Upon hearing news of MS’s death on a winter morning in 2004, my sister remarked,” She must be the most beautiful woman of the 20th century”. Few would dispute that.
Her music so divine and it delighted both the connoisseurs and the untrained ears. Even a first time foreigner remarked that watching her concert was seeing divinity being manifest. Mahatma’s compliment that he would rather hear her speak the words of Hari Tum har jan ki beer than listen it being sung by others. And Nehru was never tired of saying,” I am a mere Prime Minister before the queen of music”.
The greatness of MS stems not just from a divine voice soaked in honey but also hours of arduous sadhana that brought joy to the rasikas. Her range was just as diverse: Meera Bhajans to exploring the compositions of Thygaraja or a Shyama Sastri and one walked out of a concert with goose pimples. Her records on Bhaja Govindam or Vishnu Sashranam find a place in the puja rooms. Millions of people start the day playing her slokas so much so even the Lord of Seven hills, at Tirupathi wakes up to her chants of the Suprabatham.
If there has been a saint musician after Thyagaraja, it must be MS. Her heart for raising funds for social issues was a legion. For all her world class fame and glory, MS and her husband lived very much a middle class existence.
I recollect my father’s tryst with the great MS. Once he took us to her concert at the Rabindra Bharati. As he drove us back home in his Ambassador, he said,” But for her, I would have been on the roads. It was one of her trusts that helped me pay my examination fees for SSLC way back in 1945”.
He continued,” I shall buy MS a Kancheepuram silk saree and prostrate before her as my thanksgiving”. Such is the impact of MS that even after 40 odd years her acts of benevolence still linger.
The sight of a MS in her silk saree with her diamond nose and ear rings and a matching pendant against a backdrop of a tabura was a sight to behold. She is no more now but lived her life in a way that even angels would envy – of graceful and ageless beauty, boundless social conscience and an unassuming nature (she was so guileless that she would sing at request even on the river banks when accosted by rasikas) and made her life truly an inspiration
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