What a truly grand and lyrical varnam this is! I first learnt it by watching Master teach it to Prema. Or rather, I should say: watching Master rehearse it with Prema, because she learnt it a long time ago. Way before I started. I remember in 97 or 98, watching it for the first time. Those big slow circles of the arm, just like in Mogamana, except the mood is so different.
I remember she would come, dance early in the morning, and then go away immediately after class to do her errands. We would stay upstairs singing, SP and I, just singing and singing away. Until Mrs. M. would send someone upstairs to say it was time for his bath.
The first line is so glorious and strong - so different from "antha rangamai" which is very meditative. But Master would get very annoyed if he thought I was being flimsy or weak with it. He would have none of it. "Azhuthamai Paadu!" I remember one time I came out on the terrace to take some clothes off the line and this sheet caught the wind and just filled out and billowed. That's how it always felt - like a big ship setting out majestically with broad sails. Ampleur and vastness and the broad back of the blue sea fanning out behind it.
