| These
"reflections"
covering
my
wife,
Hemamalini,
are
mostly
taken
from
what
has
been
voiced
to
me,
in a
reminiscing
mode,
from
time
to
time.
This
is
not
her
biography.
It
covers
only
her
tryst
and
accomplishments
with
Art
whether
it
is
music
or
dance,
drama
or
acting.
The
other
part
of
her
life,
which
is
personal
and
embraces
her
family,
our
own
love
and
our
own
family
are
not
a
part
of
these
reflections.
Essentially
there
are
2
distinct
phases
to
this
essay;
one
is
prior
to
our
marriage,
and
the
other,
after
my
retirement.
There
was
a
gap
of
over
25
years
during
which
I
had
my
postings
in
Bengal,
Bihar
,UP
,Maharastra,
where
her
role
was
mostly
of a
homemaker,
raising
our
children
and
all
that
goes
with
a
family
life,
subordinating
her
talent.
This
is
not
to
say
that
this
period
was
not
joyful
–
it
was
in
many
ways
the
most
enjoyable
period,
speaking
for
both
of
us !
Whereas,
in
the
first
part
Hema
was
learning
and
performing,
the
second
part
was
teaching
and
creating.
It
is
indeed
remarkable
that
after
a
gap
of
27
years
that
she
remembered
all
the
adavus,
the
mudras,
the
words
and
the
tunes
of
the
innumerable
ragas
and
padams.
Sometimes
I
wonder
what
she
might
have
been
had
I
had
the
postings
in
the
South
or
say,
if
she
did
not
meet
me
and
continued
with
her…......well,
let
us
not
venture
into
the
biosphere
of
"What
if…"
For
the
reader
to
get
the
best
out
of
this
narrative
and
not
be
bored
by
excess
verbiage
it
is
necessary
to
use
the hyperlinks
wherever
they
occur,
as
they
also
provide
for
a
pictorial
account.
There
are
also
handy
links
on
the
"contents"
frame
on
the
left
which
may
not,
necessarily,
be
part
of
the
narrative.
Hemamalini
was
born
on
November
23rd,
1934
in
Madras
as
the
youngest
child
of
Mr.
and
Mrs.
C.K.
Vijayaraghavan
and
came
from
a
well
to
do
middle
class
family.
She
had
2
elder
sisters,
Ranjini
and
Padmini
and
an
elder
brother
Krishnan.
Mr.
C.K.
Vijayaraghavan
was
an
ICS
officer
who
became
the
first
Indian
IG
of
Police
of
the
undivided
Madras
Presidency.
He
was
later
to
become
the
Home
Secretary
in
the
Government
of
Madras.
He
died
in
1950.
Mrs.
C.K.
Vijayaraghavan
studied
vocal
music
under
Vedanta
Bhagavathar
and
under
the
renowned
Musiri
Subramania
Iyer,
so
the
seeds
for
music
were
already
sown.
Both
parents
were
very
broad
minded
in
that
they
did
not
force
the
traditional
education
on
their
children.
They
encouraged
and
enabled
their
latent
talents
to
develop
to
their
fulfillment-
and
in
this
particular
case
Hema
and
Padmini
in
their
pursuit
of
song
and
dance. |
