THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Celebrations on the personal front the citizens have almost ceased to mark the country’s Independence Day. At best, a flag- hoisting ceremony in educational institutions or residential areas will see small gatherings incomparably out of proportion with the crowds that throng reality show finales. In defiance to this lukewarm welcome to I-Day is a jolly musical treat hosted in the city by the Sangam Kala Group. The open-to-all ‘gana mela’, complete with orchestra, microphones and loudspeakers, begins at 10 am and goes on till 8 pm. “Till 4 pm, anybody can try their vocal abilities, and after that, the Sangam singers stage a professional musical treat for the crowds,” says R Velayudhan, president of the Thiruvananthapuram Chapter of Sangam. The Delhi-based registered cultural organisation has 70 units across the country and the three chapters in Kerala are in Nilambur, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram. Just as on the ten I-Days that have come and gone since the Sangam’s ritual began at the Poojappura mandapam, singers - amateur and otherwise - turned out in plenty on Monday to relish the licence to sing. Velayudhan, who has been the president for the past 15 years, says he has cherished memories of people who were filled with gratitude that they could fulfill their wish of singing to the accompaniment of a complete orchestra. “Year before last, we had an 80-year-old retired headmaster who was moved to tears after he sang ‘Easwara chinta...’. The next year when he didn’t turn up, we enquired about him only to find out that he had passed away. If we were able to fulfill his dream in our simple way, we are grateful to God,’’ he recalls. Playback singer Rajalakshmi, a member of the Sangam group and the winner of the group’s annual music contest held in Delhi, came to the event and sang a song expressing her solidarity with the cause of her alma mater. The group meets every second Saturday at the Omkar Studio in Poojappura from 6 pm to 8 pm to practise live auditions. Aspiring singers can also hope to find other platforms with the group and its professional training. Many of the members have found entry to reality shows and Devika Balasubramaniom even bagged the title in Kairali TV’s music show last year. The I-Day gana mela on Monday was interspersed with quizzical interludes by Velayudhan. The crowds were seen shouting their answers just for the fun of it and bagging ball pens as prizes. Singing and laughing and making merry was definitely a good way of marking the Independence Day than buying a plastic flag and thoughtlessly dumping it in the waste bin the next day.
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