Former diplomat chooses music to ‘orchestrate’ South Asian peace
LUCKNOW: From the high table of diplomacy to an accomplished performer’s perspective in the concert halls, former foreign secretary Nirupama Menon Rao has made a musical transition in the quest for harmony among nations.
She believes music can be instrumental in realising her long cherished dream of promoting better harmony and peace in the South Asian region. Rao, along with her Sri Lankan pianist friend Soundarie David Rodrigo, wants to set up a trust to realise this musical goal. Rao, who served as India’s envoy to the United States, China and Sri Lanka in her distinguished career, wants to develop the concept of a South Asian Symphony to foster harmony among the youth of the region.
“Music is a single unifying platform for peaceful creative expression. For example, western music, involves coordination and creation of harmony between different instrumentalists who all come together to form a group, creating unity out of diversity,” she told HT. Rao has spent the last few months thinking of ways to bring together the youth of South Asia.
“The concept of a Western orchestra was the answer I felt,” she said. She feels South Asia is one of the least integrated regions. “But the good thing is that we have so much to share in common like history, culture, and ethnicity,” she said. Acknowledging the existence of conflict and confrontation, the former diplomat suggests: “It’s time we inform the population about the ways of peace. Music plays a unique role in forging understanding. I firmly believe in what Vijayalakshmi Pandit said 60 years ago in the United Nations. She said: “Let us sweat in peace. Let us not bleed in war.” The retired envoy plans to set up a trust. “One has to seed this idea to unite musical talent of all the eight SAARC countries to work as a team. We will defy stereotypes.” she says.
Nirupama Rao has sung since early childhood as a hobby and for recreation, giving a number of vocal western music concerts over the years. She is also an avid bibliophile and has a collection of old books on India and South Asia.
She topped the All India Civil Services Examination in 1973 and joined the Indian Foreign Service,
Music is a single unifying platform for peaceful creative expression. For example, western music, involves coordination and creation of harmony between different instrumentalists who all come together to form a group, creating unity out of diversity,
NIRUPAMA MENON RAO, former foreign secretary
fulfilling a childhood dream. She has had an illustrious career path and was the foreign secretary, India’s first woman ambassador to China, and also the first Indian woman to be high commissioner to Sri Lanka.