It is hard to say which came first ... the Dragon Fly Veena™ or it's fifties variety V-shaped guitar. Nevertheless it seems that both had their impact on a certain musical style, which is surf music.

The actual instrument was discovered in a lonely uninhabited shed on Kovalam Beach in tropical South India. Before Kovalam was discovered by the maladjusted hippies already the Dragon Fly Veena™ (or Thumbi Veena in Malayalam) was recorded in a local newspaper back in 1958. It was said to be played in a new Keralan movie about crazy nightly dance-parties, starring Praveen V.P. and Murali Gosh. Although musically there seemed to be little resemblance between the American West Coast's surf music and it's South Indian variety, both were set against a background of beach sports.

The Dragon Fly Veena™ actually was a very early Green Onion design, although not catologued at that time.