She has met Annadurai, Periyar, Kamarajar and other great leaders from the past. And she has sung to honour them. This self-learnt musician-cum-composer lives and breathes music. So much so that at an age of 93, Rukmani Ammal, fondly called Rukmani Patti by her family and neighbours, is still giving a few public performances in the city, whenever invited.
Patriotism, freedom, right to education for the girl child, women’s rights, drug addiction, caste system are broadly the themes she chooses to sing about. When she is in a joyful mood, she also sings dappan koothu songs.
“I have sung in the praise of Annadurai during his Assembly election campaign in Kancheepuram. Music has been an inseparable part of my life right from childhood. I can sing about anything and everything,” says Rukmani Patti and breaks into a song on mosquitoes and their disease-spreading qualities. There is not a quaver in her voice.
She can teach you Mahabaratha, Ramayana and talk to you about Gandhi and Nehru, all through her singing. It is surprising that she has received little formal education. “I can read Tamil but can’t write it. Most of what I know is from stories I heard from my husband. I got interested and started to read on different subjects. This became the source for the lyrics,” says this resident of K.K. Nagar, who has never written down a single song she has composed. It is all in the memory, she says. For her children’s and grandchildren’s sake, she has made a few cassettes of her compositions. For her singing talent and contribution to the freedom movement, Kakkum Karangal, a voluntary group, recently honoured her with a memento.
