Some
time ago, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, had asked women to use
the initials of their mothers along with their names to establish the rightful
place of women in society.
M S Subbulakshmi had carried it
out decades ago in an era where men dominated every arena, and women had to be a
meek, submissive lot, carrying out their every bidding.
MS was to say later that her
initials stood for her birthplace and her mother. "M stands for Madurai and
S for mother, Shamughavadivu", she would say later in a simple, yet
emphatic style.
For all, MS in real life, was
an orthodox, simple, traditional Tamil woman. She would abide by the wishes of
her husband, T Sadasivam, whom she considered her friend, philosopher and guide.
He would even send signals to her, during the concert, of changes that she would
have to make in the programme to go by the pulse of the audience, which he would
periodically try and grasp.
When MS initially got on to the
stage in Madurai, Kumbakonam or later in Madras, people did not know how to
react. That was the time when women musicians were not tolerated let alone
encouraged. However, the quality of her voice, the sweetness in her style of
singing, soon overpowered audiences, and she went on to become the first woman
to receive the Sangita Kalanidhi award of the Music Acaemy, the first musician
to be conferred the Bharat Ratna, and so on.
She would recall that in her
early days, she would not even be allowed to sit near the door or the window of
the house in Madurai. Boys had the freedom, not girls.
MS -- Breaking Barriers
