Dr Padma Subrahmanyam
Noted dancer Dr Padma Subrahmanyam's father, film director K Subrahmanyam, introduced MS to films in Sevasadanamam.
Two days after MS Amma's death, I had a concert. There was a lot of deliberation whether I should cancel the concert or not. The president of the Association of the Sangeeta Sabhas of Chennai, R Krishnaswamy, called me up and urged me to perform, as a tribute to MS Amma. I danced for 45 minutes with the voice of MS Amma playing her songs. That was the homage I paid to her.
I can't believe that one year has passed since she left us, but she still lives amongst us.
If I were to recollect my first memory of MS Amma, it would be like a daughter trying to remember her first days with her mother. I feel I was truly blessed to have grown up in the lap of a divine person like MS Amma.
Way back in 1936 or so, she was discovered by my father to act in Sevasadanamam. In fact, both my parents had gone to Madurai to book her for the film. Ever since that, she was extremely close to my family.
My mother used to tell me that Sadasivam Mama met MS Amma on the sets of Sevasadanam. After their marriage, they were living upstairs in my stepmother S D Subbalakshmy's house for months together.
When my mother passed away in 1987, MS Amma sat here for such a long time recalling their early days together.
After Sadasivam Mama passed away, we used to visit her more often, and my nephew Kannan used to play the veena for her. I still remember how she came here unannounced during the Navaratri festival three years ago. She sat at my place and watched the film made by my brother Balakrishnan on Kanchi Mahaswamy [the Paramacharya]. We had used many of Amma's songs in the film. I still remember all of us going to the Kanchi Mutt when Mahaswamy was alive. She would sit there hours together and sing bhajans. I and my sister-in-law used to join in.
Just two months before her death, when my eight-year-old grandniece Mahati was to have her arangetram [first concert by a dancer], we had gone there for her blessings. We would go and take her blessings whenever an important event in the family took place. She was like the eldest member in our family.
The last time she came to watch my dance program was when [Sadasivam] Mama was alive. It was one of the December [the Margazhi season] programs. That day, I had performed a bhajan in Hindi on the Mahaswamy, one which she had sung. That was the last performance of mine she watched.
I must tell you something about the bhajan. It was composed by Atmanathan, MS Amma's secretary. Actually, Atma has been in all senses a son to her. He took care of her after Mama passed away. Sadasivam Mama used to say, 'Atma is my atma [soul].'
Last year was the birth centenary of my father K Subrahmanyam, and the government of India inaugurated a stamp in his honour. The greatest surprise we saw in the stamp was the silhouette of a figure with the charkha in the background, which was MS Amma in the film Sevasadanam. I don't know how to rationalise the coincidence. She used to call my father Anna [brother].
I would say she was a musical saint. Not even for a minute in her life was she conscious of the fact that she was an international luminary. Atma used to tell me of an incident. Amma was travelling in a car with him. At a traffic signal, many people started greeting her from nearby vehicles. After they moved away, Amma asked, 'Why are they saying namaste?' Atma told her jocularly, 'Amma, don't you know they were greeting me?' She was not at all aware of her greatness.
Her house was full of photographs of her with Rajaji [C Rajagopalachari, the second Governor-General of Independent India], Mahatma Gandhi, Sarojini Naidu, [Jawaharlal] Nehru, etc. She valued all that a lot for she was a nationalist at heart.
There was nothing petty-minded about her. She would never think small. She wanted everything to be well. There never was any malice against anyone. Not a single bad word about anyone. She was truly a ratna [gem]. Her love for and submissiveness to her husband were unbelievable.
She was unbelievably angelic.
Also Read: Bharat Ratna conferred on M S Subbulakshmi