http://www.siliconvalleyguru.com/guruhub/mod_channel/C_Week_More_Art_Det.asp?cme=Silicon+Valley&subname=Cities+Around%20&article=Dr.+K.J.+Yesudas+performs+in+Hayward&Channel_Id=news&Component_Id=Comp1&Art_Id=1777&Attribute_Id=539 Padmabhushan K.J Yesudas enthralls Bay area audience
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR THREE ARTICLES Hayward, CA: You could tell, at once, that you were in the presence of a true musical genius, as Dr. K.J. Yesudas took the stage for a 2.5 hour concert on Saturday, September 13, 2003 at Chabot College auditorium in Hayward CA. This intangible “stage presence” of the famous singer, his accomplished trio of support musicians and a dazzling display of full 3-ranges of octaves, enthralled an appreciative sold out crowd of 1,500. Organized by Bay Area Tamil Manram, the well received semi-classical renditions by the Padmabhushan awardee Dr. Yesudas, was a fundraiser for the non-profit Sankara Eye Foundation (www.giftofvision.org).
“Every year we decide on at least two fundraisers for non-profits, and this year we chose this concert to benefit Sankara Eye Foundation, which is a very good cause” Said Sumathi Srinivasan, the coordinator of the concert for Tamil Manram.
Dr. Yesudas invoked “Aum” at the beginning of the concert, and rendered a varanam in Telugu, followed by a traditional Tyagaraja Kirtana invocation to Lord Ganesha in Raaga Kanakangi. He proceeded to introduce each rendition in simple and lucid fashion - before launching into compositions with gusto and feeling. Keeping with the theme of national integration – Dr. Yesudas sang compositions in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannanda and Hindi and saluted all dedicated volunteers, “who live for others and not for themselves”. Dr. Yesudas also paid homage to the rich traditions of Indian culture and classical music, both Hindustani and Carnatic and reminded everyone “Music is Universal and connected to all.”
Murali Krishnamoorthy, Co-founder of Sankara Eye Foundation said, “We are extremely pleased and grateful to have Tamil Manram choose Sankara Eye Foundation as a recipient of the funds for this event. This ties in with our vision of 2020 - complete eradication of preventable blindness by the year 2020.”
The M.C. for the concert was Ms. Suniti Ramanujam and Sivasubramani Raja. Siva Seshappan, President of Tamil Manram introduced the Chief Guest of the event Hon. Counsel General of India, H.H.S.Vishwanathan and the musicians as well.
The entire concert – as explained by Dr. Yesudas - was set to a mathematical 72 main scales Melakartha raaga in Sanskrit - with numbers assigned to each Sanskrit consonants. The ragas of Carnatic music are derived from a definite set of 72 ragas known as Melakarta or Janaka or Sampoorna ragas. Some of the rare ragas rendered included Ganesha kirtana (Tamil) in Raaga Hamsa Vinodini - a derivation of the raaga Shankara bharanam and homage to the Guru in Reeti Gowda raaga-while reminding the audience of the sequence of Mata/Mother (Aum) - Pita/Father - Guru/Teacher and Devam/God. Other crowd favorites included the traditional Saamaja vara Gamana in Hindolam Raaga; dedications to Swami Ayyapan and Telugu compositions by Tyagaraja in Raaga ReetiGowda; Allaiya Payude (Tamil) in Kannada Raaga, Krishna ne Beganae(Kannada) in Raaga YamunaKalyan and Nagamomo (Tyagaraja Kirtana) in Abhevi raaga and Pramada Vanum Vendum (Malayalam). Dr. Yesudas also sang movie favorite “Jab Deep Jale” in Hindi, and also sang his “personally most difficult composition”, which took him 5 days to master, for a Hindi movie “Tansen”- by music director Ravindra Jain.
The ease and genius of the troupe was evident in the relaxed interplay between the musicians and the audience. Dr. Yesudas even accepted several requests from his Mridangist Trivarur Bakthavatsalam like Uyala Jampala (Telugu) and a composition in Shankarabharanam raaga from violinist S.R. Mahadeva Sarma- whose father was a long time violinist with Yesudas. The concert was also ably supported by Ghatam (Clay pot) player Radhakrishnan Ramaswamy.
The evening ended with more crowd favorites Sharanam Ayappa and Vande Mataram leading Murali of SEF to comment “ We have a Malayali singer tonight-organized by the Tami Manram- to benefit a hospital in Andhra Pradesh. With such support and confidence from the community, we will soon be launching Eye hospitals in Gujarat, Punjab, Bihar etc. While there are 45 million cases of blindness in Indian, over 80% of these (cases) are curable-often by a simple cataract operation”
Girish Muckai, SEF coordinator of the event added- “After TANA National convention- this is our next fundraiser. We are also very grateful for stalwarths like Dr. Raj Veeriah Kodali of Pennsylvania- who donated $100,000, and a Free Cataract Surgery wing will be named after him, at the hospital in Guntur, A.P, set to be inaugurated in January 2004.”
The concert drew people of all ages, including high school students Niyanth Anand, Meera Srinivasan, Amita Cherakumilli and Sivakami Sambasivam and Vishish Srinivasan - all of whom sat through the very end of the concert and even went to collect autographs form Dr. Yesudas.
For more information Sankara Eye Foundation: www.giftofvision.org Bay area Tamil Manram: www.bayareatamilmanram.org
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Bay Area Maharastra Mandal Celebrates Ganesh Utsav
Palo Alto, CA: Ganesh Utsav - one of the most popular festivals for folks hailing from the state of Maharashtra - was celebrated with great pomp during a one-day event at the Cubberly Auditorium in Palo Alto on Saturday, September 6, 2003. The all-day event organized by Maharashtra Mandal of Bay Area drew over 600 people.
“About 200 people came for the early morning 8:30 am Ganesh Pooja and Darshan” said Prakash Gadgil, President of Maharashtra Mandal, pointing to the large Ganesha idol, displayed at one end of the auditorium. Gadgil added, “We have planned a variety of festivities, so that it also becomes a social and cultural occasion and people will come and go all day.”
Following a typical Maharastrian lunch catered by marathipangati.com, the Children’s talent show and variety show began. This variety show format with almost 150 children taking part went on till 5:30 pm. The fancy dress event drew a large number of kids with their parents in tow. 3-year old Rujul Gandhi dressed up like Radha and went up on stage while her parents Rahul and Parimal, residents of the city of Pune for almost three generations, watched proudly.
In the Talent portion, several kids like Nachiket Karve, Rutuja Sathe, Mihir Athavale, Saurabh and Saukhya Inamdar, Rutvij Bhise and Nishi Deokule etc. recited Shlokas and inspiring speeches, along with the usual fare of dance items – both in solos and groups.
Couple of standout performances included traditional Bharatnatyam dance by graceful Janhavi Athavale and Koli fisherman’s group dance.
Musical performance by Mansi Nagtode, Shantanu Phadke and Ashish Tare, under the tutelage of local tabla maestro Satish Tare also drew a good response from the admiring audience. Tabla students Nihar Paranjpe 14 yrs and Akshay Padhye 12 yrs old, dressed in traditional Indian clothes, watched the musical performances intently.
A musical performance of local talent singing contemporary song and music drew a lot of young adult crowd, many of them stayed on for a Hindustani Classical Santoor performance by Mandan Oak- prime disciple of Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma. Veteran sound engineer Atul Vaidya of San Mateo managed the superb sound system for the entire day.
“We need more cultural events like this and that is why I have brought my 1 year old son Arush and wife Shilpa” said Dhanesh Joshi, of San Jose - who made it a point to dress in traditional clothes. The Bay Area Maharashtra Mandal is a vibrant organization having hosted the national convention in San Jose in 1999. The current office bearers for 2003 include Prakash Gadgil, Secretary Manish Bedekar and Treasurer Shailesh Phadke.
http://www.siliconvalleyguru.com/guruhub/mod_channel/C_Search_Art_Det.asp?Channel_Id=news&Q=Forest%20Park%20Elementary%20School&Art_Id=1778 ‘Overload’ Elementary Students Scramble for Seats in Fremont
Fremont, CA: Several parents from the Ardenwood area in North Fremont have received a notice from the Forest Park Elementary School that they have to bus their children to a different school in the city –within a week of the schools official start this academic year.
“When school started we knew there would be a problem, when my kid reported that there were over 30 children in her class,” said Mrs. Swamy of Fremont. Elementary schools like Forest Park School are increasingly popular- as they are very good schools and also in a safe neighborhood. It is also no coincidence that a major number of students are of Indian and Chinese origin, most of whom also reside in the immediate neighborhood.
Elementary School class sizes in most Fremont Unified School District schools are mandated to be about 20 students in the lower grades, and 30 students in the upper elementary classes. When overload occurs, students are shifted to neighboring schools during the first few weeks of school. Students other than those in KG, are listed to be moved, based on their “seniority” i.e. looking at how long they have attended the current school. Some kids have already been moved twice- first for a week to Brookvale and now to Warwick elementary!. Currently Warwick, Ardenwood and Patterson elementary schools had spaces available to accommodate the “overload” students, for all grades.
Gary Leatherman, official for the school district agrees that it is a tough process that nobody likes, and while school district officials have established an Overload Task Force its all a little too late in the eyes of frustrated parents, who now have to scramble to locate carpools or figure out transportation for the children. Some immediate problems include school bus fees which are an extra $350 a year plus the loss of time and the inconvenience for parents, apart from the intangibles of loss of comfort for the children.
Normally, school boundaries are shifted to match school enrollments with school capacities, and hence CENSUS 2000 figures will play an important role. While about 400 Students are reported as “overload” this year-mostly in lower grades, this has been a recurring problem for the last few years. While CENSUS 2000 figures revealed that Fremont has about 20,000 Indian-American- with a significant portion in the Ardenwood area; migration within the Bay Area to “better” school districts have also been very noticeable. Several Indian parents like Mrs. Kavitha Mani have actually moved to residences neighboring the school to ensure that their kid would be enrolled at Forest Park Elementary, and now their plans are dashed. Even private schools like Challenger Academy-another popular school among Indian-Americans - have jam packed grade classes with 4 divisions of 30 students each in lower grades.
While Ms. Betty Miller, Forest Park’s principal and some teachers feel the pain of these young students and their parents alike, many parents wonder, “”Did they not know that enrollment and (lack of) facilities would be a problem?