KOCHI:
A regular at the ‘Arts and Medicine’ programme and a familiar face usually seen singing on streets, social activist and civil engineer T K Moni broke the morning silence at the Government General Hospital today with a commendable performance along with her team. The 90-minute show for patients at the programme marked the 240th edition of the all-Wednesday series being organised by the Kochi Biennale Foundation (KBF).
Not many in the crowd knew about the artiste’s twin life: Moni works as an engineer for the first half of the day and devotes her hours from afternoon to social service. That chiefly features singing in the streets to collect money for treating those ailing.
Moni, who comes from a humble background from Vaduthala in this city’s suburb, says her ability to sing helps her relate with the needy at a personal level. “In a way, it’s a blessing in disguise,” she says, making light of herself. For the record, Moni has performed on the biennale stage a couple of occasions earlier. “It gives me immense satisfaction to be able to offer therapeutic music for the solace of patients.”
Moni had, by mobilising his friends living in from foreign countries, collected Rs 2 lakh for the treatment of a youngster suffering from osteoarthritis. That sum, meant for 22-year-old Jinu Louis, was handed over to her mother Sherly Louis at the programme.
Moni’s fellow artistes on the stage today were all engineers: Kochiite Firoze Khan (also a filmmaker), Saudi Arabia-based employee Prashanth E K and Mumbaikar Raveendra Nath. Typically, this edition of ‘Art and Medicine’ the KBF holds as a therapeutic music event in association with Mehboob Memorial Orchestra, marked another get-together of amateur musicians to showcase their talent.
Moni, who is a Thekkan Star Media Award winner for social service and a winner of the Real Hero award from Rotary International, captivated the audience with ditties such as ‘Kanan Nalla Kinakkal’, ‘Konna Poove’, ‘Swarna Mukile’ and ‘Apparilipparalu’.
Ravindra Nath started off the concert with ‘Kera Nirakal Aadum’ (film: Jalolsavam [2004]) followed by 14 more film songs.
The fourth edition of the KBF’s Kochi-Muziris Biennale begins this December 12 and will conclude on March 29 next year.
