An anthem for Chennai

Every year, it is during the days leading to Madras Week and during the week itself that you bump into people you have never known before but with whom you instantly strike a chord.

One such person is Malini Visweswaran. I haven’t met her as yet but we have been talking on the phone the past couple of weeks and she strikes me as somebody who can play a useful part in the days ahead in efforts to preserve the city’s heritage.

Malini first called to speak about her son who had composed music, at least most of it, for a song about the city; it was a song he had composed as a sort of Chennai anthem during an earlier programme. She found Madras Week the ideal platform to highlight the efforts of her son and to complete what he had left unfinished.

Malini has spoken to members of the music band, Oxygen, who were known to her son. The group will now complete the composition and present it at Hotel Green Park on Madras Day (August 22) at 6.45pm. And as Oxygen plays, pictures of parts of Chennai mentioned in the lyrics will unfold on a screen in the hall. The performance may not last more than 15 minutes, but it will bring to public view for the first time a certain facet of the city from the eyes of a youngster and also bring to fruition a small part of his dream.

Malini has also volunteered to help out during Madras Week. Thank you, Malini, for your wonderful gesture.

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