ALAPPUZHA: ‘Howdy Modi’, the mega show featuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump in Houston, Texas on Sunday, is the talk of the town.
Mankombu, a village in Kuttanad, has enough reasons to cheer about the mega event. Shraddha Mohan, 28, who has connections with Mankombu, received accolades in the show when her team rendered the welcome song at the jam-packed NRG Stadium in Houston.
The fusion welcome song composed by Rushi Patel in Hindi and English was enjoyed by viewers across the world.
Shraddha, whose husband Vivek Subrahmaniyan belongs to the Cheriyamadom family in Mankombu, was the lead singer of the four-member group which rendered the song ‘We are proud of you’ to the accompaniment of dancers.
“I was selected as team leader through a pan-US competition. I am a member of ‘Indian Raga’, an organisation of Carnatic musicians in the US. The organisers selected me to lead the team,” Shraddha told Express over the phone from Houston. Shraddha, who hails from Chennai, married Vivek in 2015 and they have a five-month-old son.
Her mother Mala Swami, who is the principal of Kalakshetra in Chennai, is a famous musician.
Shraddha was trained in classical musical by her mother from childhood. She received a two-year scholarship from the Union Ministry of Cultural Affairs and it was completed under Suguna Varadachari. She was also awarded the M S Subbalakshmi Award and Spirit of Youth Award instituted by the Madras Music Academy.
Vivek is a chemical engineer. He is the grandson of the late Ambiswami (Venkitachalam) who was the president of Pulinkunnu panchayat for more than 25 years.