From serving as Secretary, then President at Chowdiah Hall for three decades, to being a board member of the Indian Music Experience, the country’s first and only museum for classical music, Dr Suma Sudhindra has had a lot on her plate. The veena exponent has co-founded the Bangalore International Arts Festival, was one of the first women in the city to be part of a fusion band and is the creator of the Tarangini veena. She tells Darshana Ramdev about a journey immersed in art, fuelled by faith, a proclivity for bending the rules and a passion for instruments.
Just out of one class, Dr Suma Sudhindra has about an hour to spare before the next student arrives. Not a hair stands out of place, however, as she opens the door to her home, dressed immaculately in a saree, breaking into a grin that puts everybody at ease at once. One of the country's most renowned veena exponents, Dr Sudhindra can hardly be counted among its most loquacious : "I have had so many opportunities. Some people are just lucky," she says, modestly.
Like all good, South Indian families, Suma, who grew up in Jayanagar, took lessons in Carnatic music. "This was customary in an Indian household and I wasn't any different," she says. She went on to do her Masters in History and take the Vidwat exam for music, where she emerged as a top ranker. "I was looking for a job at that point, when people around me pointed out that I was good at music and should think about making it a career."
It was a good idea, but Suma understood that she would have to adapt herself to performance. Her turning point came when she heard legendary veena exponent Chitti Babu live in concert in Bengaluru. "Kids today know and understand a lot but back then, these things didn't happen too often," she chuckles. She saw her chance and took it and before long, was a student of Dr Chitti Babu. She would travel to Chennai sometimes as much as twice every fortnight, staying at her sister-in-law’s house as she took her lessons - "Again, I think I was one of the first women to do things like this," she says. "But it was what I wanted. I knew that I had a lot to learn, since I didn't come from a traditional musicians' family. It also gave me a great deal of exposure to music from around the world."
Not long afterward, she was called in to emcee a programme at Chowdiah Memorial Hall. “They asked me if I wanted a membership. I said yes. Then I became the Secretary and stayed in that role for 30 years before becoming President,” she says. It was a different dimension to performance: Here, she learned the nuances of administration, from lighting to sound. “I was advised against it, being a performer, but as I said, I don’t come from a traditional musician family. I had the room to experiment!” She also went on to co-found the Bangalore International Arts Festival, with Dr. Veena, an annual, highly-curated gathering of musicians and dancers from around the globe.
Back in Bengaluru in the 1980s, Tommy Menezes, a Goan musician who lived and performed here, was a popular fixture on the city’s two stages for live music. The erstwhile Ashoka Hotel and Bangalore International both had live bands playing every week, “It was a really big deal at the time,” says Suma. She joined Tommy and Gerard Machado to form Megha, which is still in existence today. At the time, fusion music was very much out of the ordinary, despite which they performed to packed houses. “If I’m popular today, it comes from there,” she recalls. They were joined by Venu Mukunda from London, who also played with them for a while. "People came and went but Gerard and I went on to form the group. We have been performing since. We still do."
It was during this time, as she played at the world’s most sought-after venues, gingerly carting around the heavy, fragile veena, that she began to think. “Everytime I saw a guitarist friend, he would have a new instrument. And here I was, with a veena that hadn’t been modified in 300 years!” For her own convenience at first, Suma approached an instrument maker with specifications for a custom-made veena. It was a portable,, travel-friendly version, one that she could “fold or put in a backpack like a guitar.” A bevy of musician friends would stop by, providing their inputs, as Suma tried to an instrument she could use at concerts. The idea proved highly successful, with students and travelling musicians alike choosing to use the Tarangini Veena. This caused her some controversy: “I was a woman doing unusual things. Still, it was the first time I had been faced with a gender bias.” As trouble raged, she got herself a patent. “Good idea. But it wasn’t mine,” she beams. “I was advised by friends to do so. Yes, there was a controversy but honestly, it made me feel good. Looking back, this is my most significant contribution to music.”
Suma is currently on the board of the Indian Music Experience, a mammoth undertaking that will be opened to the public this year. The country’s largest museum for Indian music has inched forward, gathering memorabilia from legendary musicians, compiling archives and interactive displays. M.S. Subbulakshmi’s tambura and saree are the latest to join the collection. Pandit Ravi Shankar’s sitar will also be unveiled around the opening. “Being part of something like this has been a dream come true. I have worked with some of the most brilliant minds to put this together, it’s a soul-satisfying experience, really.”
Things are very different today, she admits, the culture of long-term study and patience have given away to instant rewards – “Parents and children alike want to see immediate results. It doesn’t matter that the kid doesn’t know the basics, they want a youtube video anyway! I had a young man walk up to me after a concert recently and say, ‘Ma’am, how do you play like that?’ Hard work. There is no other way, it doesn’t even matter how much talent you have.”
