Carnatic Music Teacher Recalls Usha Vance As A Student
Photo: A young Usha Chilukuri Vance is shown here during a music recital; in the national spotlight as the wife of the GOP’s Veep nominee (Left)
By REENA RATHORE
LOS ANGELES CA — When Usha Chilukuri Vance, poised and articulate, took the stage at the Republican National Convention to deliver the introductory remarks for her husband, the world saw the wife of JD Vance, U.S. Senator and the Republican vice presidential nominee. But in that shining moment, one pair of eyes saw something different: Dr. Rose Muralikrishnan, her former music teacher, saw the little girl she once nurtured in Carnatic music, blossoming into a woman of intellect and grace on the world stage.
“I was so excited to see her. For me, it was like seeing my own child up there,” Muralikrishnan, who is the founder and CEO of the non-profit Spring Nectar Foundation for Indian Music and Heritage, recalled to India-West. “Seeing her as an adult was an excitement. When I saw her, I thought, ‘Oh my God, that’s my Usha — my baby girl!’ Seeing her on that stage, it gave me chills from head to toe. And instantly, I wrote a message to Lakshmi, that’s Usha’s mom saying, ‘Hey, I can’t believe it. I’m so proud of our little girl.’”
This moment was not just a political milestone, but a deeply personal one for the musician, who had taught Chilukuri-Vance many years ago when she was just a curious, bright-eyed child, eager to learn music.
Their association began in the early ‘90s, when Muralikrishnan was an adjunct professor of Indian classical music at the San Diego State University and taught a “small group of Indian American students.”
“When she was no more than six or seven years old, she was brought to me by her parents — both professors, intelligent, educated, outspoken and outgoing — so it was no surprise that Usha herself was a very brilliant, intelligent girl who always showed enthusiasm in music,” she reminisced to India-West. “I still remember her sitting quietly during class breaks and recitals, always reading a book.”
Her mother is a molecular biologist and provost at the University of California, San Diego and her father is an engineer and a professor in the aerospace engineering department at San Diego State University.
Chilukuri Vance, who was born and raised in San Diego, immersed herself in the world of Carnatic music under Muralikrishnan’s guidance. While her formal training was brief, Muralikrishnan remembered her dedication during that short span of 2-3 years. “When she was a young girl, we always said, ‘When she grows up, she’s going to be a lawyer’… the way she used to talk, it was very bold and she used to talk her views openly, you know, speaking the truth…,” Muralikrishnan said about Chilukuri-Vance, who earned her bachelor’s degree from Yale University and her master’s of philosophy from the University of Cambridge through the Gates Cambridge Scholarship. She went on to study law at Yale where she met Vance.
Time, as it often does, swept them apart. Muralikrishnan, who earned a PhD in Indian music, moved to Santa Monica, CA, and with that, the musical bond they shared came to an end. Muralikrishnan still maintains an affectionate bond with her family, occasionally catching glimpses of her life through social media.
Muralikrishnan’s memories of Chilukuri-Vance remain rooted in those early days of music and discovery, untouched by the political debates that swirl around her now. “I’m not a politician; I’m a musician,” she stated. “As a girl, I enjoyed teaching her and she enjoyed learning. Whenever I see my kids being on the world stage, going above and beyond to achieve something, I get excited just like a mother would.”
An accomplished music composer, songwriter, conductor, and director in the Indian classical music genre, Muralikrishnan has performed at several notable venues, including the Sydney Opera House in Australia, Carnegie Hall in New York, The Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, and Hugh Hodgson School of Music – University of Georgia.
