A short while ago I was in Chennai for the December annual music festival and my performances. It is a city that I have known over the years. It has evolved in many ways. The concert sabhas have multiplied, every street literally, boasts of a cultural organisation. The number of musicians has risen, many listeners from all over are drawn to attending this festival and partaking of the joy.
Part of the fun also comes from enjoying the lovely food that is laid down by different caterers at the concert venues and the shopping that gears up with special music and dance related products. This service has risen in quality with an eye for detail, which is heartening.
Chennai is now the Mecca of Carnatic music. The biggest bastions of Carnatic music are in this city. Musicians flock there, many have moved home for good to Chennai in quest of music, and in quest of career. It has come to be understood of sorts, that Chennai is the place to be if you wish to be in Carnatic music.
Not surprising then, that very often friends, well wishers and those outside of these categories, assail me with the constant rhetorical question: How do you manage to succeed in Carnatic music without living in Chennai? The notion of success is however relative. But staunch ideas and perceptions are implicit in this seemingly harmless question.
Firstly, it is attached to the belief that one has to live in Chennai in order to climb the ladder. Secondly, Carnatic music can shine only if you are in Chennai. And if you are on the outer circle of Carnatic music, you don’t belong to Chennai. Hence subtly, your legitimacy is under question.
The Chennai syndrome has made its presence felt in other ways. Let’s take for example the local cultural organisations in different cities, especially the ones in Mumbai for which I can speak best. Musicians constantly complain that they feel ignored in their own hometown. Concert organisers favour the “Madras artistes”. Chennai has become a trump card for musicians.
Chennai meanwhile overflows. Abundance of musicians, concerts, associations, new ideas, new faces. A senior organiser in Chennai shared with me this time, that musicians from other states of the South insist on a quota for themselves in the December season festival. Clamour, power play, and other lesser-to-be-spoken about elements naturally enter the fray, quite understandable of human nature. I am tempted to borrow from Dickens — it is the best of times, it is the worst of times.
To all who ask me the one question, I have given up explaining, that currently I am happy where I am, that I am happier making trips to Chennai rather than living there and that this is a conscious choice.
I hate the maddening noise of Mumbai but enjoy its vibrancy. I hate the traffic jams, the grey of pollution but revel in the city’s speed. I love my fast track life and the happening touch of Mumbai.
I enjoy travelling the world and coming back home to Mumbai. I share a paradoxical relationship with this city. I am happy to make my trips to Chennai, connect with my roots, catch up with family, wander around in Mylapore and Triplicane, enjoy the promenade at the Marina beach, relive old memories and wonder at the transformation of a city that has changed so rapidly.
How does it matter whether I live in Mumbai or Chennai? When people appreciate my music, they don’t worry about my address, or on which stages I have performed. A true rasika loves music for music’s sake.
Music is beyond the geographical location of the musician. I now have one constant reply to curious questions: a benign smile which says it all or reveals nothing.

Dr Vasumathi Badrinathan is an eminent Carnatic vocalist based in Mumbai. She can be contacted on vasu@vasumathi.net