K.S.Chithra

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K. S. Chithra, credited as Chitra, is six time National film awards winning singer who has made her mark in the Indian (film) playback industry. Known as the “Nightingale of South India”, she has lent her voice to Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Oriya, Hindi, Assamese and Bengali films.



Professional career

Born on July 27, 1963, in Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum), Kerala, into a family of musicians, Chithra’s talent was recognized and nurtured from an early age by her father, the late Krishnan Nair. He was also her first guru (teacher). Chithra received her extensive training in Carnatic music from Dr. K. Omanakutty, after she was selected for the National Talent Search Scholarship from the Central Government from 1978 – 1984. She was introduced to Malayalam playback singing by M. G. Radhakrishnan in 1979. She made her debut in the Tamil film industry in Chennai under the guidance of film music composer Ilaiyaraaja.Her knowledge of South Indian languages and Hindi enables her to render songs with originality and perfection.

Awards

Chithra has recorded thousands of film and non-film songs. During her career, numerous recognitions have come her way including six National Awards for best female playback singer[citation needed]. This is the largest number of national awards awarded to any female playback singer. She has won the awards for the following films:

* 1986 - Sindhu Bhairavi, Tamil film
* 1987 - Nakhaksthangal, Malayalam film
* 1989 - Vaishali, Malayalam film
* 1996 - Minsaara Kanavu, Tamil film
* 1997 - Virasat, Hindi film
* 2004 - Autograph, Tamil Film

She has also received 15 awards for the best female playback singer from Kerala State Government, 7 awards from Andhra Pradesh State Government, 4 awards from Tamil Nadu State Government and 2 awards from Karnataka State Government. She holds the unique honour of the first female playback singer to be recognised by all the four state governments in South India as the best playback singer.

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S.P.Balasubrahmanyam

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Sripathi Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmanyam, is a prolific Indian singer. He is also known as S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, S.P.B. and Baalu in the media.

Family

He was born as Sripathi Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmanyam into an orthodox family on June 4, 1946 in Konetammapeta (then in Andhra Pradesh and now in Tamil Nadu). He is the second son in a family of three sons and five daughters. His father S. P. Sambamurthy was a well-known exponent of Harikatha and his sister S.P. Sailaja is a former actress-singer in Telugu. He has two children - Pallavi and Charan.

Early days

He got his first oppurtunity in 1966 to sing in the kannada film Gandhinagara starring Dr.Rajkumar in the lead role.He has captivated the audience with his mesmerising voice and approach with samskara, of which there is a dearth in present day artists. Balu took to singing as a hobby during his childhood. He developed an interest in music very early in his life, and had studied notations and learnt to play instruments such as harmonium and flute on his own while listening to his father. His father wanted Balu to become an engineer; this brought him to Ananthpur, where he enrolled for the AMIE course in JNTU. Meanwhile, he also pursued his hobby and won awards at many singing competitions. There he was identified as a good singer in annual college programmes where he use to sing. Some friends recommended that he sing in Madras and provided him with referrals.

In 1964, a Madras-based Telugu Cultural Organisation, organised a music competition for amateur singers. Balu won the first prize, and that proved a turning point in his life. Music director SP Kodandapani took him under his wing. Offers then poured in from Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam movies.

Band

Before he became a full fledged cinema singer, SPB was the leader of a light music troupe that comprising

  • Anirutta, who was working in Corporation and was the harmonium artist
  • Ilaiyaraaja who joined the group as Guitarist and then moved over to harmonium after Anirutta became busy in his regular job
  • Baskar, Ilaiyaraaja's brother who was in charge of Percussion
  • Gangai Amaran another brother of Ilaiyaraaja who was the Guitarist after Ilaiyaraaja moved over to Harmonium.
Singer

Balasubrahmanyam made his debut in film music as a singer in Dec 15,1966 with Sri Sri Sri Maryada Ramanna, a film scored by his mentor Kodandapani. He has sung more than 39,000 songs since in more than 5 different Indian languages including Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi and Malayalam. However, he has sung most of his songs in Tamil. He holds the Guinness record for having sung the most number of song recordings by any singer (the record for a female singer is held by Lata Mangeshkar).

A gifted singer, he is highly regarded for his incredible vocal range, deep rich voice, and mastery of style, technique and control. These qualities allowed him expression across various genres of Indian music, and he has been highly sought after by many of India's film music composers. His approach to singing is methodical; he perseveres to understand the full meaning of the songs that he sings (many of which are very poetic) and the settings in which these songs are couched in order to most effectively match their requirements with his vocal delivery.S.P.B., though was very young, started singing for many different language films. As he became very busy, at times he used to sing even 17 songs in 12 hours at the recording theatre. He has also sung in Sanskrit and some regard his pronunciation of this language to be very good.

He has performed both the popular and classical music of India. For example, the songs he performed in the films Sankarabharanam, Sagara Sangamam, Rudra Veena were based on Carnatic classical music, and the song Umandu Ghumandu in the movie Ganayogi Panchakshari Gavayi was based on Hindustani classical music.

SPB virtually monopolised playback singing for more than 30 years in the Telugu, Kannada and Tamil cinema. His contemporary Dr.K.J.Yesudas monopolised the Malayalam music industry. SPB sang only a few songs in Malayalam. Although Yesudas' voice was regarded more suitable for sad songs in Tamil, SPB also sang some of the evergreen sad songs in Tamil such as 'Naanum unthen uravai','Nenjukkulle'and 'Kuyile pudichu'. He hosts a popular TV show called Paadutha Theeyaga on E-TV, Paadalani Undi on MAA-TV ,Ede Thumbi Haaduvenu on 'E-TV Kannada' and 'Ennodo Paattu Paadungal' on JAYA-TV. His recent achievement is Pandurangadu, a mythological cum historical movie in telugu releasing in May'2008.His voice modulation , vibrations have a divinity.He enthralled all listeners with his great voice in this movie.

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S.Janaki

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S. Janaki born April 23, 1938 is one of the greatest Indian singers of all times. She has sung in many Indian languages including Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi. Janaki is also a lyricist and a music composer. A devotee of Lord Krishna and Shirdi Sai Baba, she spends a lot of time praying and has also released devotional music cassettes on Meera.

Early days and career

S. Janaki was born in Pallapatla, Repalle village, Guntur District of Andhra Pradesh
Janaki showed interest in music at a tender age and started singing at the age of three. She started learning music from a nadaswaram vidwan, Sree Paidiswamy. She moved to Chennai on the advice of her uncle Dr. Chandrashekar and joined as a singer in AVM Studio and started her career with Tamil films in 1957 in the film 'Vidhiyin Vilayattu' under the music director T. Chalapati Rao. Later, she got a chance in a Telugu film MLA.

She wrote many songs for Tamil and Telugu films. She has sung many songs, in almost all languages in South India as well as in Hindi, Sinhalese, Bengali, Oriya, English, Sanskrit, Konkani, Tulu, Saurashtra, Baduga, Japanese and German. Major singers along with her are P. Susheela, Vani Jayaram, K J Yesudas, P. Jayachandran, K. S. Chithra and S P Balasubramanyam.

Family

Her husband is late Sri.V.Rama. She lives with her son Murali Krishna, who acted in few films and has an audio business of his own; and his wife Uma Murali Krishna, a classical dancer (Bharatnatyam and Kuchipudi); they have two daughters Amruthavarshini and Apsara.

Major awards

In 1956, second prize in competitions held by AIR (All India Radio) from the former Indian President Dr. Rajendra Prasad at the .

- In 1986, Kalai Mamani by Government of Tamil Nadu

- In 1987, Sur singar award

- In 2002 , Cinema 'Achiever Award' by the government of Kerala

- In 2005, Special Jury Swaralaya Yesudas Award for outstanding performance in music.

- National Film Awards four times for the best Playback singer by Government of India

- State Film awards fourteen times for the best Playback singer by Government of Kerala

- State Film awards seven times for the best Playback singer by Government of Tamil Nadu

- State Film awards ten times for the best Playback singer by Government of Andra Pradesh

National awards

- 1976, Film Name: 16 vayadhinile, Language: Tamil, First line of the song: "Senthoora Poove"

- 1980, Film Name: Oppol, Language: Malayalam , First line of the song: "Ettumanoorambalathil"

- 1984, Film Name: Sithara, Language: Telugu , First line of the song: "Vennello godari andham"

- 1992, Film Name: Thevar Magan, Language: Tamil, First line of song: "Inji Idippazagha"

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Mother Teresa

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Mother Teresa (August 26, 1910 – September 5, 1997) was an Albanian-born with Indian citizenship Roman Catholic nun who founded the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata (Calcutta), India in 1950. For over forty years she ministered to the poor, sick, orphaned, and dying, while guiding the Missionaries of Charity's expansion, first throughout India and then in other countries.

By the 1970s she had become internationally famed as a humanitarian and advocate for the poor and helpless, due in part to a documentary, and book, Something Beautiful for God by Malcolm Muggeridge. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 and India's highest civilian honor, the Bharat Ratna, in 1980 for her humanitarian work. Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity continued to expand, and at the time of her death it was operating 610 missions in 123 countries, including hospices and homes for people with HIV/AIDS, leprosy and tuberculosis, soup kitchens, children's and family counseling programs, orphanages, and schools.

Following her death she was beatified by Pope John Paul II and given the title Blessed Teresa of Calcutta.

Early life

Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu was born on August 26, 1910, in Skopje, now the capital of the Republic of Macedonia. She was the youngest of the children of a family from Shkodër, Albania, born to Nikola and Dranafile Bojaxhiu. Nikollë was involved in Albanian politics. In 1919, after a political meeting he fell ill and died when Agnes was about eight years old. After her father's death, her mother raised her as a Roman Catholic. According to a biography by Joan Graff Clucas, in her early years Agnes was fascinated by stories of the lives of missionaries and their service, and by age 12 was convinced that she should commit herself to a religious life. She left home at age 18 to join the Sisters of Loreto as a missionary. She never again saw her mother or sister.

Agnes initially went to the Loreto Abbey in Rathfarnham, Ireland to learn English, the language the Sisters of Loreto used to teach school children in India. She arrived in India in 1929, and began her novitiate in Darjeeling, near the Himalayan mountains. She took her first religious vows as a nun on May 24, 1931. At that time she chose the name Teresa after Thérèse de Lisieux, the patron saint of missionaries. She took her solemn vows on May 14, 1937, while serving as a teacher at the Loreto convent school in eastern Calcutta.

Although Teresa enjoyed teaching at the school, she was increasingly disturbed by the poverty surrounding her in Calcutta. A famine in 1943 brought misery and death to the city; and the outbreak of Hindu/Muslim violence in August 1946 plunged the city into despair and horror

Reception in India

Mother Teresa lay in state in St Thomas, Kolkata for one week prior to her funeral, in September 1997. She was granted a state funeral by the Indian Government in gratitude for her services to the poor of all religions in India. Mother Teresa had first been recognised by the Indian government more than a third of a century earlier when she was awarded the Padma Shri in 1962. She continued to receive major Indian rewards in successive decades including, in 1972, the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding and, in 1980, India's highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna.

Indian views on Mother Teresa were not uniformly favourable. Her critic Aroup Chatterjee, who was born and bred in Calcutta but lived in London, reports that "she was not a significant entity in Calcutta in her lifetime". Chatterjee blames Mother Teresa for promoting a negative image of his home city. Her presence and profile grated in parts of the Indian political world, as she often opposed the Hindu Right. The Bharatiya Janata Party clashed with her over the Christian Dalits, but praised her in death, sending a representative to her funeral. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad, on the other hand, opposed the Government's decision to grant her a state funeral. Its secretary Giriraj Kishore said that "her first duty was to the Church and social service was incidental" and accused her of favouring Christians and conducting "secret baptisms" of the dying. But Parvathi Menon, writing the front page tribute for the Indian fortnightly Frontline, dismissed these charges as "patently false" and said that they had "made no impact on the public perception of her work, especially in Calcutta". Although praising her "selfless caring", energy and bravery, Menon was critical of Mother Teresa's public campaigning against abortion and that she claimed to be non-political when doing so. More recently, the Indian daily The Telegraph referred to her as "the Saint of the Gutters", also mentioning calls for "Rome to investigate whether she did anything to alleviate the condition of the poor or just took care of the sick and dying and needed them to further a sentimentally-moral cause".

Reception in the rest of the world

In 1962, Mother Teresa received the Philippines-based Ramon Magsaysay Award for International Understanding, given for work in South or East Asia. The citation said that "the Board of Trustees recognizes her merciful cognizance of the abject poor of a foreign land, in whose service she has led a new congregation". By the early 1970s, Mother Teresa had become an international celebrity. Her fame can be in large part attributed to the 1969 documentary Something Beautiful for God, which was filmed by Malcolm Muggeridge and his 1971 book of the same title. Muggeridge was undergoing a spiritual journey of his own at the time. During the filming of the documentary, footage taken in poor lighting conditions, particularly the Home for the Dying, was thought unlikely to be of usable quality by the crew. After returning from India, however, the footage was found to be extremely well lit. Muggeridge claimed this was a miracle of "divine light" from Mother Teresa herself. Others in the crew thought it was due to a new type of ultra-sensitive Kodak film. Muggeridge later converted to Catholicism.

Around this time, the Catholic world began to honor Mother Teresa publicly. In 1971, Paul VI awarded her the first Pope John XXIII Peace Prize, commending her for her work with the poor, display of Christian charity and efforts for peace. She later received the Pacem in Terris Award (1976). Since her death, Mother Teresa has progressed rapidly along the steps towards sainthood, currently having reached the stage of having been beatified.

Mother Teresa was honored by both governments and civilian organizations. The United Kingdom and the United States each repeatedly granted awards, culminating in the Order of Merit in 1983, and honorary citizenship of the United States received on November 16, 1996. Mother Teresa's Albanian homeland granted her the Golden Honor of the Nation in 1994. Her acceptance of this and another honour granted by the Haitian government proved controversial. Mother Teresa attracted criticism, particularly from the left, for implicitly giving support to the Duvaliers, to corrupt businessmen such as Charles Keating and Robert Maxwell, and to politicians on the right of Western politics, such as U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and United States President Ronald Reagan. In Keating's case she wrote to the judge of his trial asking for clemency to be shown.

Universities in both the West and in India granted her honorary degrees. Other civilian awards include the Balzan Prize for promoting humanity, peace and brotherhood among peoples (1978), and the Albert Schweitzer International Prize (1975).

In 1979, Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, "for work undertaken in the struggle to overcome poverty and distress, which also constitute a threat to peace." She refused the conventional ceremonial banquet given to laureates, and asked that the $192,000 funds be given to the poor in India, stating that earthly rewards were important only if they helped her help the world's needy. When Mother Teresa received the prize, she was asked, "What can we do to promote world peace?" She answered "Go home and love your family." Building on this theme in her Nobel Lecture, she said: "Around the world, not only in the poor countries, but I found the poverty of the West so much more difficult to remove. When I pick up a person from the street, hungry, I give him a plate of rice, a piece of bread, I have satisfied. I have removed that hunger. But a person that is shut out, that feels unwanted, unloved, terrified, the person that has been thrown out from society - that poverty is so hurtable [sic] and so much, and I find that very difficult." More specifically, she singled out abortion as 'the greatest destroyer of peace in the world'.

Her death was mourned in both secular and religious communities. In tribute, Nawaz Sharif, the Prime Minister of Pakistan said that she was "a rare and unique individual who lived long for higher purposes. Her life-long devotion to the care of the poor, the sick, and the disadvantaged was one of the highest examples of service to our humanity." The former U.N. Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar said: "She is the United Nations. She is peace in the world." During her lifetime and after her death, Mother Teresa was consistently found by Gallup to be the single most widely admired person in the US, and in 1999 was ranked as the "most admired person of the 20th century" by a poll in the US. She out-polled all other volunteered answers by a wide margin, and was in first place in all major demographic categories except the very young.

Towards the end of her life, Mother Teresa attracted some negative attention in the Western media. The journalist Christopher Hitchens has been one of her most active critics. He was commissioned to co-write and narrate the documentary Hell's Angel about her for the British Channel 4 after Aroup Chatterjee encouraged the making of such a program, although Chatterjee was unhappy with the "sensationalist approach" of the final product. Hitchens expanded his criticism in a 1995 book, The Missionary Position.

Chatterjee writes that while she was alive Mother Teresa and her official biographers refused to collaborate with his own investigations and that she failed to defend herself against critical coverage in the Western press. He gives as examples a report in The Guardian in Britain whose "stringent (and quite detailed) attack on conditions in her orphanages ... [include] charges of gross neglect and physical and emotional abuse", and another documentary Mother Teresa: Time for Change? broadcast in several European countries. Both Chatterjee and Hitchens have themselves been subject to criticism for their stance.

The German magazine Stern published a hostile article on the first anniversary of Mother Teresa's death. This concerned allegations regarding financial matters and the spending of donations. The medical press has also published criticism of her, arising from very different outlooks and priorities on patients' needs. Other critics include Tariq Ali, a member of the editorial committee of the New Left Review, and the Irish-born investigative journalist Donal MacIntyre
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Periyar

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Periyar was born as Erode Venkata Naicker Ramaswamy in Erode in Madras Presidency. He was from a prominent Kannada-speaking Balija Naicker caste, a community that descended from the Nayak chiefs of the Vijayanagar Empire having Telugu ancestry. Hence he is called E. V. Ramaswami Naicker. "Periyar" means 'respected one' or an 'elder' in Tamil.Hence he is sometimes called Periyar E. V. Ramaswami Naicker. "Ramaswami" was his given name and "Periyar" means 'respected one' or an 'elder' in Tamil.A University was named after him by the Tamil Nadu Government.Periyar could speak three Dravidian languages: Kannada, Tamil and Telugu. Though Kannada was his mother tongue, he mostly used Tamil.

EVR was an atheist, noted for his antitheistic statement, "He who created god was a fool, he who spreads his name is a scoundrel, and he who worships him is a barbarian." He said "Bane of tamilans is brahmins, muslims and christians consider themselves to be tamilians.

Periyar identified the women to reserve a cook at home, a maid in the house, a nurse during sickness, a breeding farm of a family, a decorated doll in bed and what not. In every aspect she was nothing but slave for man. The sad state of women was what Periyar decried. As the Courageous fighter for the cause of exploited weaker sections of society no wonder he took up the uplift of suffering women. Periyar emphasized women's education. He had no private life. His self sacrifice was unparalleled. He saved every paisa and his entire property was given to the Public.

Early life


Periyar was the son of a merchant Venkata, who was a devout Hindu of the Vaishnavite school of thought. His mother was Chinna Thayammal alais Muthammal; he had one elder brother named Krishnaswamy and two sisters named Kannamma and Ponnuthoy. Periyar studied for 5 years and joined his father's trade at the age of 12. He used to listen to Tamil Vaishnavite gurus who gave discourses in his house enjoying his father's hospitality. Periyar was married to Nagammal a girl of just 13 in 1898. He became the father of a female child which soon died and he had no more children. After being reprimanded by his father, Periyar left his house for Kasi

Pilgrimage to Kashi

He went on a pilgrimage to Varanasi (Kashi) to worship in the famous Siva temple Kashi Vishwanath in 1904. He wanted to enter a free-lunch place but finding that it was meant only for Brahmins he disguised himself as a one. But it was discovered that he was not a Brahmin and he was removed from the place.Later he learnt that the Free-lunch place was built with the donation of a Dravidian merchant.He saw the discrimination against non-brahmins. He had pictured Kasi as a place where all Hindus would be treated equally. This humiliation was the turning point in Periyar's life and it inflamed intense hatred towards the caste system. Ramaswamy was a believer till his visit in Kashi, after which his views changed and he became an rationalist. On returning to Erode - his father delegated all his trade rights to this second son and renamed his major commercial concern under the title: "E.V. Ramasamy Mandi".

Ramasami as a Freedom Fighter and Congress Party member 1919 - 1925

Periyar Ramaswamy joined the Indian National Congress in 1919 after quiting his business and resigning public posts including the chairmanship of Erode Municipality he held and wholeheartedly undertook the constructive programme - spreading the use of Khadi, picketing toddy shops, boycotting the shops selling foreign cloth and eradication of untouchability. He courted imprisonment for picketing toddy shops in Erode in 1921. When his wife as well as his sister joined the agitation, it gained momentum, and the administration was forced to come to a compromise.He was arrested during the Non-Cooperation movement and the Temperance Movement and was jailed. He was elected the President of the Madras Presidency (Tamil Nadu) Congress Committee in the 1922 Tirupur session and after his attempts for supporting reservation in government jobs and education was defeated in the Congress party .He quit the party in 1925.

Vaikom struggle - 1924-1925

Periyar Ramaswamy was involved in securing rights to entry into temples and access to temple roads for people of all castes in Vaikom in Kerala, which was part of the princely state of Travancore during 1924. Periyar was the President of the Madras Presidency (Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh) Congress Committee at that time led the agitation after many other leaders had been arrested. Periyar agreed and came to Vaikom in April 1924 and he was arrested but he was unrelenting and refused to leave to Vaikom and the satyagraha gained strength and Mahatma Gandhi, on an invitation from Rajaji, went to Vaikom and began talks with the Queen of Travancore where it was agreed that the police pickets would be removed and that the State police would do nothing to prevent the lower castes using the roads. Periyar refused to participate in the negotiations but he had to agree, reluctantly, to Gandhi's idea that the demand for all Hindus entering the temple be put off at least for the time being He played a role along with other great statesmen and national leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, C. Rajagopalachari, and Acharya Vinoba Bhave. Madras Presidency(Tamil Nadu) Congress passed a resolution umanimously praising Periyar's significant contribution to the Vaikom Satyagarha and hailing him as Vaikom Veerar(Vaikom Hero) in 1925 in the Kanchipuram Session .

Self-Respect Movement: 1925-39

Periyar and his followers campaigned constantly to influence and pressurise the government to take measures to remove social inequality even while other nationalist leaders focussed on the struggle for political independence.

UNESCO award

On 27 June 1970, the UNESCO conferred on Periyar the title of "the prophet of New Age, Socrates of South East Asia, Father of the social Reform Movement, and Arch enemy of ignorance, superstitions, meaningless customs and base manners". The award was presented by the Union Education Minister of Education, Dr. Triguna Sen under the presidentship of Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi. Read more...
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