‘Perariyathoru penkidave, ninte nerariyunnu njan padunnu...’ begins O N V Kurup’s poem ‘Kothambumanikal.’ The meaningful words proved a befitting start to a poignant gathering at Manaveeyam Veedi on Tuesday, where a handful of poets and singers turned up to pay a musical tribute to the 23-year-old girl victim of the Delhi gangrape.
Organised by the Devarajan Master Foundation and Thiruvananthapuram Music Fraternity, the musical gathering was meant to ‘evoke shame in a society that tramples upon women’s rights at every step.’’ Having the bust of music maestro G Devarajan in the background, the musical evening began sans any kind of formalities with ONV’s masterpiece creation put to tune and sung by Sumesh Krishnan.
The chairs remained vacant during the first half hour. Here and there, people stood listening, some stood gulping tea in the nearby stall, youngsters who were hanging out at the Veedi did not bother to take the chairs, even senior citizens who otherwise make it a point to attend evening gatherings in the city were few. Women returning from work cast a glance or peeped out of bus windows. Those who thronged the nearby temple at Althara preferred to stay away. It largely remained the business of a few people who could not enter a new year without remembering ‘the girl.’
But slowly, people started trickling in, at least to make a decent audience to a significant evening. Though women were few in number, those gathered were ready to acknowledge the emotion that filled the air. Sriram, singer and AIR artist, sang ‘Kannuneer thulliye...’ which was followed by a rendering of the poem ‘Penvazhi’ by Vinod Vaisakhi, the district secretary of PuKaSa. Playback singer Rajalakshmi crooned ‘Chirikumbol koode chirikkan...’ Kavalam Sreekumar rendered Sugathakumari’s poem ‘Ratrimazha.’
Musician M Jayachandran, who dropped in, said, ‘’no words can describe the loss to humanity that the girl’s death has brought.’’ He dedicated a song from his movie ‘Perumazhakalam’ which went ‘’rakili than vazhi marayum...’’
The rendering of the Malayalam version of actor Amitabh Bachchan’s poem on the girl’s tragedy which had appeared in his blog, by young Kanchana, was fraught with emotion. Her moving and deep voice marked the real ambiance of the evening and many were moved to tears.
Another half-an-hour and after a couple of more poems and songs, the evening ended. With the hope that there wouldn’t be a similar gathering where heads had to be bent in shame; where a song ended not in cheer but pure silence...