Mala Ramadorai, Carnatic Musician, Origami Expert
Mala Ramadorai is a Carnatic Musician. She is an Origami Expert. She is also associated with Muziki which is music for kids. At Muziki, Mala teaches music to kids.
Podcast
Overview
It is said that behind every successful man, there is a woman. But, our guest for today says that besides every successful man there is a woman.
We are privileged to welcome Mrs. Mala Ramadorai for our podcast today.
Mala Ramadorai is a Carnatic Musician. She is an Origami Expert. She is also associated with Muziki which is music for kids.
Mala’s journey from Carnatic music to Hindustani style music
Mala tells us that she started singing Carnatic music at home at the age of 8. She believes that it came naturally to her. By the time she got married, she had won many awards in it.
She was passionate about music and wanted to pursue it as her career. As she shifted to Bombay, she had to travel a lot to reach the master’s place to polish her skills.
So she decided to change her style from Carnatic music to Hindustani style music for easy access to learning. Her music teacher of Hindustani style music later suggested her to get into more formal studies of that music.
She liked the idea and went to a University to inquire about the bachelor’s course. There she met Dr. Prabha Atre, who invited her to the audition. Dr. Prabha Atre was so impressed by her singing that she offered her the Master’s course instead of Bachelor’s.
Mala says that multiple music styles coexist in her because of the greatness of her gurus.
Talking about her gurus, Mala tells us that she has always got great gurus, who have encouraged her to give performances and have supported her in every aspect.
She also tells us that she was encouraged by her gurus to have her own style instead of imitating other styles.
What was the motivation behind the formation of Muziki?
At Muziki, Mala teaches music to kids. She tells us that when she went for the interview for her first job as a History teacher in a school, the Principal asked her to teach music as well.
She refused as she did not have a proper education in music till then. Later, after her mentors advised her, she took the job and started teaching music to kids. This passion continued and she still teaches music to kids.
How did Mala start making Origami?
Mala was once suffering from jaundice when she was a kid. At that time, her uncle brought her a book of Origami to keep her occupied on her bed as she didn’t need to move out to make Origami. She was quite fascinated with that.
As she was in the University to learn music, she came to know about an Origami workshop going on next door. That workshop was being conducted by two of her friends.
She got together with them and formed a society called Origami Mitra to engage more and more people with Origami.
Mala believes that the art of Origami is thriving in our country. However, it is still not considered an art form.
Wives supporting husbands in their careers
Mala tells us that wives always support their husband’s in many things. They are always backing them and are ready for every kind of conversation with their husbands.
Apart from this Mala tells us that while she was working as a teacher for teachers at SchoolNet, she used to see a lot of youngsters who were living without their families.
She found out that they were not in their best mental state and needed some reassurance and mental support. Mala started to interact with the wives of the senior management in the TCS and launched TCS Maitri with them twenty years ago.
She believed that they could do something for the youngsters together. She trained the wives and they took many initiatives together to improve the lives of the men working at TCS.
Profile
Mala Ramadorai is a person of many interests; the foremost is of course Classical Music. Having started very young with Carnatic Music it was much later that she changed tracks. The plunge into the Hindustani Style necessitated a temporary suspension of Carnatic Vocal to avoid a transfer of training from one style to another.
Now the two reside side by side drawing the best from each other! Small informal engagements with the son’s school like teaching Origami to the kids and some songs in the classroom lead to a curiosity with the teaching/learning process.
Realizing that formal training in this area would help Mala go back to school! Soon education became a passion-having gained experience in school management, teacher training it was quite a natural transition to corporate employee engagement.
Passionate about bringing about awareness to Indian culture, Mala is now engaged in conducting a series of workshops on Indian music, differences and similarities in north and south Indian music and so on. A series of children’s workshops ‘MusiK’i (Music For Kids) are also taking place regularly at the National Center for the Performing Arts with Inner Courtyard.
