This is a translation by V Vijaysee (who comments here as Vijee) of a Tamil short story by Lalitharam, based on a real-life incident from the life of the nagaswara vidwan Karukurichi Arunachalam.
Author’s Note: Recently, I translated a Tamil short story by Lalitharam based on a real-life incident from the life of the nagaswaram vidwan, who died at the age of 43. This short story “Nenendu Vethugudura”, which was published in Exchanges: Journal of Literary Translation,attempts to capture the greatness of the man and his music.
Vembu went to his usual spot at the Maniyachchi Railway Station platform and placed his basket there. He picked up a small table from the station master’s office. Spreading a white cloth over the table, he placed the leaves on it. Then, he took the Kadambur poli from the basket, and began arranging them on top of the leaves.
As he went about setting up for the day, Vembu began humming a tune in the mohana ragam. There was a good half hour for the first train to arrive when he returned to the office with his empty poli basket. Vembu was still lost in the beauty of the ragam, when he sensed that someone was walking towards him. The visitor was waving his hand.
Read the rest here:
https://exchanges.uiowa.edu/issues/landmarks/nenendu-vethugudura/