Guys, You are doing great job,,, I'm feeling bit unlucky cant be join this
opurtunity..
Syed
On Mon, Mar 9, 2009 at 5:24 PM, Vithur vith...@gmail.com wrote:
Thanks to everyone who shared their good wishes.
Ella Pughazum Iraivan Oruvanakee
All Praises to God Alone
On Mon, Mar 9, 2009 at 7:09 AM, Sath Murthy sath.mur...@yahoo.com wrote:
Congrats to Vithur and other fans who are doing this fantastic event
every week.
Good deeds always get noticed even though it takes a little time
All my hearty wishes are with you.
Sath Murthy.
--
*From:* Thulasi Ram karoke...@gmail.com
*To:* arrahmanfans@yahoogroups.com
*Sent:* Sunday, March 8, 2009 12:22:56 PM
*Subject:* Re: [arr] In their maestro’s FOOTSTEPS
feels great! Congrats Vithur and team.
On Sun, Mar 8, 2009 at 3:28 AM, Gopal Srinivasan catchg...@yahoo.
comcatchg...@yahoo.com
wrote:
In their maestro’s FOOTSTEPS
This group of AR Rahman fans feeds the poor every Sunday
Lakshmi Kumaraswami | TNN
For the past one year, a group of people on motorbikes have been
congregating at Kodambakkam
every Sunday. Laden with food packets, they hop off their bikes and
distribute it to anyone who
looks like they need a meal — rag pickers, sewage workers and beggars.
These good Samaritans
have one thing in common: they are all diehard fans of music maestro AR
Rahman.
Last March, after meeting on an online group, some of the members —
Vithur, Uma Shankar,
Rakesh, Rasol Hanifaa and Somu — decided to do their bit for society.
“Usually, we post a
message on the site saying we’re going to meet and distribute food to the
poor. Subsequently,
many people turn up,” says Vithur. The group assembles at Shri
Mahaganapathy fast foods in
Kodambakkam and buys packed food — usually tomato or brinjal rice along
with an appalam — for
Rs 300 to Rs 500. Then they drive around the area, handing out food to
the underprivileged. “We
initially started out in Annanagar, but then decided to focus on
Kodambakkam. As Rahman lives
in the area, we feel like we’re doing a service and staying close to our
mentor,” says Uma
Shankar. Vithur adds that the students of KM Conservatory also often help
out and they end up
feeding at least 40 people.
The group is united by their love for Rahman and inspired by the AR
Rahman Fo u n d at i o n
, which works towards eradicating poverty and hunger. “His humility
pushes us to do something
good for society. This is our small contribution to a cause he supports,”
says Rakesh. On
special days like Independence Day or Rahman’s birthday, the group visits
orphanages and
distributes a special meal. They organised a similar meal on Rahman’s
return to the city after
his triumphant run at the Oscars. “Usually, when we distribute food, we
don’t mention Rahman’s
name. But this time as we gave away special sweets and food, we said
‘Ellam pugazhum
irraivanake’ as a tribute to him,” says Vithur. He adds that the BlaaZe
joined the group when
they distributed free meals after H Sridhar, Rahman’s sound engineer,
passed away.
The group plans to continue this service as long as possible. “We would
like to expand but
with our hectic schedules this is the only way we can do it regularly,”
says Uma Shankar.
Rakesh adds that there isn’t a better feeling than seeing the happiness
of the people they
feed. “It would probably be their only meal that day. Sometimes I leave
the packets by their
side while they are asleep and when they wake up, nothing can match the
look on their faces,”
he says.
lakshmi.kumaraswami @timesgroup. comlakshmi.kumaraswami%40timesgroup.com
GIVING BACK: The fan club before heading out to feed the poor
--
regards,
Vithur
