this is an awesome personal experience that everyone would do anything to feel... u r really the most fortunate rahmaniac Gopal! btw, this mail was neatly penned explaining every memorable moment... long live ARR and this group..
this group is the most meaningful group with brand ambassadors doing some stupendous work.. great going cant wait for pray for me brother... On 1/7/07, Gopal Srinivasan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Dear friends, When we set out to raise funds for the A.R.Rahman Foundation as a gift for ARR's birthday, I had only planned to send him an image of the cheque by email and the physical cheque only by courier. But when the contributions soared past anything I had hoped for, I felt it was only fair that it be handed over in person. And so, I set out to Chennai on Saturday morning not knowing if I would actually be able to meet him. Though by now, we have seen enough evidence of his simplicity I imagined being stopped by security guards even before I could let him know, all of which was completely unwarranted. Thanks to the never-say-no graciousness of ARR and Vijay's entreaties, I had the good fortune of being your representative at the birthday celebrations of the person whom many of us deify. Far from being met with for a few seconds and summarily dismissed, I was treated with the same affection, care and love by everyone at his home and studio as were many of the key personalities of the industry who made their way to his abode to greet him in person. I made my way to his home with some navigational aid from Vijay to only find a bunch of busy workers setting up the place in preparation for lunch. When I said that I had to meet ARR Sir, I was asked to wait in the first floor of the studio which is the building right in front of his home. I made my way there to find many people doing the same, some of them being Mr. Srinivasa Krishnan of Global Rhythms, Sridhar Subramaniam of Sony BMG, Naresh Iyer, executives from WorldSpace and Saregama and producers from the Tamil industry whom I did not recognize. I could see gifts of flowers from a host of people from the industry - Subhash Ghai, Udit and Deepa Narayan, Rajkumar Santoshi, Bharat and Kanika, Chinmayee, Radio Mirchi, Radio City were some names that I managed to spot amidst the sea of bouquets in the studio. ARR's right hand men Noell James, Sivakumar, Swamidorai, Faiz and H. Sridhar were also in attendance. We were soon joined by ARR's mother, daughters, son, wife and sisters and others in the family. I soon realized that simplicity and humility runs through every brick and body in his home and studio. ARR still hadn't turned up and his mother insisted that we must have lunch and we were ushered back into his home where ARR joined us. Soon director Shankar and family, Kathir, Krishna (of SOK), Praveenkanth made their way in. After lunch we made our back to the studio, were ARR took us to a large studio room on the 2nd floor and screened the video of Pray For Me Brother. I am still searching for words to describe the multiple exhilarating emotions that passed through me as I watched the video. Nothing we have heard so far in the live performances truly captures the brilliance of the recorded song. Who else, but ARR, could have an Indian classical harmony accompanying a rap segment? Following this, both ARR and his son Ameen, who also celebrates his birthday on the same day, cut the cake jointly. While his son wanted to cut his special 'Spiderman' shaped cake, ARR decided his simpler cake was more appropriate :-) Coming to the crux of my visit, it was the time after the birthday cake was distributed and everyone was leisurely seated around the studio that I chose to hand the cheque over to ARR. I wish I could say, 'Did we spring a surprise on ARR or what!' But ARR instead sprang a surprise on me! He looked visibly moved and said 'I have been telling these folks what you guys have been doing.' I went, "Huh?" And his response was, 'I was on the group last night and saw all these messages about a collection drive. You guys are increasing my responsibilities now'. I quickly assured him that he could count on our support in anything that he wanted to do. he then handed the cheque over to his mother and introduced me to the rest of the people there. He then asked, 'Don't you want a picture?'. I joked, 'I would like you to say a few words or else all the folks would think I made off with the money'. He laughed and agreed. I told him I could wait till the studio was a little quieter. He said fine and went on to have a private conversation with Shankar and then moved away to supervise some dubbing work for Guru that was underway at the studio. Before he left, I mustered the courage to ask him if there was any way I could get another look at Pray For Me Brother, to which his reaction was, 'Of course, why even ask?' and asked Abdul from the studio to screen it for me in one of the smaller rooms. I was waiting around the studio for a while when a Jaya TV crew trudged in for a sound bite. Soon thereafter he came down and shot with them. Then he turned to me and asked, 'Can we shoot now?' And thus was marked another momentous occasion in the history of this fan community. I don't think I can ever thank all of you out there enough for having given me the privilege of undergoing this experience. I sincerely hope and pray that each one of us would find an opportunity to have a similar experience. I was overwhelmed when so many of you who I have never known or met come forward so confidently and generously to transfer what were no mean sums of money. All thanks to the magic of this one man whom we love and respect. Thanks, Gopal.
