Heart beat!

Padma Shri Velu Aasan marched to the beat of his own drum and took the 'untouchable' parai music from the margins to the mainstream

- BY LAKSHMI SUBRAMANIAN

On May 27, a man in a white silk dhoti and shirt—his hair tied in a ponytail and his long beard as tamed as it could be—walked the red carpet inside Rashtrapati Bhavan to receive the Padma Shri from President Droupadi Murmu. He was shaking with excitement. Having grown up in Alanganallur, a hamlet on the outskirts of Tamil Nadu’s Madurai district, the 52-year-old had never heard of Rashtrapati Bhavan or seen a photo. “I was speechless. This recognition is not just for me but for the entire community of artistes working to promote traditional parai art globally,” says Velu Aasan.

A few months earlier, in January, he got a call asking for his personal details. He had no clue why. The voice at the other end was speaking in Hindi, and he thought it was a prank. Then he heard English and got more confused. “Tamil, Tamil,” he said. Moments later, someone told him in Tamil that he was getting the Padma Shri. He hadn’t heard of it. He then called one of his friends in the state cultural department in Chennai and asked him, “What award are you giving me? Is it the Kalaimamani award?” That was the highest civilian award in Tamil Nadu, and Velu assumed that was the one. However, from the officer's reply, he realised that the state government had not shortlisted him for any award. Naturally, he thought the earlier call was a prank.

A week later, the same officer from Chennai called and told him about the prestige of the Padma Shri, and that he would meet the president. “The call was from Delhi. It is true. I will give your details to the officers in Delhi,” the officer said.

Velu was on cloud nine. He immediately took out his parai, the percussion instrument, and played it non-stop for more than an hour.