the forlorn statue at busy T.Nagar Panagal Park - Chitoor V Nagayya

Statues are made after great persons – but what do they serve -  decline and deterioration is but inevitable and at some point of time, none would even recognize!

                If you are a music aficionado  you for sure would have attended a concert at this heritage hall – “Vani Mahal” – in GN Chetty Street, which stands pristine now renovated.  Vanimahal  houses the 'Kanchi Jagadguru Sri Chandrasekarendra Saraswathi Mahaswami auditorium' and the 'Sri P. Obul Reddy Hall'.

It was a photo posted by historian, knowledge bank Kathik Bhatt on FB that started a search trail. He had posted a photo of Elephants at Madras Zoo taken by Ellis R Dungan.

Ellis Roderick Dungan (1909 – 2001) was a famous name in Tamil cinema, an American film director,  who worked  predominantly in Tamil cinema, from 1936 to 1950. He was an alumnus of the University of Southern California and moved to India in 1935. During his film career in South India, Dungan directed the debut films of several popular Tamil film actors, such as MGR in Sathi Leelavathi,  T. S. Balaiya, Kali N.Ratnam and N. S. Krishnan.  Besides Tamil hits, he did “Meera” in Hindi too.   Dungan, reportedly  had no knowledge of Indian languages, a problem which never affected his career as a director of films in Indian languages, especially Tamil. He introduced many new techniques to Indian cinema despite the technical limitations of that period.

“Meera” – the story of devout Meera was made in  1945, a musical drama film directed by Ellis R. Dungan, produced by T. Sadasivam and written by Kalki Krishnamurthy. The film starred the great Carnatic singer MS Subbulakshmi as the eponymous 16th century mystic and poet, a zealous devotee of Krishna.  The role of Mewar King Rana was done by an actor by name Chittor Nagaiah, who still stands forlorn  in busy part of Chennai with tens of thousands of people crossing him daily.  – do you know where ? – though most likely that you would have walked or rode nearer !! 

Sadasivam wanted to produce a film that would take his singer wife Subbulakshmi's music to greater heights and reach even the common man – the story of ‘Meera’ was finalized and production started at Newtone Studio in Madras, but was predominantly filmed on location in North India in places like Jaipur, Vrindavan, Udaipur, Chittor and Dwarka to maintain credibility and historical accuracy. Meera was released on 3 November 1945, Diwali day. The film became a major critical and commercial success; this led to the creation of a Hindi-dubbed version, which had a few scenes reshot, that was released two years later  and also achieved success. Despite the Hindi version making Subbulakshmi a national celebrity, it would be her last film as an actress, after which she decided to focus solely on her musical career.

The man chosen to play the Mewar King was  Vuppaladadiyam Nagiah, better known as  Chittoor V. Nagiah, a great celebrity of those years - called as the 'actor saint' was well liked as an avid performer, refined music composer, incomparable musician, vocalist, filmmaker and director. He was the first person who got the respect not only from the Telugu film industry as well as the Tamil film industry. He was extremely civilized and sympathetic towards his fellow beings. His life personified like an ocean current, which sprang up out of the blue and fell down instantly.

Nagiah was born in 1904 in a Telugu Brahmin family at Repalle in Guntur District to  Sri Ramalinga Sarma and Smt.Venkata Lakshmamba.  He studied with the help of scholarship provided by the Thirupathi Devasthanam during 1918. He couldn't extend for higher studies as he drew rather more interest in music and stage plays. He completed his B.A. Degree at Chittoor. He worked as a clerk in a local government office and as a news reporter for the new paper 'Andhra Patrika' in Chittoor for a short while but soon he found the was work would not suit him and dropped out.  He was drawn to freedom struggle and took part in salt sathyagraha and was imprisoned for 18 months. He entered into an amateur theatre in the company of R. B. Ramakrishna Raju – a political leader and a successful lawyer. Nagiah  assisted the gramophone companies like Hutchins, Twin etc., as the domesticated musician. He brought down many assorted gramophone records just as Classical and light music and some of them were of the great legendary saint and musician, Thyagaraja Swami.  

The  actor whom feisty Baburao Patel, Editor of Mother India, once called “the Paul Muni of South India” reached greater heights. Muni, for those unfamiliar with the name, was the winner of the Best Actor Oscar in 1936 for his role in the film The Life of Louis Pasteur and considered one of the best character actors of his time; he had four other Best Actor nominations in the 25 films he made before deciding to stick to the stage. Nagayya (aka Nagaiah) was, from 1938 till the early 1950s, considered the best character actor in South Indian cinema.  His was not a regular route though, as he sang   for his livelihood — not to an audience, but for a gramophone record company. He became popular as a “gramophone plate artist”, moved from Chittoor to Bangalore — and then he decided to move again, to the capital of the Presidency, Madras, where all the action was. There, while acting in Chennaipuri Andhra Maha Sabha stage productions at the Victoria Public Hall, he was spotted by Bommireddi Narasimha Reddi, for movie  ‘Grihalakshmi’.   Nagayya followed B.N. Reddi to his new venture, Vauhini Pictures, and scored in its first film, Vande Mataram.There followed success after success in Telugu films. Nagayya was to act in 137 of them. It was to be 1941 before he made a Tamil film, playing the part of the Emperor Ashoka in the film Ashok Kumar, starring Thyagaraja Bhagavathar and Pasupuleti Kannamba. He was to make 92 more Tamil films, besides eight each in Kannada and Hindi. One of those Tamil films was the immortal Meera, starring M.S. Subbulakshmi and directed by Ellis Dungan.

Thyagaiah 1946 film, considered as masterpiece, was produced and directed by Chittor V. Nagaiah – he acted in the lead role, wrote story and screenplay and scored music for the musical hit that had 37 songs too.  It is a soul-stirring film about the truly extraordinary life of Saint Thyagaraja.  Those who recall his works,  put his two best films to be  Thyagaiah (Telugu) and Ézhai Padum Paadu (Tamil), based on Victor Hugo's Les Miserablés. As Thyagaraja the saintly composer in the former and a Tamil Jean Valjean in the latter he turned in performances described as “classic”, justifying Baburao Patel's assessment of him nearly a decade earlier. But for all his success, his last years were hard ones, financially, his open house policy and generosity contributing no little to this. Being awarded the Padma Shri — the first South Indian star to be so recognised — was of no help.  He passed away in Madras on 30th December 1973 at the age of 72. He went out of reckoning .. .. however, some of his old friends  struggled to erect a statue of Nagaiah at  Panagal Park, T. Nagar -  where he lived most of his life.  

It is stated that Chittoor V. Nagaiah several decades ago felt the need for an organisation (sabha) to conduct classical music concerts for the benefit of the residents of T. Nagar and its surroundings when one evening, and was instrumental in founding  Sri Thyaga Brahma Gana Sabha alongwith some friends.   This sabha now stands majestically in GN Chetty road, famously known as ‘Vani Mahal’  providing opportunities of many artistes  of Art and Culture.

.. .. ….may be next time you go shopping for Gold in T Nagar, or silk in Nallis, Kumaran, Pothys or buy at  Legend Saravana, do walk around Panagal park to see his statue standing forlorn ! ~  that is a grim reminder of life.

With regards – S.Sampathkumar
18^th Aug 2021.

 

  

Triplicane ~ ஸ்ரீபார்த்தசாரதி எம்பெருமானின் திருவல்லிக்கேணி வீதி தனிலே

 

Oh beauty !

               I adore you ! –  

                               will you slowly turn your head and look at my eyes ?  

                                      – will you hear me with rapt attention?

 

 I asked and she responded so positively and beautifully.

Happiness is all about : ‘looking into eyes’,

                                                       whispering and hearing the silence!

Yours truly on the streets of Thiruvallikkeni speaking to the beautiful calf !

S. Sampathkumar

from the Kairavini lens .. ..

 

Peaceful coexistence,  signifies in essence the repudiation of conflict as a means of solving issues. It presupposes an obligation to refrain from every form of violation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty  !!  - Pigeons, Parrots and Squirrels know them ..  !!

 

.. ..  a full break-fast is God Sent  !!

Excellence is the gradual result of striving ever  to do better. Excellence is  not a skill, it is attitude, an art won by unlimited trials !!

from the lens of Thiruvallikkeni S Sampathkumar

walls do not make permanent barrier - History teaches us

Tamil movie ‘Madras’ centered around a wall in the area – two factions laying claim to dominance, the subsequent chaos, killing and turmoil that followed. A Wall causing so much of ill-will – History is replete with incidents.  Middle distance runner Sigrun Wodars won the gold medal over 800 metres at the 1988 Seoul Olympics but when she came back trying to repeat her performance in Barcelona – there were some issues, which perhaps none else have had to face !!

Do you know the history behind the country whose  official name was Deutsche Demokratische Republik (German Democratic Republic), usually abbreviated to GDR. Western media  initially avoided the official name and its abbreviation, instead using terms like Ostzone (Eastern Zone),  Sowjetische Besatzungszone (Soviet Occupation Zone; often abbreviated to SBZ) and sogenannte DDR  and have you heard of   Erich Ernst Paul Honecker, a communist politician  !!

Barbed Wire Sunday (Stacheldrahtsonntag), is the name given to this day 60 years ago – (13 August 1961), when the East German military and police closed the border between East and West Berlin and began the construction of what would become of the Berlin Wall. The intention of closing the border was to prevent the migration of  their own country men to the West. That is dose of communism what History has !! Prior to the establishment of the wall, approximately 3.5 million (or 20% of the population) East German citizens defected to West Germany, many through the Berlin border due to its lack of security. This posed a major issue to the government as it was losing its substantial amounts of not just its workforce but also its intellectuals.

The Potsdam Agreement was the 1 Aug 1945 agreement between three of the Allies of World War II, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union. It concerned the military occupation and reconstruction of Germany, its borders, and the entire European Theatre of War territory. It also addressed Germany's demilitarisation, reparations, the prosecution of war criminals and the mass expulsion of ethnic Germans from various parts of Europe. Executed as a communiqué, the agreement was not a peace treaty according to international law, although it created accomplished facts. It was superseded by the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany signed on 12 Sept 1990.

The building of the Berlin Wall in August 1961 divided families and neighbourhoods in what had been the capital of Germany. The Wall represented a uniquely squalid, violent, and ultimately futile, episode in the post-war world. – and after decades, the World, the Country, the Communist rulers – all understood  that the subsequent international crisis, which was especially intense during the summer and autumn of 1961, threatened the world with the risk of a military conflict, one that seemed as if it could escalate at any time into nuclear confrontation between the US and the Soviet Union would end up achieving nothing, literally nothing.  To the media, clearly it was  the noble democracies vainly opposing yet another Communist atrocity ! and people loathed the wall.  

The Berlin Wall ~ a physical barrier - Berliner Mauer, was a guarded concrete barrier that physically and ideologically divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989.  Construction of the wall was commenced by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) on 13 August 1961. The Wall cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany, including East Berlin. The barrier included guard towers placed along large concrete walls, accompanied by a wide area (later known as the "death strip") that contained anti-vehicle trenches, beds of nails and other defenses. The Eastern Bloc portrayed the Wall as protecting its population from fascist elements conspiring to prevent the "will of the people" from building a socialist state in East Germany.

GDR authorities officially referred to the Berlin Wall as the Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart -while to the West it simply  was "Wall of Shame", a term coined by mayor Willy Brandt in reference to the Wall's restriction on freedom of movement.  Along with the separate and much longer Inner German border (IGB), which demarcated the border between East and West Germany, it came to symbolize physically the "Iron Curtain" that separated Western Europe and the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War. Before the Wall's erection, 3.5 million East Germans circumvented Eastern Bloc emigration restrictions and defected from the GDR, many by crossing over the border from East Berlin into West Berlin; from there they could then travel to West Germany and to other Western European countries. Between 1961 and 1989, the Wall prevented almost all such emigration. During this period, over 100,000 attempted to escape, and over 5,000 people succeeded in escaping over the Wall, with an estimated death toll above 200.

In 1989, a series of revolutions in nearby Eastern Bloc countries—in Poland and Hungary in particular—caused a chain reaction in East Germany.  In particular, the Pan-European Picnic in August 1989 set in motion a peaceful development during which the Iron Curtain largely broke, the rulers in the East came under pressure, the Berlin Wall fell and finally the Eastern Bloc fell apart. After several weeks of civil unrest, the East German government announced on 9 November 1989 that all GDR citizens could visit West Germany and West Berlin. Crowds of East Germans crossed and climbed onto the Wall, joined by West Germans on the other side in a celebratory atmosphere. Over the next few weeks, euphoric people and souvenir hunters chipped away parts of the Wall. The Brandenburg Gate, a few meters from the Berlin Wall, was opened on 22 December 1989. The demolition of the Wall officially began on 13 June 1990 and was completed in 1994. The "fall of the Berlin Wall" paved the way for German reunification, which formally took place on 3 October 1990.

Erich Ernst Paul Honecker (1912 – 1994)   was an East German communist politician who led the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1971 until shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall in October 1989. He held the posts of General Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) and Chairman of the National Defence Council.  As leader of East Germany, Honecker had close ties to the Soviet Union, which maintained a large army in the country.   Following German reunification in 1990, Honecker sought asylum in the Chilean embassy in Moscow, but was extradited back to Germany in 1992, after the fall of the Soviet Union, to stand trial for his role in the human rights abuses committed by the East German government. However, the proceedings were abandoned, as Honecker was suffering from terminal liver cancer. He was freed from custody to join his family in exile in Chile, where he died in May 1994.

Middle distance runner Sigrun Wodars-Grau won the gold medal over 800 metres representing  East Germany at the 1988 Seoul Olympics under the name of her first husband Wodars. In 1992 she started for the re-unified German team but was eliminated in the semifinals under the name of her second husband Grau. Sigrun Grau (née Ludwigs, then Wodars) ,  middle distance athlete started out as a 400 m hurdler in Schwerin and finished fourth at the 1981 European Junior Championships. She then switched clubs and changed to the 800 m like her new club mate, Christine Wachtel, who would also become her closest rival. In 1987, she lost seven out of eight times to Wachtel, but the race she won was the World Championships in Rome, defeating her in a close finish. The two repeated their one-two finish at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. Wodars completed her set of titles by also winning the 1990 European Championships in Split, her last title. She divorced and took part as Sigrun Grau in the 1991 World Championships and the 1992 Olympics, reaching the semi-finals both times. She retired after the Barcelona Olympics and currently works as a physiotherapist.

History teaches us many lessons, if only we are keen to learn !

With regards – S. Sampathkumar
18^th Aug 2021.