An Evening in Bangalore : Stars of that Evening
My dear friends:
Knowledge, intellect, passion, bhakti, shruti, and samruddhi all came together in an extremely easy and comfortable manner on the November 14, 2009 the infectiousness of which will remain with us for a very long time to come. Sitting down to write about our Rafi Holiday in honour of our Chennai, Hyderabad and Delhi friends gives me great pleasure.
I have broadly outlined the program as it went..The eagerly awaited morning started around 10 with coffee/tea and as soon as our Delhi friends got in we began the session with a welcome speech by yours truly. Therafter, Manish invited ASM (who is an excellent MC) to introduce his team members followed by Jagat Saab introducing the Chennai team.
Now let me introduce THE RAFI BHAKTS and the khaasiyat of each one of them.
OUR HYDERABAD FRIENDS WHO JOINED US:
AS Murty – He is the driving force behind the entire team and his presence and presentation had a huge impact on the entire proceedings of Saturday. More strength to you Murty Saab!
NRP and Mrs. Padmanabhan – Sir thoroughly enjoying the proceedings .. he was verbally very quiet but very active mentally I am sure…we now have to wait for his valuable comments to know how he and his wife exactly felt being amongst us…
R. Padmanabhan – He enthusiastically took part in the antakshari and ASM sang praises about his knowledge of lyrics.
Sanjay Deshpande – He amazed us all with his fund of knowledge..I heard someone saying in the background..’hum samajthe the ke hum hi sabse bade bhakt hai Rafi Saab ke..par hum toh kuch bhi nahi hain in sabke saamne’
Satyendra – Absolutely and extraordinarily the find of the meet…the young Satyendra is a force to reckon with…his exuberance for quizzing was so high that Mukund had the time of his life controlling this young man…! hum sab ka salaam tumko and may Rafi Saab Bless!
S.K. Elias – What a singer! He was first to go on the stage to sing and he sang Duniya Na Bhaye from Basant Bahaar….he made me cry with his rendition! The quiver in his voice and the emotions were outstanding!
S. Chandar and Radha Chandar – A very young (looking) and lovely smiling couple who never left each other’s side and came forward with some excellent jokes and songs…
K. Sivaram, Mrs. Sivaram and Shanti Sivaram – Very enthusiastic..it was wonderful that your whole family could make it to the meet. Shanti has a lovely voice.
OUR CHENNAI BHAKTS
K. Ramachandran or Chandan – He held the crowd spellbound with his rendering of Aaj Ki Raat mere dil ki salaami and one more song on which Manish made a funny comment (Chandan please update..!)
Jagat Tarkas – He has an amazing talent in that he can sing songs by whistling. ..and though he would have wanted to sing, by popular demand he gave us some wonderful whistling numbers of Rafi Saab.
Surinder – what a soothing voice he has…and very humble in his demeanor.beautiful songs he sang Madan Mohan’s Tere Bagair and Roshan’s Mere Mehbood Kahin Aur Mila Kar Mujhse
S. Narayan and Sreedhar – your involvement and appreciation of the participants was very heartening..thank you for being there..
OUR DELHI GUESTS
Zareef – Sir jee, jo aapne sher sunaya tha bahut hi badhiya tha..zara likhkar bhejiyega please… he filmed the entire program on his personal handycam and will post it in his website www.rafi.co.in (please correct if I am wrong)..it was most wonderful having you amongst us..
Sunanda – You were an honored guest from Delhi quietly sitting and enjoying the show but your presence was an encouragement in itself madam. Thank you for giving us that small stanza of Talat Mehmood song inspite of not keeping too well,.
AND NOW THE BAAR BAAR RAFI TEAM..
Raj, Narayan, Ashok, Guruji, Manish – our pillars of BBR – thank you ever so much for the impeccable arrangements – you are responsible for the sustained enthusiasm of every BBR member.
Raj our President has always encouraged us and we were given a free hand to handle and organize this event, as he was away on business. His presentation of An Evening in Paris title song was a major hit.
Narayan, the well-loved PR man of BBR was in his element, answering a major of the questions in the quiz round, which stumped even Satyendra, the young prodigy of Hyderabad.
Ashok was responsible for the food arrangements (excellent lunch Ashok..you can give yourself a pat on your back!) but what appeals to you is his ardent love of Rafi Saab and he makes no bones about it..!
Guruji ke baare mein kya kahen…he is our encyclopedia and we depend on him for any info about Rafi Saab or films in general…par aise waise kaise bhi antakshari mein aa hi gaye .though he is formally banned from taking part in any quiz or antakshari because he would win hands down! (and he and his team did!! they won the first prize for the antakshari with the Hyderabad Bhakts being the runner ups!)
Manish..whose controlling and scheduling the entire program was excellent and he deserves a big round of applause for it. His quips and witty remarks on the mike were very enjoyable..
Mukund, Krishna, Hemanth, Srinivas, Shankar – Aap logon ne gaakar, nachkar (Krishna only you can add that extra life to a show on which people are already hooked) bahut dil lubhaaya hamara…thank you Hemanth for the thoughtful and amazing paintings of Rafi Saab and of course, for regaling us with your wonderful voice…Mukund ..likhe jo khat tujhe…kuch sur laga ke nahin?
Asha – she is a gem of a singer and an ustaad at ideas for antakshari..Her presentation and themes were excellent and challenged the vast knowledge of the participants…! The antakshari was won by the Bangalore team consisting of Guruji, Vinatha and Hemanth and Hyderabad consisting of Sanjay, Shailaja and (???) followed closely with a tie-break win..
Vinatha – aah! her quiz was a super hit with Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore alike…Chennai especially did very well in the video quizzing where the clip was played for just 2 seconds and Chandan guessed most of them!
Alka – She is the lively lady whose Oh Haseena Zulfon Waali (with Hemanth) had Krishna and Snigdha shaking a leg much to the delight of the crowd!
Shailajaji, Sapna, Ananya, Vidya, Radha, Ushaji, Raji – Your heartwarming and lovely presence encouraged Raj to sing ‘dekho yeh pariyon ki toli,’ and your participation is continued encouragement for all of us at BBR. Raji you were brilliant in the Ghalib ghazal that you sang for us…
Devraj Saab and Lakshmi Devraj – every grateful for your presence and efforts to make it to the venue…with his usual booming voice Devraj Saab entralled the crowd with Madhuban Mein Radhika..
Snigdha – Your vibrant presence is a scene stealer..! We need hardly say how much we appreciate your spontaneous performance with Krishna for Oh Haseena Zulfon Waali..
So that was how it went folks. Tea and snacks were served in the evening. A cake ordered by Murty Saab was cut to the singing of Baar Baar Din Yeh Aaye…and we wound up around 7:30 -8:00 after an enthusiastic rounding up the proceedings with Baar Baar Dekho, the theme song of BBR.
Hope I have not missed out anyone. If I have please do let me know…I had a wonderful time and we hope you did too..
Fond regards,
Bina
November 16, 2009 - 10:22 pm
Thanks for the detailed description of events and for naming almost all connected with the fabulous treat that we all shared on 14th Nov 2009 to mark the formation of RAFI HOLIDAY. Coinciding with the Children’s day, it becomes all the more important day in our lives henceforth, as the RAFI HOLIDAY will be celebrated every year with great zeal and pomp.
November 16, 2009 - 10:50 pm
Hi friends,
It was indeed a great Saturday here for all of us in Bangalore.The day was special,and we heard so many songs of Rafiji super.Bina,your detailed description has brought back the day as it happened.I am sure friends who missed being here can visualise now.
November 17, 2009 - 4:20 am
dear binajee,
a very nice narrative of the get together of rafi bhakts on the 14th.
the guests from other cities were an ensemble of talent and a picture of poise, rather friendly and highly entertaining.
murthygaru is a very good leader, ably supported by a rather silent, smiling nrp sahab.
these guests and rafi fans egroup members did have a roaring time together on the 15th too and it was practically visible that they were carrying extremely fantastic thoughts and memories of their time spent with the rafi bhakts in bengaluru.
these kind of interactions widen our horizons and we learn more on rafi sahab who is world on his own, the more you dig the more you get.
binajee, i am very pleased reading what you have written and shall be commenting on your article on mohdrafi.com too.
ramesh.
rameshkurpad@gmail.com
November 18, 2009 - 3:40 am
Bina Ji,
Adaab rafi. You missed out my name.
Khudh Srinivasan from Chennai.
Thanks n Best Regards
November 21, 2009 - 1:48 am
Binaca,
“who never left each other’s side”. Should it be taken as a compliment or otherwise. Even “otherwise” a good report. Exactly one week back we were together. Isn’t it?
Wish we had more of you all. Congrats
November 24, 2009 - 8:17 am
Hi Bina
That was an excellent writeup about the day’s event, very well written and one can imagine the whole program, even if they havent come.
As always, your writing stands out and they way you have described each person and event is amazing:-)
looking forward to more write-ups from you!!
All the best…..
November 24, 2009 - 10:38 pm
Excellent. Even if by chance, people could not attend the function, by reading the report they can visualise what all happened.
Though we had constant interaction with most of the Guests over phone / e-mail, the bond became much stronger after these two days.
December 4, 2009 - 1:54 pm
adabrafi friends. the topic ‘rafi holiday’ is dear to me, for i have been a part of this project right from its inception. padmanabhan could not have possibly included the names of many rafi bhakts whose contribution for the success of this unique event is matchless. besides the members of rafi foundation, hyderabad chapter, we also thank all the members of rafi foundation chennai chapter, the ever sportive members of baar baar rafi fan club – bangalore and also two of our friends from new delhi. the article would have resembled a “who’s who” if such an attempt at naming all the rafi bhakts would have been resorted to by padmanabhan and the length of the article too would have gone beyond reasonable limits. that was the reason why he could not name anyone in his otherwise superb article.
foremost, i would salute some of the rafi bhakts from bangalore who made all the ground level arrangements. b g raj, president of baar baar rafi fan club (bbr in short), p narayanan (p.r.o), ashok dalmia (secretary), manish jagirdar, mukund pandurangi, bina krishna, asha vijay were leading from the front when it mattered most. bbr took care of everything that was needed.
during my conversations with all the above on several occasions, i could not convey much of what we at hyderabad had visualized. we had a dream and it was longing to be fulfilled. there were several areas that we had to discuss – antakshri, quiz, mike systems, venue, lunch/tea etc., programme content, etc. yet, the atmosphere that had to be created and as visualized by us was something that we could never either fully discuss or convey. we left it at that hoping that we will cross the bridge when we approach the river. but friends, let me surprise you all with the disclosure that whatever was in our minds here in hyderabad, could have possibly been read by our friends in bangalore. it was as if telepathy was at work (we even coined the word rafipathy) as 14th november 2009 unfolded with precision like similarity between our thoughts and actual happenings. we never had any reason to butt in or suggest alternatives. everything that we had wanted was happening. every half hour or so, some of our friends had asked me if all was fine and whether everything as we had visualized was taking shape. and each time, i was found repeating the same words to bg raj, manish, ashok, narayanan – that i was actually seeing our dream come true to the last detail.
we had known all along that we had very good singers amidst us – k s ramachandran (chandan to most of us), asha, alka, radha, etc. almost everyone who had attended the programme was a singer in his/her right and we enjoyed some of the finest renditions. we from hyderabad had not heard some rafi bhakts like m v devraj, raji hari, surender, srinivasan etc. almost all those who presented their songs on 14th november 2009 swept us off our feats. raji hari presented a very absorbing non film ghazal of rafi sahab. while on the topic of a female singing the songs of rafi sahab, the distaff rafi bhakts from bangalore all sang the songs of the legend. besides the best of renditions from almost all, i would like to point out the magnanimity of bbr in restraining their members from singing more and giving the maximum opportunity to rafi bhakts from other centres. so much so, that two very fine singers whom i had heard – manish jagirdar and ananya – did not sing at all. this despite my several requests to manish. this establishes the affection and care that bbr showers on rafi bhakts from yonder. this is highly creditable on their part.
we had seen asha-vijay present some very interesting ‘antakshri’ bits in our egroup for sometime and she excelled once again in her presentations. manish and ashok dalmia assisted her and the hi-tech antakshri was a huge success.
vinatha is a powerhouse of knowledge of hfm and songs of rafi sahab. she prepared a very interesting tough looking quiz, again with the aid of audio/video clips and the laptop. bina took up the mantle to present the quiz and now mukund and manish were at her side assisting her and the various teams. once again a highly successful event for each of us to enjoy and relish for a very long time.
krishnamurthy is already a very famous man in music circles in bangalore. come a peppy number and he immediately would spring on his toes, tip-topping to make the best use of available space for his dancing skills. he is simply majestic to watch and can make one feel part of picturization of a shammi kapoor starrer movie. believe me friends, he is simply amazing and excels in his chosen means of entertainment. but that is not all. he can sing too and he presented a telugu song of rafi sahab, with all the mannerisms intact.
snigdha, the rj in a fm channel in bangalore matched step for step the tripudiation of krishnamurthy. fantastic sigth km and snigdha – this was the toast of the day.
the knowledge-gurus on rafi sahab : the omnipresent gurumurthy (readers would know him for his various in-depth articles on this website), bina, vinatha, km (again), sanjay deshpande, satyendra, r padmanabhan, chandan etc. we can pit these against the best in the country folks – make good use of such experts who are in the rafi fraternity.
friends, i will often write on this subject in this thread. there are many more aspects to the rafi holiday than i have discussed above that need to be narrated. all things considered however, we went to bangalore to meet some of our friends who we had met earlier, many whom we had never met but had known through emails, etc and to listen to their melodious singing. we did all of these and made everlasting friendship for the rest of our lives. that was the biggest gain for us. long live to the rafi fraternity.
A S MURTY
SECRETARY
RAFI FOUNDATION,
Hyderabad Chapter.
December 4, 2009 - 1:57 pm
Adabraf to all !! my comments above were typed immediately after reading the article by NRP on http://www.mohdrafi.com and I simply ‘copy-pasted’ it here, hence the reference to N R Padmanabhan and his article. But my view points are relevant for this fine presentation by Bina too.
June 2, 2010 - 1:11 pm
Came to know interesting way in which you people are connecting to celebrate Rafi saab t .
I am ramesh Vemuganti fro9m Hyderabad . Am a great follower of the legend and enigmatic singer and sing his numbers . People say I am near Kishore da in ” Pal pal dil ke paas ” , Phoolon ke rang se “. I am an IT Mktg professional , Mgt teacher , active social networker.
Like to sing Kishore kumar songs , concerts in different places and am ready, For a refreshing change , you can call me next time for any program. I love to sing in Bangalore.
Ramesh Vemuganti – vemugantiramesh@gmail.com ;
M – 09849590511