Biennale Music: Doctors Wield Microphones to Regale Patients

KOCHI:
Temporarily doffing their gloves and white aprons, two doctors of the General Hospital, Ernakulam, decided to wield the microphones instead of their stethoscopes to regale the patients by crooning lilting songs in the all-Wednesday Arts and Medicine show organised by the Kochi Biennale Foundation here today.
Dr. Rani J S, Consultant Obstetrician and Gynecologist, and Dr. Sreedhar Kumar, a paediatrician at the NICU, dished out an exuberant performance while performing at the therapeutic music show for the patients along with professional singers Ratheesh Madhavan, Saritha Jalil and Sunil Pariyaram. Consulting patients is part of a doctor’s job and being on call for a therapeutic music session is a passionate hobby. “Studies have proved that music reduces stress and boosts immunity. The serenading music offers patients an inner therapy that is missing from drugs and surgery — one that sets their mood to help them heal better,” Dr. Rani said.
The effortless singing of the staffers and singers who accompanied them elicited an enthusiastic applause from the audience comprising patients, bystanders and medical staffers. Dr. Rani began the show with the flawless rendition of the song ‘Devatharu Poothu’, and followed it up with songs like ‘Poomaname’, ‘Manjanikombil’, and ‘Varmukile’. Dr. Sreedhar sang the captivating song ‘PichaVecha Naal Muthalku’. Later, singers Ratheesh, Saritha, Sunil and Dr. Rani took turns to croon popular duets for the crowd. Dr. Rani and Ratheesh crooned one duet while Saritha and Sunil delivered two duets, which formed the part of a mellifluous medley of 17 songs.
An enthusiastic music student under the tutelage of Shyamala Surendran, Dr. Rani pursues her passion for classical music and rehearses whenever she can to keep herself ready for a rendition. Ratheesh has done playback singing in one Malayalam movie while Saritha and Sunil are professional singers.
This week marked the 205th episode of ‘Arts and Medicine’ programme which started in 2014. A joint initiative of KBF and Mehboob Memorial Orchestra, it is sponsored by Casino Air Caterers and Flight Services (CAFS).