Home   Forum   Wiki   Notes   Register   FAQ   Sitemap   About Us   Contact Us  

MISSED THE CHANCE TO MEET THE GREAT MAESTRO HERE IN GOA... .......

Topic started by MADHAN (@ 202.41.117.3) on Mon Jul 20 23:18:32 EDT 1998.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

FRIENDS, on Saturday, the 18 th of JULY, 1998, I had been to Doan Paula with some of friends ... Dona Paula is a beautiful spot three kms from Goa Univerisity - this place has a 60 feet high platform from the top of which One can geta breath taking view of the Arabian Sea - while I was loitering at the foothill of the platform, some of my friends had gone up - one of them saw a man wearing a white dhoti and kurta taking snaps of the ocean ... and another recognised him as the Maestro !!!

When approached and enquired thus ,"Excuse me Sir, are you Mr.ILlayaraja ? " , in English,

the man nodded his head and replied in a calm and serene voice, "YEs, I am Illayaraaja"

In return he had enquired about my friend his native place etc.. my friend had also replied well..

When enquired as to what he was here in Goa for, the Maestro had replied " Iam taking photographs of the sea and the beautiful locations here for an inspirational music for a forth comin movie " ...

thereafter a crowd started gathering and he left with his companion ....

Rest in next..

---

Responses:

• From: sree (@ orchid.cs.concordia.ca) on: Mon Jul 20 23:27:33 EDT 1998
  
  Madhan,
  Did you suceed in talking with him?
  
  Sree
  
  
• From: Madhan (@ 202.41.117.11) on: Tue Jul 21 10:55:18 EDT 1998
  
  Friends, here is the rest...
  
  My friend, who us from Hyderabad, was talking to the Maestro and his companion - actor/producer Thyagarajan, for almost half an hour !!
  
  Kuduththu vaccha janmam - IR had enquired a lot about my friend , his family , his education etc.,!!
  
  But not a face in that place recognised our Raja -
  after sometime, my friend had given him a paper for an autograph and IR had smiled and told him "why all this ? " - and wrote on the paper thus ,
  
  "MUSIC IS DIVINE " and signed underneath "Ilayaraaja" ...
  
  avanavan, Maestro vai paarpadharkkaey vaippilaamal irukkum podhu, ingaey oru M.Sc student IR udan arai mani neram arattai adithhirukkiraar - yengaiyyo maccham ..
  
  After this , some people from the crowd started enquiring about the "short man in white kurta and dhoti " - when the news started spreading a crowd started gathering around him -
  
  and Maestro was happily chit chatting with everybody in that small crowd !!
  
  all this while, I was at the foot hill watching the waves ( I now curse myself for being such an IDIOT ). As I started climbing up the steps, blissfully unaware of the "man" on top , I suddenly saw a familiar figure only a few steps up, flaunting a camera (with zoom lens, I think it was a NIKON) with a pair of blazing eyes climbing down with a spring in his steps -
  
  MALAITHHU PONAEN - THIKKU MUKKADI PONAEN - my mouth went dry and I couldn't speak a word - yenna yaedhu yendru unarvadharkkul, MAestro passed me and our eyes met for a few seconds and in a flash , he was in his car and off he went back - he was staying at the CIDADE de GOA, nearby and he left that night itself .
  
  This incident proved one thing -- all those staements about IR being an arrogant, self -indulgent man is all rubbish , baseless and are lies - imagine a man with an array of musical accomplishments , who refuses to talk to big time journalists, chats with a student , an unknown, unfamiliar face for half an hour !!!
  
  IR was absolutely simple and down to earth ...
  
  So, we can all wait for some great album with music inspired by the Arabian Sea !!!!
  
  
• From: Udhaya (@ 205.218.142.217) on: Tue Jul 21 15:06:47 EDT 1998
  
  Madhan, don't hate yourself so much for admiring the waves instead of your idol. After all it was the beauty of the spot that drew your idol there. In a way, you two shared something more spiritual than if you had just walked up to IR and asked for an autograph. Cool incident.
  
  
• From: Arvind Kumar (@ nexgensi.com) on: Tue Jul 21 18:15:41 EDT 1998
  
  Madhan,
  
  Raja *was* arrogant till a person brought him down
  to earth. That person is ARR.
  
  
  
• From: buddy (@ panorama.nus.edu.sg) on: Tue Jul 21 21:08:08 EDT 1998
  
  Hi Arvind,
  
  No one of the earth can bring IR down.
  Stop all your crapy postings like this.
  
  
• From: nesap (@ 129.107.27.4) on: Tue Jul 21 21:12:30 EDT 1998
  
  Hi Aravind,
  Did you helo ARR to bring IR down?
  IR is never changed. It is just that he doesnt to
  be in papers and magazines as others do.
  He is the man.
  thanks
  
  
• From: nesanp (@ 129.107.27.4) on: Tue Jul 21 21:12:35 EDT 1998
  
  Hi Aravind,
  Did you helo ARR to bring IR down?
  IR is never changed. It is just that he doesnt to
  be in papers and magazines as others do.
  He is the man.
  thanks
  
  
• From: badri raghavan (@ 206.103.12.125) on: Wed Jul 22 00:55:51 EDT 1998
  
  madhan,
  
  that's a nice narration. only goes to prove that raja is happy when he is with nature and genuine fans rather than with journalists who have self-serving interests with music being the farthest issue in their minds.
  
  in case, it is still not known, raja has won the dinakaran award for best music director (saw the program y'day on doordarshan and could not find the movie for which he got the award)
  
  
• From: S.P MAHENDRAN (@ 161.139.37.74) on: Wed Jul 22 01:29:02 EDT 1998
  
  For which movie IR go to GOA?Are this is a new movie?Why actor and producer Thygarajan with him in the Goa?
  
  
  
• From: S.P MAHENDRAN (@ 161.139.37.74) on: Wed Jul 22 01:29:44 EDT 1998
  
  For which movie IR go to GOA?Are this is a new movie?Why actor and producer Thygarajan with him in the Goa?
  
  
  
• From: MPR (@ hindsight.nodak.edu) on: Wed Jul 22 02:46:40 EDT 1998
  
  badri raghavan:
  
  Ilaiyaraaja received an award for life achievement
  and not for a particular movie.
  
  
• From: k.r.ravi (@ 131.houston-06.tx.dial-access.att.net) on: Sat Jul 25 03:37:50 EDT 1998
  
  Madhan u were lucky...Man i missed him too like u in Madras airport when he was alighting from Lufthansa i was dumbstruck.But u meeting in your own place is something great.Atlast he is taking some rest.Nice to know that..he has left..immortal gems for us to relish for the years to come.That in itself is a great achievement. Long lIve Ilayaraaja and his Music.
  
  
• From: Raghav (@ ppp12-139.bng.vsnl.net.in) on: Mon Jul 27 02:38:14 EDT 1998
  
  Arvind:
  
  Stop posting some stupid mails.
  
  
• From: rjay (@ 204.220.169.94) on: Mon Jul 27 05:18:31 EDT 1998
  
  This happened to me 7-8 years back in Madras.
  
  IR=Deivam during those days. I and a friend
  wanted to attend his mega music show near
  Marina beach. We went and couldnot get
  tickets. I hovered around the auditorium for
  an hour somehow believing I will get a chance
  to get in. No hope. I cursed myself and we
  came back. Felt so incomplete.
  
  Next couple of days, we walked to Besant Nagar beach (used to be a regular pastime) and returning to Adyar depot by walk. There
  was a light music show with loud speakers.
  Wait dont guess. We thought should be some
  marriage. As we crossed, they were playing the
  song - "Madurai Marikkozhundu Vaasam". It
  was so nicely tuned and the voices were so
  good, I requested my friend that we should
  drop in. So we went in, someone immediately
  thrust a cool drink in our hands (thinking we
  were marriage party!) I was guiltly taking it and
  looked at the stage and noticed a man in white and
  white jibba kurta! Aye Gangai Amaran!
  
  It was the inauguration of Santhosh(?) Hospital.
  Kalaignar was on the stage near the orchestra.
  My eyes searched for Raja like Manisha in Bombay but in vain. He was not there. I started
  wishing 'Cha! Raja vandhirundha evvalu nalla irukkum!'
  
  Wait more to come soon,
  
  RJAY
  
  
• From: rjay (@ 204.220.169.94) on: Mon Jul 27 05:27:52 EDT 1998
  
  Guys,
  
  Do you know Ilayaraja is an accomplished
  nature photographer? I remember seeing a
  set of his photographs published in 1992 in
  a magazine called 'Pudhiya Paarvai' -
  1. a peacock dancing, 2. the hill of Arunachala,
  3. A little boy peeping out of a window -
  these three stand fresh in my memory.
  
  
  
• From: rjay (@ 204.220.169.94) on: Mon Jul 27 05:51:47 EDT 1998
  
  OK to get back to besant nagar incident.
  
  Madurai marikkozhundu vasam was finished.
  I had finished the cool drink and was beginning
  to look and feel like an invited guest!
  
  GA announced, "Annan Ilayaraja avargal vandhu kondu irukkiraargal! Avargalai
  medaikku varumaaru azhaikkiren"
  
  'Inbath Thaen vandhu paayudhu kaadhinilae' enbadhu idhudhana!
  
  The auditorium went into a hussle. People
  kept down their cool drink bottles, stood up
  from the chairs, I was standing in the aisle.
  
  Ilayaraja appeared on the stage. He
  came to the mike, smiled at Kalaignar,
  simply said, "Ingu kuzhumi ulla anaivarukkum
  en ulam kanindha vanakkangal. Im maruththuvamanai nangu valarndhu makkalukku payan thara iraivanai vendikkolkiren" (Wording may be different)
  
  then he sang
  
  Amudhae Thamizhae Azhagiya Mozhiyae Enadhuyire.
  
  Such a calmness. My thought stopped.
  
  He finished and then got down from the stage.
  Did not know where he went. I was in ecstasy
  of seeing him one moment before, now disappointed he vanished.
  
  But then, I was standing on the aisle, suddenly
  he walked to his car at an arms touch from me!
  
  His walk was brusque and his eyes were unusually calm (even in photos you see that - very comparable to the glitter and presence you see in the photos of Ramana maharishi).
  There was a half smile on his face.
  
  I caught that incident and saved it for my life.
  Thanks for allowing me to relive the incident.
  
  RJAY
  
  
• From: Nithin (@ nc36.pr.mcs.net) on: Mon Jul 27 23:40:13 EDT 1998
  
  RJAY, these things I wish happened to me. I have been to a LV Prasad studios and watched IR work. I have not seen anything like this before. No wonder his music is as perfect and as graceful as his every move. I have had the fortune to say Vannakkam a couple of times when he walks out to go home for his lumch break. As I saw it, he was the epicenter of all activity at Vadapalani. In the bazaars everyone would take for granted that IR is composing his music just a few buildings away and all is well with the world and there is peace, happiness and birds chirping everywhere. This blissful experience was my graduate days at Loyola. Three years of LV Prasad and Radio Ceylon! I cannot believe that such a heavenly time ever happened.
  
  However, I have missed a lot of his concerts in Chennai. Can anyone recount some of those concerts?
  
  
• From: rjay (@ 204.220.167.184) on: Tue Jul 28 04:49:40 EDT 1998
  
  Nithin, your reference to peace reinforces the
  sagely and calm image Raja evokes in me.
  
  Have you shared your experience of watching IR compose or record in any earlier thread?
  
  

---

List all pages of this thread

Post comments