A CONNOISSEUR OF LIFE

*

M. Natarajan was more at home in a seminar on poetry, an art exhibition or a music concert. His heart was not in the business world, shares J. VASANTHAN while talking about one of his close friends.


MY FRIEND, M. Natarajan, liked to call himself Madurai Natarajan, though the initial 'M' before his name had nothing to do with Madurai. He probably loved Madurai for the Meenakshi temple, the Mahal, the Jain caves and theold palaces. He was a great connoisseur of art, music, literature, theatre and films. He was a businessman and was entrusted with his family business. But he was more at home in a seminar on poetry, an art exhibition or a music concert. His heart was not in the business world.

He had an ancient model of a French car, which his friends called Pushpa -because it had to be pushed to make it start. Later he bought a Baby Austin, which was not any better on the go than Pushpa. Natarajan and I travelled the length and breadth of our State in this car, visiting temples that were noted for their artistic excellence. We went up the tower of the big temple in Thanjavur to see the Chola paintings on the inner walls. Thirumalai Naicker's artists had done some paintings over these, defacing many priceless treasures.

Experts from the Archaeological Survey were gently peeling off the pedestrian efforts of the later artists to reveal the rich hues and compositions of the Chola period. We stood transfixed before these art treasures until we were told to move on.

We visited Sithannavasal to see the ceiling painted with cartoon-like figures. There were a few ducks in these paintings that had a strong resemblance to Donald. We stopped wherever there was some good piece of art to look at. Sometimes the Austin stopped on its own. And then it was push-time. Once the front wheels turned in opposite directions. I had to get down and kick one of the tyres until it turned to match its companion. I kicked it all the way from a nearby village to Trichy town where we found a mechanic.

After he disposed off the Austin, we went about on a Jawa motorcycle that I had bought. We made it a point to attend the Thiruvaiyaaru music festival every year.

Natarajan enjoyed Western classical music too. He loved Bethoven, Bach and Mozart. The silence of Narimedu at night was sometimes broken by Bethoven's Fifth Symphony or Bach's Air for G String as Natarajan relaxed after his day's work. He had a good collection of EP and LP records and an antique gramophone. This was, of course, before the days of the tape deck.

His drawing room was adorned by two original paintings of K.C.S. Paniker and a very good reproduction of Botticelli's Venus. This was his favourite painting. He gave an explanation for his preference. Botticelli's Venus had three curves - that is, the head slanted in one direction, the torso in another, and the legs again slanting away in another direction. This was very much like the female figures in our temples. Usually there were only two curves in Western paintings of women. The extra curve gave exceptional grace and beauty to the figure.

Natarajan liked the Impressionists too, Manet and Renoir in particular. He loved the cartoons of David Low and the drawings of Aubrey Beardsley, who illustrated Oscar Wilde's works. At that time I was drawing a series of cartoons and caricatures for Shankar's Weekly, Star & Style and Filmfare. Natarjan used to study them carefully and give his comments.

There was no facile praise, but merit was knowledgeably recognized. When he wanted to bring out two volumes of his poems he was particular that I should illustrate them. The first one was entitled `Idhayathai Urithu (Peeling the Heart)'.

He insisted that I should do a few nude figures for this. The printers in Sivakasi were shocked out of their wits when they saw the drawings, but went on with furtive looks to carry out the print order. Neither the poems nor the drawings had any great merit. But many appreciated the boldness of the concept.

The next book, `Kaadhalum Kaantha Iyalum (Love and Magnetism)' was much better in quality. The drawings came out well too. And some literary magazines wrote glowing reviews of the book. Since he didn't have much time to read as many books as he would have liked to, he devised a method of acquiring knowledge through conversation. Thus the latest economic theories were extracted from the eminent professor of Economics, G.Devarajan, who was also well-versed in Carnatic music.

Natarajan found an expert for each one of his interests and drew them forth by intelligent, and sometimes provocative questions. Natarajan admired the writings of Jayakanthan very much. When Jayakanthan proposed to make a film, `Unnaippol Oruvan', Natarajan was one of the volunteers to finance the film. When I started a drama group called Curtain Club, Natarajan was a regular patron, and stood by me in my endeavours. We performed Becket's `Waiting for Godot' at the Music Academy in Chennai. Natarajan made a trip there just to see the play.

He loved the early films of Hollywood. One of his all-time favourites was Disney's 'Fantasia'. When I managed to get a video-cassette of this film, he sat glued to the TV screen, and all the king's men and all the king's horses couldn't drag him away. Buster Keaton, the silent film comedian, was another of his favourites.

Natarajan loved all good things in life, and had a refined taste. The time he spent in aesthetic pursuits took its toll on his business. Towards the end of his life he was in dire straits. But he continued to read, listen to music, and discuss art and literature with like-minded friends till his last days. The end came about ten years ago when he was in his early seventies.

(The author of this article can be contacted by e-mail: jvasanthan@sancharnet.in)

© Copyright 2000 - 2008 The Hindu