Ta dhin dhin dha

The beats of mridangam not only mesmerised T S Shriram but also made him follow his family legacy.

When 19-year-old T S Shriram is not with his first love, the mridangam, he is with his second love, the computer. If the instrument is his passion, the computer is his way of life.
Conferred the 'National Bal Shree Honour 2007' by President Pratibha Patil for his creative excellence in the field of creative performance at Rashtrapati Bhawan, the mridangam is a family legacy he loves to carry forward with the same dedication.
His father, also a mridangam player, has always been an inspiration for this young lad.

Played solo at seven
He played his first solo at the age of seven, all thanks to Ramachandran of Gayathri Fine Arts. He has been learning the instrument from the beginning from N Padmanaban, who has taught him to be humble. Shriram says he owes everything to his guru.

An engineering student
A player for 12 years now, Shriram is a II-year B Tech student of VIT University, Vellore. He has always scored above 90 per cent marks in exams and. He has won many best student awards in school as well.

He loves computers too
The second thing Shriram loves is computers. He excelled at Oracle's website-making competition at the age of 14. He wants to be a website developer as he thinks that creativity lies in developing software as well.

Love what you do
Shriram believes that one should always love whatever he or she does. If love is not there, the success might never come. He says the beats of the mridangam thrill him. "There is no end to learning music. It's like a vast ocean whose image can never be accommodated in one look. Learning keeps on going," said Shriram.

Practice vital
"Dad would never allow me to skip my practice even for a single day. Every evening, he used to sit with me for practice and I used to play for two hours. If any day there was a hangout planned for the evening, he used to make me get up early in the morning and finish the schedule," said Shriram. He believes that this habit has taken him to this level and is thankful to his dad for it.

Next in store
Shriram has planned nothing as of now. It is just that he wants to keep learning more and more and add creativity to the art. He explains, "There is a lot more to do with the rhythms. Since I have taken up an instrument which is based on percussions and not raag, there is very less scope of compositions. But yes, the taals can definitely be more creative." Although he has not set any criteria for himself, this Bal Shree awardee wishes to adore the art all his life.
He has performed in more than 500 concerts and feels that all of them were the best. No matter if the audience is small or big, his sole motto has always been to make everybody enjoy his performance.

Apart from mridangam
Shriram is very fond of football and has been playing it for his school and college for a long time. He has also learnt carnatic vocal and keyboard for five years.

Favourites
Song: Kal ho na ho….
Book: Fountainhead- Ayn Rand
Music: Carnatic, light, rock.. all genres of music are special in their own way
Cuisine: Italian
Movie: Inception, The Illusionist and 3 Idiots
Place: Paradise Falls, Antarctica, Soccer stadiums
Hangout: Railway Museum
Colour: Black and Orange

--Raushni Bhagia