(Note: If your volume is on, the music you will soon hear is that of Hema singing  - site is best viewed in IE6 or IE7)

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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.

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