Event Report of the musical evening organized by PNLIT and South City Karaoke Club March-2022

After a two-year long hiatus, our Puttakere came alive with music. We resumed our activities at the lake with a tribute to the legendary Lata Mangeshkar. This event held on yesterday (13th March) had singers from the neighbourhood of Puttenahalli Lake such as South City, Brigade Millennium and V S Cozy Apartments, 24th Main coming together to give a memorable performance.

The event which began with the prayer 'Ae Malik Tere Bande Hum' had the audience humming along with the talented artists who presented Lataji’s evergreen songs in Hindi of course but also in Bengali and Tamil. Rendering in flute by Mr. Bala and Mr. Raghavendra Shanbhag’s whistling added depth and enriched the programme.

While Jayashree Govind and Srinivasan Venkataraman (‘Sawan ka mahina’) transported the audience to the classic Nutan and Sunil Dutt starrer, Preeti Kadni and Harsha Anand sang the melodious ‘Kora kagaz tha ye man mera.’ Jayashree Govind’s narration of how Kamal Hasan got Lata Mangeshkar – SPB’s duet song in his Tamil film made the presentation of 'Valai osai kalakala' by Siva Columbus and Priya Ramakrishnan even more interesting. These duets had South City singers teaming up with co-artists from Brigade Millennium.

‘Sagar kinare’ sung by Renu Sadasivan and S. Vijay and Priya Ramakrishnan’s Bengali song ‘Ja re ud ja re panchhi’ seemed particularly suited to the ambience of the venue with Puttenahalli Lake looking fresh and clean with birds in the water and overhead, the leaves of the trees fluttering in the breeze.  

Roli Saraswat introduced the singers with interesting trivia about the composition and sang the classic 'Yeh zindagi usiki hai' beautifully. One of the highlights of the event was a medley of Lata Mangeshkar songs from 1949-2009. A fine selection, well sung by six lady members of the South City Karaoke Club. The finale number 'Ae mere watan ke logo' was not just a truly fitting tribute to the Nightingale of India but a reminder to us all of how much we owe to those brave souls protecting our country and us, the people.

In her brief talk, Usha Rajagopalan from PNLIT thanked the BBMP and BWSSB for rescuing the lake from sewage influx and bringing it to this pristine state. This was made possible by the constant follow-up of the trustees with the government departments. She called upon the 100 odd residents who had come for the event to extend their support to the lake as well. Sapana Rawat welcomed the artists and the audience.

Here are some moments from the event taken by various residents.

(Report inputs provided by Usha Rajagopalan and Vijaya Balasubramanian)

-Sapana, PNLIT Events Coordinator