• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • CommentGo Back
 
Monday,February23,2009
ABYTE OF LIFE
FREE CIRCULATION
Vol. 3No. 34
WORKING WITH A START-UP
The pros and cons
0511
RAZZIE HALLOF SHAME
Winners of the world’smost dreaded awardsannounced
RAHMANIA 
Ahead of the Oscars,Ergo met Rahmaniac,A.R. Rahman’s unique fan club. Plus, oldbuddies of ARR talk about the ‘kutty rowdy’.
»
Pages 02 & 03
 T h e  Ra h ma n ia c  t ea m
   P   H   O   T   O  :   R .   R   A   V   I   N   D   R   A   N
 
ERGO
Monday, February 23, 2009
NAMMA CHENNAI
02
 Axe for accomplice?
A woman inspector was recentlysuspended on charges of taking bribefrom a woman complainant. Reliablekhakis suspect that it was aplanned operation to trap thelady cop. Apparently, theaccused inspector isknown to have a closeally in crime, a ladyconstable, who hadbeen acting as liaison.Police circles believe theaxe could next fall onthe constable.
On fire, literally 
The Government Railway Police(GRP) at the Chennai Central stationare an annoyed bunch as theirworkplace on the first floor is justabove a hotel kitchen. The heat fromthe oven is keeping the khakisliterally on fire day in and day out.Desperate attempts by the policemento shift the police station to adifferent spot on the railway stationpremises have gone in vain.
‘Fire-proof’
The recent violence betweenadvocates and police on the HighCourt premises resulted in the HighCourt police station turning to ashesand records saved inside destroyed.Reliable police sources say that sometop cops had predicted the attack onthe station and had taken awaycrucial records and FIRs to a safelocation.
 A 
s prayers and wishes comefor the ‘Mozart of Chennai’from across countries,some of his fellow musi-cians in Namma Chennai jog their memory on the Rahmanthey knew.The success story of Rahman, which started with Mani Rat-nam’s
Roja,
is well-known, but what about the days when he juststarted out? A couple of musi-cians from maestro Ilayaraja’steam, where he began his career,recall A.R. Rahman transformfrom a keyboard player to an in-ternationally-acclaimed musiccomposer.“The transformation of a tal-ented, naughty boy Dileep Kumarinto a suave Allah Rakha Rahmanis almost magical,” recalls CelloSelvaraj, a musician and compos-er at All India Radio. “No one would believe if I say Rahman was a fun-loving kid during histeens. He started with jingles andit was during that time that he joined Ilayaraja’s team. When itcomes to work he is very serious,otherwise it is a lot of fun. No wonder a hard worker like Rah-man got such honours,” says Sel-varaj, who has worked withRahman even in his movies.“Brilliant musician is what Ican say about Rahman. He inno-vates a lot, and never sticks to therulebook. In fact, his contributionto
Punnagai Mannan
songs arenot known to the world. He triedto create wonders even with “twotracks” in his earlier days. He wassuch a naughty boy, but now he isunbelievably silent. He was eventhe
kutty rowdy 
of the team. Wefeel proud of Rahman for his suc-cess,” said another musician oncondition of anonymity.
■
The transformation of naughty Dileep Kumar to international composer Allah Rakha Rahmanis as magical as his music 
V.HARIPRIYA
haripriya@goergo.in
A file photo of A.R. Rahman
The kutty rowdy
Dance like a ...
FitnessOne is organising ‘Dancercise’ – a contest for womenabove 18 years to celebrate Women’s Day. Participants arerequired to perform a combination of different elements offitness related dance steps. For details call 2647 8787/ 2467 1222.
‘‘
No won-der a hardworker likeRahman got suchhonours.
‘Cello’ Selvaraj 
 
Monday, February 23, 2009
03
“A 
.R. RahmanRocks!”, “I am adie-hard fan of Rahman. I love allhis compositions”, “I nevermiss collecting his songs.”These are some commonquotes that A.R. Rahman elic-its among fans and other ce-lebrities. But here are fans with a difference. Fans with anew vision.No doubt they too are die-hard fans of ARR, but they stand ahead of others in thepath they have chosen. They are not a registered fan club. And they call themselves‘Rahmaniac’.“We don’t have a fan clubas such. We are just followersof ARR,” says Rakesh, a mem-ber of Rahmaniac.These Rahmaniacs came toknow each other through acommunity on Orkut for A.R.Rahman that has more thanfive lakh members. Throughthis community some of thefans in Chennai decided tomeet, and their first meeting  was at Music World, AnnaNagar, in 2007. “There wereonly five to six members dur-ing our first meeting. But,gradually, the team startedgrowing.” says Rakesh. “Fromthen on Music World becamea hub for us to meet.” After they met each otherthey were keen on doing so-mething unique. At the sametime, being ARR fans they  wanted to keep themselvesinvolved in music. “Ap-proaching many radio sta-tions and doing a show weresome of the initial ideas thatstruck our mind. But we ulti-mately came up with the ideaof doing events at orphanagesand old-age homes,” says Vithur, another Rahmaniac.It was during their searchfor an event to conduct thatthey came across Nethro-daya, a school and place forthe visually challenged. OnDecember 30, 2007, they con-ducted their first charity show. Rakesh formed a bandof Rahman’s musician fansand a concert was held. “Al-most 50 to 70 fans came forthe event. And the visually challenged had a great timelistening to music. We alsoconducted quizzes involving their auditory senses. Theevent was held on the Neth-rodaya premises in Mogap-pair. The proprietor, Mr.Gopi, helped us a lot in thisregard. The event was a greatsuccess and we had wishespouring in from various A.R.Rahman fans worldwide,” re-calls Rakesh.“We got the inspiration forthese activities from ARRhimself. He, being the UN Ambassador for the eradica-tion of poverty, also startedan ARR Foundation with thisview. So with his inspiration we wanted to help some de-serving souls,” says Karthik,another Rahmaniac. And following the successat Nethrodaya, their wheelsdidn’t stop. They continuedto do regular services at or-phanages and old-age homes.But a beggar’s approach foralms made the Rahmaniacsthink differently. “When wereat the Anna Nagar Music World thinking about how togo about the services, a beg-gar came asking for alms tofeed himself. We pooled inour money and bought somebiryani packs. We set off onour bikes and distributedthem among the needy wefound on roadsides,” says Ra-kesh.Since February last year,they have been distributing food among people on road-sides every Sunday, targeting one area a week.The most unforgettablemoment of their lives, howev-er, came the day they met A.R.Rahman for the first time. OnJanuary 6, 2008, these Rah-maniacs celebrated his birth-day at his place.
■
Instead of garlanding their idol’s photograph or dedicating speeches tohim, a bunch of A.R. Rahman fans who met on Orkut are workingtowards a better society. Here’s to Rahman mania and Rahmaniac 
MONISHA MOHANDAS
Fans, but no empty wind
Showing ‘The Class’
The Alliance Francaise of Madras in collaboration withNDTV Lumiere and ICAF will host the film that won theGolden Palm of the Cannes Film Festival.
The Class
will bescreened at the AFM auditorium at 6.30 p.m. today. Fordetails call 2827 9803/ 2827 1477.
We got theinspiration for these activitiesfrom ARRhimself. He,being the UN  Ambassador for theeradication of  poverty, also started an ARRFoundationwith this view 
TheRahmaniacteamcelebratesA.R.Rahman’sbirthday athis place
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...