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.

Though we had constant interaction with most of the Guests over phone / e-mail, the bond became much stronger after these two days.

“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

Adaab rafi. You missed out my name.

Khudh Srinivasan from Chennai.

Thanks n Best Regards

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