Eulogy for a Great Storyteller
This is one of the many titles that I would like to remember Thyagu thatha by.
I was a late entrant into his stock of stories. My brothers were more fortunate to get a good measure of his imagination. My introduction to Mahabharata was not through Rajaji or Vyasa. It was through Thyagu thatha and straight away from where the Pandavas were living in the forest. I initially thought that his stories were like the megaserials of today running for a good many years. I was actually feeling bad that I did not have a chance to listen to Mahabharata from beginning. I would pester thatha to start from the beginning. He would just say, "chi chi! ingerdhu kelu" (listen from this point). "SHAKUNI'S NEXT PLAN". As far as I can remember there was never a "SHAKUNI'S FIRST PLAN". When the pandavas were living in the forest, Shakuni devises a variety of plans to destroy them while in the forest. He would change the tone of the story to suit the audience. With eyes lit up, he would start his story at a very low tone. As he proceeded the story would acquire twists and turns, his voice would become more animated. The more devious Shakuni's scheme was, the more joyous would be the victors at the end. He would almost always end with "thodarum" and his next plan would be told only the following day. The boys got to hear stories with characters like 'Mottayan'. If I asked him he would shrug it off and tell me something else. He probably thought he could not sully a girl's ears with accounts of Mottayan's drinking habits(something that I assume and don't know for a fact).
I slowly graduated to hearing stories about great carnatic musicians invariably followed by a brief example of how they sing a particular raga. Pushpavanam's devagandhari, TNR's Todi followed by Viswantha iyer's own todi alapana were some of the stories that I often liked to hear.
As years passed by, thatha was more often in bangalore with my cousin than in Madras. One summer vacation I had gone to bangalore. When it was lunch time Vibhav, my cousin, asked thatha to make thayirsaadam and feed him. I remembered the good old days and asked thatha to tell some stories. He said, "you will not like the stories I tell them now". I said no no, I will definitely listen to them. So armed with a bowl full of thayirsaadam, thatha launched into a story with superman, batman and a few WWF heroes getting a solid bashing from Vibhav, the superhero, who has Thyagu to give expert guidance on excellent manoeuvres. I expected some modern inventions like spaceship and fighter planes but not for a moment did I expect him to spin a yarn with Vibhav in it :-) "But thats what kids want. They want to be heroes", he said.
He was a person who knew the pulse of his audience. He knew how to entertain people with stories. Even a small incident would be narrated with so much of enthusiasm that it was as if he was a witness to it. He may not be here today to entertain his grandchildren with stories, but his enthusiasm to tell a story, lives in every one of us. I can hear Thyagu thatha's voice when I tell my son the story of Bhima and Bakasura, when Prem Sudha narrates the mischiefs of Krishna and when Sanjay talks about the adventures of CID Chandru of Devan fame.
I was a late entrant into his stock of stories. My brothers were more fortunate to get a good measure of his imagination. My introduction to Mahabharata was not through Rajaji or Vyasa. It was through Thyagu thatha and straight away from where the Pandavas were living in the forest. I initially thought that his stories were like the megaserials of today running for a good many years. I was actually feeling bad that I did not have a chance to listen to Mahabharata from beginning. I would pester thatha to start from the beginning. He would just say, "chi chi! ingerdhu kelu" (listen from this point). "SHAKUNI'S NEXT PLAN". As far as I can remember there was never a "SHAKUNI'S FIRST PLAN". When the pandavas were living in the forest, Shakuni devises a variety of plans to destroy them while in the forest. He would change the tone of the story to suit the audience. With eyes lit up, he would start his story at a very low tone. As he proceeded the story would acquire twists and turns, his voice would become more animated. The more devious Shakuni's scheme was, the more joyous would be the victors at the end. He would almost always end with "thodarum" and his next plan would be told only the following day. The boys got to hear stories with characters like 'Mottayan'. If I asked him he would shrug it off and tell me something else. He probably thought he could not sully a girl's ears with accounts of Mottayan's drinking habits(something that I assume and don't know for a fact).
I slowly graduated to hearing stories about great carnatic musicians invariably followed by a brief example of how they sing a particular raga. Pushpavanam's devagandhari, TNR's Todi followed by Viswantha iyer's own todi alapana were some of the stories that I often liked to hear.
As years passed by, thatha was more often in bangalore with my cousin than in Madras. One summer vacation I had gone to bangalore. When it was lunch time Vibhav, my cousin, asked thatha to make thayirsaadam and feed him. I remembered the good old days and asked thatha to tell some stories. He said, "you will not like the stories I tell them now". I said no no, I will definitely listen to them. So armed with a bowl full of thayirsaadam, thatha launched into a story with superman, batman and a few WWF heroes getting a solid bashing from Vibhav, the superhero, who has Thyagu to give expert guidance on excellent manoeuvres. I expected some modern inventions like spaceship and fighter planes but not for a moment did I expect him to spin a yarn with Vibhav in it :-) "But thats what kids want. They want to be heroes", he said.
He was a person who knew the pulse of his audience. He knew how to entertain people with stories. Even a small incident would be narrated with so much of enthusiasm that it was as if he was a witness to it. He may not be here today to entertain his grandchildren with stories, but his enthusiasm to tell a story, lives in every one of us. I can hear Thyagu thatha's voice when I tell my son the story of Bhima and Bakasura, when Prem Sudha narrates the mischiefs of Krishna and when Sanjay talks about the adventures of CID Chandru of Devan fame.
Comments
u brought certain aspect of him to life.now susanth looks at mama & shang tata's sherlock holmes stories though the later's isnt makebeliefs.
aruna