I probably needn't give an intro to the place. Every music lover/freak/critic probably knows what I am going to write about. Right, the December season and sale of cassettes and CD's at Sankara Hall.
My father and I had a tradition - a marathon deal. From when I became serious (to say the least, understood a little bit about Carnatic) about music, probably sometime in school, my father used to take me to the sale at Sankara Hall during Dec/Jan every year. As soon as we were ready to take off for the marathon, we used to get a word of advise from my mother and grandma. Both of them used to warn my father not to buy everything I ask for and warn me not to let my father overdo anything. So, after all this ado, we took off.
After tricky parking, the marathon started. My dad used was a big fan of the oldies like Ariyakudi, Semmangudi, GNB, Mani Iyer, MBK and so on. I got my dabs on USrinivas,Kadri, Sudha, Soumya, LalgudiJ and so on. So, we each picked a huge stack. Ofcourse the common ones which we both agreed on like MS, Maharajapuram, Nithyashree, Jayashree were bought instantly. The rest we had to delegate. For every GNB and Semmangudi that my dad gave up, I gave up a Soumya or a Sudha. So, finally after a lot of haggling, we settled and paid.
To make things easier at home, we got my mom a collection of MS cassettes(She is one of the biggest MS fans.. she cried for days and weeks when MS passed away and even skipped work for a day or two to watch the live programs on MS; She didn't skip work even when I had exams or was not too-sick ... just to show how big of a fan she was/is) and some kind of bhajans or slokas (like by Soolamangalam sisters or Bombay sisters) for grandma.
Coming to US broke the tradition. But this year, when I went to India in Jan, we did the marathon after a 6 yr gap and it still has its glitter and gleam. Although now, there is less delegation because of two reasons - I am officially an adult and am allowed to choose whatever and since paying is in credit card and it doesn't seem to be a lot of money after all conversions. So, growing up, staying in US and earning in dollars atleast had one sure-shot advantage. :-))
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4 comments:
:))...ditto !! went to the audio store right beside/inside Sankara Hall, and got some CDs.. 'some'.. ;)..reached a decent 4 digit figure in INR.. :)
My audio store ends with musicindiaonline, it really is exhaustive.
Everytime someone narrates me incidents like this, I think of indulging myself on this, but then it never takes off!
Nice..
When you started, I thought were talking about choosing which concerts to go to and which to let go of. I used to do that with parents. My dad always picked MLV, Seshagopalan, TV Shankarnarayanan etc.. and I always picked Bombay Jayashree, Unnikrishnan, Sanjay etc and my mom was somewhere in the middle. We've done some marathon weekends, driving from sabha to sabha, and making sure we picked out the free concerts (paying for concerts those days was like showing off). It was a lot of fun. It stopped after I got to the US as well.
Impressive..your mother's admiration for MS. Usually, being a fan stops with enjoying their concerts. But crying for days..she must have been a real fan !
@Zep
Tell me about it!! And looking back, everytime I go there, the size of the shop has gradually been increasing...more the time we spend there, more the INR spent...!!
@Prabhu
Yes, musicindiaonline is expansive..but the art of picking out CD's and cassettes in a sale at Sankara Hall is a completely different genre.... Its a different kind of fun....You have to do it sometime when you get to Chennai.. :-)
@Dinesh
Konjam avasara pattuteenga.. I thought I could do a post on Dec season concerts tomorrow.... marathon concert, is it? I have never done that... betn school (I think I also missed out on it when I was in college outside Madras) and my parents working, weekend its very difficult to pull my mom along anywhere outside the locale....
Yes, my mom... she was also really upset when MS lost her husband months before Bharat Ratna and had to come to get the award without her usual appearance and charisma.....
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