More rain. A venu-veena-violin concert to remember

Saturday's downpour made Sunday a pleasant day - these are mornings when Bangaloreans either have breakfast at their local darshinis ( we checked out the hugely popular one off Ulsoor Lake) or take their cycles out to join a Cycle Sunday event.

By early evening though the grey clouds gathered and we knew showers were in store. For the three mandalis that continue with the music season, a weekend of high-end concerts and unexpected heavy rain strikes the rough note.

When we arrived at Seshadripuram College, the open air ground was in darkness, the pandal set up for the morning Sri Rama Pattabhishekam rituals was soaking heavy and only two dozen senior rasikas were around.

But Tharakaram and his team were not discouraged. The generator got up and going, rasikas were asked to sit in the driveway and the artistes smiled at the drizzle and the music set all afloat.

This was an evening of music by five women -   leader Vani Manjunath on the flute, Prema Vivek on the violin, Shuba Santosh on the veena, Rajini Venkatesh on the mirdangam and Bhagyalakshmi Krishna on the morsing.

The five presented a pleasant evening of music - they had to glance over their shoulder to seek the nods of rasikas - for in front of their eyes were raindrops dripping from the pandal in a dark space.

The five will not forget this concert. As prasadam was distributed to mandali members who could not attend the morning puja, the rain stopped but it was time for the music to end too.

Seetharama was happy. "I have been here for over 40 years…I donate one hundred rupees," he said.

In ten minutes, the concert space was deserted and in darkness.