CHENNAI: Gaiety, music and welfare assistance to the needy marked the birthday celebrations of M K M Arivunidhi, M K Muthu’s son and Chief Minister M Karunanidhi’s grandson, at an auditorium in Santhome, here on Sunday.
The famed music composer duo of yesteryear, Viswanathan- Ramamurthy, legendary singers T M Soundararajan, Balamurali Krishna and lyricist Vairamuthu graced the function.
On the occasion, a charitable and education trust in memory of Karunanidhi’s first wife and Arivunidhi’s grandmother Padmavathy Ammayar was inaugurated by T K Ramamurthy and welfare assistance was given on behalf of the trust. Several dozens of sewing machines, bicycles for students and the physically challenged were also given away.
Arivunidhi recalled how his grandmother Padmavathy Ammayar gave away her golden Thali (mangalsutra) to Kalaignar to sell it and settle the printing dues of Murasoli in its beginning years.
Vairamuthu said Arivunidhi had artistic traits in his blood and wished that the young man would touch new heights as a singer.
The venue got so jampacked that it became extremely difficult to take even a single step forward or backward.
For some time, it was a near-stampede like situation with the beneficiaries trying to storm the stage to get the assistance.