Let's start at the very beginning...

My family has a deep interest in music. My grandmother used to play the veena, my parents have a very good ear for music(my mother sings too) and my sister plays the violin. I began taking lessons in carnatic music at the age of 8 on Vijayadashmi day. I learnt a lot from my teacher Nagarajamani Natarajan about discipline and perfection in singing. Upon her relocation to hyderabad my singing lessons continued with Jayalakshmi Ramachandran who also gave me very valuable lessons. Despite religiously attending my music classes, I was extremely lazy when it came to practising. Such was my laziness that my mother had to enforce rules such as "You cannot meet your friends in the evening unless you sing atleast 3 Keerthanams". Little did I value that during childhood days and stubbornly sang 3 songs with a pointed gaze(one that would give Arjuna a complex) at the clock to show an urgency to leave. I really appreciate her effort now and wish I had valued it more then. After coming to the US my practice started reducing gradually and I blamed it on long hours at work, stressful life of a graduate student etc. etc. Deep within I know these are just excuses. I guess it is never too late to make amends so here is my blog. I have to thank my husband for getting all the recording paraphernalia and encouraging (read pushing) me to do this :).