The lorraine Music Academy organised informative sessions to talk about national issues and how today's youth can participate in nation-building. MD Aubrey Aloysius chatted with Shrabasti Mallik
Did you know that the correct code of singing our national anthem, as laid out in the Constitution, is around 52 secondsIJ Forget that, many even forget to stand in respect when it is played or sung, which also is recommended in the Constitution. It is this lack of awareness that gave birth to the National Patriotic Project “Come India Sing Jana Gana Mana”, an initiative by lorraine Music Academy, to educate the masses about the right code and mannerisms. “Youngsters find national anthem on Youtube. Half of the videos do not adhere to the code. Our anthem has a martial theme, it is not to be sung as a raag,” explains Aubrey Aloysius, MD of the Academy. The academy holds regular workshops in school assemblies around the city and arrange special workshops for student leaders, teachers and corporate leaders, making them aware of their responsibilities. “They make a hue and cry about their rights,” Aubrey says, “but they don’t understand that rights are balanced by duties. And it’s our duty to abide by what the rules tell us, only then will we prove the saying unity in diversity.” To reach out to a wider population the initiative encourages everyone to participate in a “Come India Sing” nation-wide contest, where contestants are encouraged to express what the national anthem means to them. They also sing patriotic songs and and record them. “It’s an open participation and it aims to reach the odd 3 crore Indians in 223 countries. We are working with the government to further our purpose,” Aubrey explains.
In addition to that, the academy also looks forward to propagate the sense of patriotism and to remember the ideals that the founding fathers of our nation followed. They also organised “A Music Memorial — Remembering Mahatma Gandhi & lal Bahadur Shastri” recently. The musical tribute included performances of Gandhi’s favourite hymns and a few patriotic songs like Raghupati Raghava, Vaishno Jana To and Jay Jay Mataram.
The memorial included “The Thinkers Forum”, an interaction with Neera Shashtri, daughter-in-law of lal Bahadur Shastri and Radha Bhatt, chairperson, Gandhi Peace Foundation. “We find most of the young generation cribbing about how things are not right with the country and how evils like corruption, poverty and illiteracy, amongst many, still prevail. They do not realise that the free air that we breathe is the result of the sacrifices that our freedom fighters made,” Aubrey points out. The interaction aims to delve into the noble qualities, ideals, ethics and the values that the freedom fighters followed and to instill the same ideals in the present generation.
He feels that only if the present generation is educated correctly and made aware of their rights, duties and responsibilities, then the future of the country will be in safe hands. He also knows that the change in attitude will not come immediately. “If we remember the hardships that our leaders went through and realise the sense of sacrifice that went in to bring freedom to India, only then will Satyamev Jayate will truly prevail,” he rounds off.