When A Mother’s Dream Came True
When A Mother’s Mirage Came Devoted
V. BALASUBRAMANIAN
If the art was mother’s baksheesh, the title Bala Meera was noted by Jawaharlal Nehru.
On a hot Sunday afternoon, Meera Grimes aka ‘Bala Meera’ Chandra receives you at the access of her spacious apartment on Poonamallee Tainted Road, with a broad grin. For a moment, I memorialize those days when my kind members would hurriedly faultless the evening chores and shake a leg to concerts and katha kalakshepams. One was lady artist Bala Meera Chandra’s harikatha. I repeal the discussions that would go on work late at gloom about her treatise on the angle that day, her charming looks, her abhinaya and her fanciful voice.
Throughout a hot cup of coffee, Bala Meera starts the gossip. “Harikatha encompasses storytelling, metrical composition, music, drama, ball and philosophy, and it is yon God or about saints who had realised God. I owe it all to my mother Neela Balasubramaniam. She hardened to accompany my grandmother to Kadapa Lakshmi Amma to learn music, prom and harikatha. Lakshmi Amma is the word go woman harikatha artist as far as I certain. My grandmother and C. Saraswathi Bai provided her vocal boost. Having dissolute her husband at an betimes age and due to the prevalent common stigma, Lakshmi Amma confined her performances to her crib, and only women would be in being. My mother’s minority dream of proper a harikatha actor did not bear fruit. So, she was abyss bent on making me one.”
Her arangetram
Bala Meera’s brothers were her accompanists and her cousins and aunts gave her vocal reinforcing. Her mother never missed her programmes.
Bala Meera’s expression sounds like the tinkle of a bell. She goes on “My mother taught music and sashay to many children and as I watched them, it was but unstudied that I imbibed the art. Thuraiyur Rajagopala Sharma, an skilful musician and harikatha exponent, volunteered to communicate to me the art of storytelling. His author Mahadeva Sharma had written a publication on the various aspects of harikatha. The chief piece I learnt was ‘Dhuruva Charithram’. My arangetram took abode when I was 12. I was a scholar of Sarada Vidyalaya, T. Nagar, at that spell. Offers started pouring in after that. Uncountable sabhas, bhajan mandalis in the see and those in the districts provided stacks of opportunities. The training went on for more five years, and I learnt ‘Valli Kalyanam’, ‘Rukmini Kalyanam’ and divers more pieces, expanding my repertoire in the organize.”
Meeting a old hand
“Having heard nearly you, I wanted to see how a paltry girl in a skirt performs this art. That’s why I am here a day earlier. I am actually proud of you and inclination help you hone your skills back,” was harikatha exponent Embar Vijayaraghavachariar’s view when Bala Meera strike down at his feet after her fulfilment at Bangalore Ramani Ammal’s carnival. Embar was to put up the next day. She reveres Embar a lot and values whatever she learnt from him.
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