As i was waiting at Gate D10 at LaGuardia Airport, i thought I will go and get a cup of coffee. While waiting in the line to pay for my coffee I saw KJ Yesudas walking with his traditional white dress and i smiled at him and he smiled back at me. I couldn't resist and went and talked to him. Since i had to pay for my coffee, he told me that he is at gate D6. After paying for my coffee, i went and talked to him.
It was a very pleasant conference. I told him that his is a "theiveega kural", meaning divine voice. He was curiously asking me about my research related to the hard disk drive. When i told him currently we are working on a problem he commented that in science a problem is not the problem in the manner in which we refer to it in everyday life, but rather a problem whose solution is not yet there.
He said that it was mostly God's gift that he is able to sing. He was telling me about the meaning of word "kadavul".
Of the many songs i have in my collection, i could only mention the following three to him
- Theivam thantha veedu
- Mandhiram idhu mandhiram
- Neeyum bommai, naanum bommai
Actually I told him about a "sirappu thenkinam" i heard when I was a 8 years old on vividh bharathi, in 1982 and referred to him about a comment he made about the song that his son vinod likes. He told me it was "En iniya pon nilave".
Usually i don't fly out of LaGuardia, as the flights invariably get delayed there. I am thankful that I did chose LGA this time around.
