Having spent his childhood and the rest of the formative years in the Nallur suburb of tropical Jaffna, Balamurugan is particular that he plays the instrument bare-chested—as is the archetypal look of a nadaswaram vidwan. This is something he sticks to even while performing in very cool climes like, say, a temple in trans-Atlantic America. That way, he contrasts with TNR, who carried with him the spirit to defy the conventional dress code—and missed no chance to wear a shirt and, sometimes, trousers or even something else he thought would lend him the looks of a Hindustani musician. TNR’s Thiruvaduthurai village (in Thanjavur belt) is fertile and green, as opposed to the place from Balamurugan’s traces his ancestry. The new-age nadaswaram player’s forefathers are from low-rain Pudukkottai region, known for its rocky hills, semi-arid soil and high temperature round the year.