In Memory of Raju

You may recall from Devu’s stories that we all lived in a house on Nattu Subraya Mudali street with my thatha Gopalaswamy Iyengar, who had moved there after retirement. Subsequently, when we moved to Keshava Perumal Sannadhi Street, my elder sister Kalyani went for Carnatic music classes. She was learning music from a co-tenant at the house, who was a professional-grade singer, and later went on to be a music teacher at Madras Music College. As a teenager, Kalyani was her favorite student since she had a sweet singing voice, and was also the most beautiful girl in the entire area. She knew all the popular Thyagaraja songs and sang them exceptionally well. Neither my father, nor many in the family (including myself) adequately appreciated her expertise with Carnatic music. She was possibly the best of us all – the most talented, the most knowledgeable. She retained her skill, interest and knowledge of music for her entire life, but never made a very big deal of it.