis.

Even today with eyes closed Pattamma listens to every sangathi, every syllable and moulds me to more perfection. I only wonder how much of ‘punyam’ should I have done to be in Her Musical Divine folds?

To me ‘Amma’ always appears as Gaana Saraswathi, a Goddess of so much of musical knowledge and a teacher who constantly wants to give more and more. D.K.Pattammal Amma is an extra-ordinary teacher…After every song a discussion about the composer, the raga, the nuances, the variations, the mood of the song, How to sing it on stage, How to effectively present, Where to stop How to end… It is just amazing the way she explains every little bit of her musical nuances and entrusts her most precious treasure with so much care and guidance to me.

All I wish and pray is that I sing as worthy as she aspires me to be.