HYDERABAD CHAPTER
PRESIDENT
S RAMAKRISHNA
MANAGING COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Mrs. Radha Chandar (Ladies' Rep), R. Padmanabhan, G. Sunder Rajan, Sunil Sharma
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ONE MORE MUSICAL SESSION – ONE MORE MUSICAL GATHERING
The date 21st September 2008 was decided quite sometime back and so also the venue i.e. S M R Empire complex in Marredpally. Each intervening day looked too long for me and I was eagerly waiting for this opportunity to meet all the members of the Rafi Foundation – Hyderabad Chapter. I had an intuition that newer members would join us this time. I had sent the information to all quite some time back and I had nothing more to do for nearly 10 days. But I did send a few more mails, by way of reminders (not that it was required at all) and sending the detailed directions on how to reach the place (copied from an earlier mail from Subramaniam). Then, two days prior to our musical session I first telephone to Subramaniam and when the confirmation came, my joy knew no bounds. I immediately rang up Chandar and then the others. A V Srinivasan conveyed his inability as he had already fixed up another programme for the day. Sunil Sharma (Sahil) too had a prior commitment. But those who conveyed they were available all came except for Sunder Rajan.
We all assembled between 3.00 p.m. and 3.30 p.m. and soon the singing session got going in full swing. The first timers who came this Sunday are as follows:
1. Mrs Panicker (Resident of SMR Empire complex) - She sang quite a few songs in Malayalam, including a bhajan or two. She has a very sweet voice and we expect her to be a regular and to sing in Hindi too.
2. Mr. Raj Kumar (Ramakrishna's close friend from their Mouthorgan group whom we had met earlier too). He played quite a few good and fast songs on his "harmonica" and entertained us all. I am sure he liked our gathering too and that he would be a regular in our musical sessions.
3. Mr. Veerabhadram (yet another addition from "The Oriental Insurance Company Ltd" and thanks once again to Raghavendra Rao). While he did not sing any song, he did seem to relish the songs rendered by all our members. Perhaps he too would be our regular members here onwards.
4. Mr. Prashant and his wife (I did learnt her name on that day, but have forgotten now – I should have jotted it right away). Prashant is a stage singer, a professional artist and sang songs of Rafi Sahab, Kishore Kumar and even Telugu Songs. He said they both would be regulars in our group. Raghavendra Rao introduced the duo to us.
5. Vivekananda Rao – son of Raghavendra Rao who too sat through the entire session and perhaps liked the songs.
Our regular members included Subramaniam, Chandar and his wife Mrs Radha, self and my wife Vijaya, Nitin and his wife Mrs Nirmala Dhepe, Sanjay and his son Sachin Deshpande, Ramakrishna, Padmanabhan, and N. R. Padmanabhan. That way we were 18 music lovers singing away for four hours, one after the other.
I found N R Padmanabhan singing very well this time. He sang from his heart and chose his songs well too. Subramaniam, Chandar, Mrs Radha, Padmanabhan all sang just as exceptionally well as they always do. This time Ramakrishna besides playing his harmonica, also sang one song of Rafi Sahab.
We were all so engrossed in the songs that no one bothered about any snacks, etc. However, snacks in small measure were arranged despite the heavy rain and water gushing down the streets.
At the end of the singing session around 7.15 p.m., I addressed the gathering informing all that we plan to hold a musical show on a big scale in December 2008, coinciding with the 84th Birth Anniversary of Rafi Sahab. I also informed all that the Bank account was opened with Bank of India, Ameerpet. We shall also register our body as Rafi Foundation-Hyderabad Chapter in the coming weeks. Ramakrishna, while addressing the gathering, informed that he will invite a person who had been close to Rafi Sahab for our forthcoming musical show. Raghavendra Rao also briefly spoke about how our group should accommodate singers of all languages, just as retaining the spirit of Rafi Sahab.
We all decided to give the next two Sundays a break due to the festival season and re-assemble at the same place on 10th October 2008 (Sunday). The immediate TV programme on SONY TV by Sonu Nigam was on everyone's mind and we all hurried to our homes to be in front of the telly. This was a telecast of a programme – Rafi Resurrected – organized by the London Symphony in Birmingham (UK) and Sonu Nigam presented some of the best songs of Rafi Sahab. As we all later say, the programme which started at 8.00 p.m. went on upto 11.00 p.m. (with scores of Ads though).
Friends, I would like all to be regulars on the internet also. You can participate in discussions on various good articles that keep coming up on www.mohdrafi.com, www.eternalrafi.com and also on Orkut where communities on Rafi Sahab are growing by the day.
Finally wishing all a very happy festival season ahead. Keep smiling, keep singing and wish everyone with a ADAABRAFI. Thanks..
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