It is not difficult to locate Bhagavathy Janardana Iyer’s apartment on the first floor of a residential complex along Marappalam-Pattom road. The soothing music of the veena lead me to the correct destination. Two of her students – Jayasree Ganesh, a homemaker and Rama Devi A.V., former principal of Government Medical College – are diligently playing the veena under the close supervision of Bhagavathy.
Teaching her students in the age group of five and 65 is a non-stop affair for Bhagavathy. If the day time is for individual classes in veena and vocal, the wee and late hours are set aside for students in the UK and the US. “I teach them through Skype or Facetime. I also have students from different parts of Kerala and outside the state studying through online classes,” Bhagavathy says. The 73-year-old has nearly 40 students learning from her at home, and another 40 learning via the Internet. She also teaches the Bhagavatham and Narayaneeyam at home and through the Net.
Being tech-savvy
Her classes start a little after four in the morning. “My daughter-in-law, Sivapriya, a medical practitioner in the US learns the Bhagavatham. Otherwise, I have Bhagavatham classes for a group of homemakers in Virginia. I am fully occupied till 11.30 pm or so!” she says.
Her Chennai-based younger daughter-in-law, Radha Kumar, also learns the Bhagavatham from her through online classes. Besides regular one-hour classes for those who come to her home, she has one-hour sessions for her students in London.
“I also teach the veena over the phone to Sreepriya, a doctor from the US, twice a week. Her daughter has also started taking classes now. I have members of the same family learning the veena,” Bhagavathy says. “The classes are on a one-to-one basis. I don’t like video conferencing when it comes to teaching music,” she adds.
It was her father, late Sankara Sesha Iyer, who encouraged Bhagavathy to learn the veena. “I started learning vocal music from the age of nine and veena when I was 12. After my marriage, my husband, Janardana Iyer, has been my pillar of support. The first gift he gave me after our marriage was a veena. He bought it from Hyderabad for Rs 450!” she smiles. She had taken lessons in veena from gurus such as Gandhimathi, P. Hariharan, Veena Venkitaraman, Raji Ammal and Palakkad Rukmini. Teaching, for her, happened alongside studying. She started by teaching her family members from 1979 onwards. By 1983-84, she had begun teaching students outside her family. The turning point was moving to London with her son and family in 1997. It was there that she became a full-time teacher and was also on the examination board of colleges.
“I came back home to the city 10 years ago but my students in London wanted to continue their classes. That’s how I started taking classes via Skype and later Facetime. Even if I travel, I take my i-Pad, so that I can take classes!” she says with a chuckle.
Her students have been giving group veena concerts at many venues, under the banner of Navodaya Music Academy. “We have completed 41 stages. We practise hard for our concerts. Our first group performance had 10 students. Last month, 23 of us performed together in Guruvayur. Usually we present veena-vocal jugalbandi to make the event more interesting and lively. Sreelekshmi from Guruvayur is our vocalist on most stages,” says the veteran.
So, does she perform with the group? “I enjoy teaching to performing. I want to give opportunities to as many students as possible. Our ambition is to perform at Nada Neeranjanam stage at Tirupati,” she says. Contact: 9895882068
A close encounter with people and places in the city