A night of fun: CEOs let their guard down

The mood was mellow, the setting impeccable and the talent remakable. As eight high powered corporate honchos came together on a common platform to share their love for music and raise money for a very worthy cause — saving the lives of children from underpriviledged backgrounds who are critically ill. Some were city-based and some flew in from other metros just to participate in what has become a much anticipated annual fund raiser.The well-chosen line-up of songs included Frank Sinatra’s Fly Me To The Moon, Jason Mraz’s I’m Yours, Whitney Houston’s Saving All My Love, Tina Turner’s The Best and Simon & Garfunkel’s The Boxer. There were also several golden oldies from Bollywood greats like Kishore Kumar and Mohammed Rafi.

The performance was kick started by the irrepressible Dr Thomas Chandy, CMD of Hosmat hospitals , restauranteur and founder member of the Rock and Jazz Revival — a gang of music lovers in the city, active for the last 12 years. “Singing for the Genesis Foundation is up my alley,  so to speak. In spite of my hectic schedule, as the chief Orthopaedic surgeon, as well as the CMD of HOSMAT, an Orthopaedics and Accident Trauma, and Neuro Hospital,” he said.

Geetu Verma, Executive Director, Foods, Hindustan Unilever put a lot of oomph into her act wowing the crowd with her with her voice, making a grand entrance. Mehmood Curmally, M D, Rhythm House literally rocked the house with his version of the Frank Sinatra classic New York. Pankajj Chaturvedi, Executive Director and CEO, Rich Graviss Products received bursts of spontaneous applause for this soulful Hindi classics, while Chandran Sankaran, Founder and CEO, Zyme Solutions and Sanjiv Sarin, Regional President, Tata Global Beverages, South Asia were well appreciated for their Simon and Garfunkel favourites.

The Genesis Foundation has sponsored various treatments for life threatening illnesses from leukemia to open heart surgeries.Over 295 children have benefited through fund raising events such as these with high end sponsors like Pernod Ricard and ITC coming forward to support these events whole heartedly.

“Genesis Foundation’s fundraising events are a lot of fun. We are grateful for the participation of all the ‘CEO’ s Sing for a Cause’,” said Prema Sagar, Founder Trustee, Genesis Foundation.

The evening ended on a high note with a free-for-all jamming session.