As schoolgirls, the Menon sisters used to run home so they could catch the song requests on Radio Ceylon. They would note down the lyrics eagerly, filling in the blanks when the same song played again, so they could sing along too. The elder of the two, Nirupama, topped the All India Civil Services Examination and went on to become India’s foreign secretary from 2009 to ‘11.
Her younger sister became a surgeon in the Indian Navy. She was the first lady officer from all three wings of the armed forces to get into the National Defence College in Delhi, and was the first lady commanding officer of one of India’s largest naval hospitals, INHS Asvini, earning prestigious awards such as the Vishisht Seva Medal.
One got to hear that schoolgirl’s voice once again when Rear Admiral (retd) Dr Nirmala Kannan, now 71, participated at the Hope and Harmony concert on July 21 in Bengaluru. The concert was organised by The Teacher Foundation to raise funds for the professional development of teachers.
“I’ve always loved to sing, and I’m really happy that I get to do it for a cause,” says Nirmala, adding that she has lent her voice to the Armed Forces Battle Casualties Fund in Coimbatore, the National Defence Fund in Kochi, and for children with special needs in Thiruvananthapuram.
Rear Admiral Nirmala Kannan
Nirmala says it was in Pune that she first went up on a stage to sing at the age of four. Throughout her childhood, college and medical school, and while working in different parts of the country, she continued to sing. This surgeon in obstetrics and gynaecology believes it keeps her young at heart and after retiring from the Indian Navy, Nirmala joined a group of singers.
Following the pandemic, her husband Vice Admiral (retd) B Kannan suggested she start a YouTube channel. His encouragement was not surprising considering it was Nirmala’s music that first brought them together so many decades ago. Nirmala was pleasantly surprised by the response she garnered online and decided to seriously pursue this path.
Professional recording required Nirmala to choose the best songs for the medium and finding good quality track music that would suit her timbre. “My videographer makes me sing each song at least three times, and then plays them back so we can select the best take,” says the self-taught guitarist.
Nirmala Kannan | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
A quick learner, Nirmala has always been ready to go on new adventures whether it was white-water rafting or participating in a car rally or learning to play the piano. Once a regular squash and badminton player, today she restricts herself to golf and some form of daily aerobics. Despite juggling her many roles in the Navy, and at home as wife, mother or grandmother, Nirmala says she is happy she always found time for her first love, music.
The joy in Nirmala’s voice is what must have caught the attention of an 18-year old rapper who wrote to her and asked if they could sing a song together. “I asked this rapper, Aditi Nair, to finish her studies and then let me know if she was still interested. She promptly did, and we recorded a song over the Parambithara Bridge in Kochi at 6am on a rainy day. Then, as the sun came out, we broke into ‘Here comes the Sun’!”
Composed by George Harrison of the Beatles, it is one of Nirmala’s favourites among others by Joan Baez, Louis Armstrong, Lynn Anderson, Engelbert Humperdinck, ABBA and Neil Diamond.
“I have many role models. Look at Usha Uthup and her sister Indira Srinivasan! I keep telling women that there is no need to give up on the things we enjoy, and that, retirement is not the end of the road,” says Nirmala, who mentored the first batch of non-medical women officers recruited by the Armed Forces in 1992. “You can’t give up!” she told them, since the training was strenuous both physically and mentally, and to their credit, not one from that batch did.
Maya Menon, director of The Teacher Foundation for over 20 years, sees a similar struggle and perseverance in the teaching field, and the same need for mentorship. “As per the National Education Policy 2020, every teacher is supposed to go through 50 hours of professional development annually,” she says. “Music offers hope and joy. It also offers opportunities to make our schools meaningful spaces of learning.”
