Music College cries for amenities

Vizianagaram: Music College at Vizianagaram has a glorious past. It has produced luminaries like P Suseela, Ghantasala Venkateswara Rao S Rajeswara Rao and others.

However, the glorious days are in the past and the college which was established by then kings of Vizianagaram in 1919 is in dire need of amenities.

Infrastructure in the college requires immediate attention. The college which honed the top talents, who are working in All India Radio and Doordarshan, is on the lookout for funds to make repairs to the damaged auditorium.

The college saw eminent violinists like Dwaram Venkata Swami Naidu and Dwaram Durga Prasad, who served as teachers and principal of the college.

Even ‘Harikatha Pitamaha’ Adibhatla Narayana Dasu has close association with the prestigious college. But, the halcyon days are things of past.

The college is offering many courses like veena, naada swaram (dolu & sannai) vocal, violin and mridangam. At present around 450 students are studying in these college and most of the students are part timers, enrolled for six years diploma courses. The government is not providing post metric scholarships to the students and they are facing financial hardships.

The walls and ceiling are getting faded. Roof of the auditorium was broken in many places and it was in no position to host programmes.
Govinda, a second year mridangam student of Nellimarla village said that he was looking for a part-time job as there are no scholarships.

“I have to study four more years to earn diploma. Without scholarships, it is very difficult to make the ends meet,” he said.

Meanwhile, the faculty of the college opine that introduction of new courses will attract more students, which may give the much needed impetus. Radha Krishna, asst professor of mridangam said that they appealed the government to introduce the diploma courses in flute and in harikatha.

“Flute is a nice instrument and youth are interested to learn it. So we proposed the government to start the course,” he added.

Speaking to The Hans India, Anuradha principal of the college admitted that the building, which was older than the college was in a pathetic condition. “Ceiling needs to be renovated, water leaks from it during rainy season,” she said.