Double Oscar-winning music composer A R Rahman is set to embark on his much awaited 'Jai Ho' concert from next Sunday (October 11) in Chennai. This is the first time that Rahman will be performing in Chennai after bagging the Academy Awards for his musical score in Danny Boyle's 'Slumdog Millionaire'. The concert would have a mix of songs including tracks from his upcoming Bollywood film, 'Blue'.
The event, a fund raiser for city based NGO, 'The Shakti Foundation', would be held on 1,000 acres of land near Mahabalipuram. Rahman would be accompanied by 80 performers, including noted playback singers Hariharan, Sadhana Sargam, Blaaze, Benny Dayal along with well-known percussionist Sivamani.
Though he has been promoting his son Alim, who wants to become a playback singer, the six-year-old would not participate in this concert.

Music, after all, is what feelings sound like.

Bursting into the music scene with the soul-stirring 'Aayega Aanewala' six decades back and following it up with romantic hits like 'Pyar kiya to darna kya' in Mughal-e-Azam, there has been no looking back for melody queen Lata Mangeshkar as she turned 80 recently. “I want to continue singing till my last breath," Lata, who has over 30,000 songs to her credit in 20 languages, said. She recalled her meeting with Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru after her emotion-charged patrotic song 'ae mere watan ke logon' was released. "Beti, you made me cry," he told her.
"I really wanted to be a classical singer when I started working," says Lata but gave up as she couldn't put in long hours of practice that was required and had many responsibilities.
Those were testing times when she remained hungry for the entire day. "Everyone went for lunch but I was in the recording room and left only after it was over. I had only one or two rupees. I used to walk instead of taking a tonga to save money. I didn't want to trouble anyone at home".
Incidentally, our own Sivaji Ganesan was a rakhi brother to Lata Mangeshkar. Every Diwali, Latha used to get  sarees and other gifts from him!

There's no other love like the love for a brother.  There's no other love like the love from a brother! Real Paasa Malar – not reel paasa Malar!!

Today's youth prefer messaging than communicating in voice through their mobile phone.  Seeking to identify the next Guinness World Record creator for the fastest short messaging service (SMS) sender, a leading mobile phone retailer of Chennai has  launched a "National Speed SMS Championship" contest. The Guinness World Record for sending the fastest SMS is now held by a Singaporean. He holds the record for typing 140 characters in 43 seconds. The Vice- President of Univercell  Ramesh Bharath says that the contest would help identify the next record creator from India.

:05
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(((((BOOM)))))
“*”*”*”*”*”*”
*”*”HAPPY”*”*
“*”DIPAWALI”*”
….*”*”*….
It was a step back in time for octogenarian Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi as he walked down memory lane in his native village Tirukkuvalai recently, reminiscing old times with his schoolmates. Karunanidhi (85), who plunged into politics at the age of 14  was accorded a grand welcome by the villagers when he made a rare visit to meet his old friends and acquaintances. A decorated house in the village played host to the meeting between the Chief Minister and his schoolmates -- retired teachers Sadasivam and Thiagarajan and former highways contractor M Natarajan.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Panchalingam, a manager in a transport company and resident of Palladam, about 30 km from Coimbatore decided to visit Thekkady along with his wife, Sudha and two daughters --Ilakkiya (13) and Pragati (9).  He had also taken his sister Anusuya and her husband, Jayapakash and their two children from Coimbatore and also his brother's wife, Saraswati and two daughters in Periyakulam in Theni district.  All the eleven of them went in a van to Thekkady, not knowing what was in store for them..
Since he did not like to travel by boat, Panchalingam sent the others in the vessel and waited for them on the banks of the Thekkady lake.  He was shocked beyond words as  the boat  capsized and all except Saraswati had drowned.

Nine members of this one family in Tamil Nadu were among those who perished in the recent boat tragedy in Thekkady in Kerala. What fates impose, that men must needs abide; it boots not to resist both wind and tide.

Recently Read: Have the courage to be ignorant of  a great number of things, in order to avoid the calamity of being ignorant of everything.