CHENNAI: At an awards ceremony organised recently by the Rotary Club of Madras East, the cynosure of all eyes was a frail, modest music teacher, who had been chosen as recipient of the Dronacharya Award for accomplished teachers.
Alamelu Mani, who was the senior recipient of this award, carried herself with no special airs. To most in the audience at the event, her accomplishments were winning a Gold Medal of the AIR Competition and the Sangeetha Booshana title by Sri Ranjini Sangeetha Sabha. However, they were in for a surprise when the emcee of the event later revealed that the singer was not just a musician in her own right but the mother of the internationally acclaimed music maestro Hariharan.
Despite the sudden spurt of interest it created in her among the audience, the senior musician, in her acceptance speech, chose to only thank the organisers for recognising her work and did not speak a word about her star-son. The other recipient of the award was D Sreekumar, skating coach.