Ondu Shendiya Kathe! Auction of ‘Shendi’ by Karaoke Club Raises Rs 1 Lakh for ‘Seva Bharathi’
Ondu Shendiya Kathe! (A Story of a Wig!) Auction of ‘Shendi’ (Wig) by members of Raag and Rhythm Karaoke Club based in Mangaluru raises Rs 1,21,642 for ‘Seva Bharathi’ Charitable Trust
Mangaluru: If you had happened to watch the recently released Kannada movie “Ondu Motteya Kathe” (A story of an Egg), where the story is about Janardhan, a Kannada lecturer, who is told by his family priest that he needs to get married within a year to escape a lifetime of bachelorhood. The catch is that Janardhan is bald and he isn’t a big hit with women. There are very few times that one gets to laugh, cry and experience all the emotions as a tale unfolds onscreen. The film is about a bald man who faces prejudices and stereotyping by the society, which looks and approves everything at surface level. There is a very sensitive handling of this hypocrisy and body shaming in a tale that tries to reinforce the age-old tenet ‘Beauty is skin deep’. The film is probably the best tribute to Dr Rajkumar made on Kannada screen till date and the subtle references to the late matinee idol and his films are a delight to any film buff. And the cast, top lined by director Raj as the protagonist, ensures this film never seems made up. So that’s a little bit of the review of “Ondu Motteya Kathe”.
But even though, “Ondu Shendiya Kathe” is not related to any movie, but the actual story in reality goes like this. During the Seventh Annual Celebration/Meet of ‘Raag and Rhythm Karaoke Club of Mangaluru on Sunday, 7 January 2018 (which started in December 2010), three energetic members of this Singers Club namely Mukund Kamath (The Ideal Ice Cream honcho) , Umakanth Nayak and G G Venkatraya Prabhu enacted a scene from the 1968 movie “Padosan” to the song “Ek Chatur Naar Karke Sringar…”- while the song was performed by Mukund Kamath and GG Venkatraya Prabhu, the man with “Shendi” was enacted by Umakanth Kamath. The performance by these three members of the Karaoke Club got the loudest applause from the audience, and some one in the audience made a comment , “Are you trying to publicize your ‘Shendi”(Wig) and auction It?”
Umakanth Nayak who heard that comment, did take it serious, and thought why not auction the Shendi anyhow. And for the fact, his idea clicked well, and the auction was a hit raising a huge sum of money which no one ever imagined. The auction bid which started at Rs 5000, ended at around Rs 15,000 or so. And at that moment, our “Ideal Ice Cream Icon” Mukund Kamath raised his bid to Rs 25,000. This motivated and inspired many other members in the audience, who came forward to contribute more towards the auction, which was meant for a good cause. And believe it or not, within 45 minutes of the auction, they were to raise Rs 1, 21,642. Call it a “Guiness Book of World Record? or “Limca Book of Records”- whatever, I think it is a RECORD?
The members of this Karaoke Club decided to hand over the amount raised through the auction to “Seva Bharathi”an NGO which manages many NGO institutions under its wings, among them being the “Chetana Development centre” for the Physically and Mentally Challenged Children, located on Vitobha Temple Road, Mangaluru. A bevy of members of the Karaoke Club visited Seva Bharathi on Thursday, 11 January and interacted with the “Special children” there, and brought miles of smiles on their faces. After taking a tour of the facility, it was time to hand over the amount collected to the NGO Trust, which was handed over to Ms Sumathi Shenoy, the Trustee of Seva Bharathi.
Prakash Pai, a volunteer at Seva Bharathi briefed the gathering about the services and care provided by the NGO for the needy folks. On behalf of Raag and Rhythm Karaoke Club, the Founder President Savitha Shenoy briefed about the happenings of the Club and its contribution to the community. Ms Sumathi Shenoy thanked the Karaoke Club members for their kind generosity, thereby thinking of the Physically, Mentally Handicapped and Blind children, who are always looking for love and care from good Samaritans. And for that matter, these generous members of Raag & Rhythm did become Good Samaritans, by putting miles of smiles on the faces of these deserving Special Children, and making a difference. Never look at their disabilities, let’s build their abilities- Togetherness will result in improvement- and that’s exactly these, who were “One Time Professional Bathroom singers” did?. A big thank you to “Raag & Rhythm” members for sharing their wealth for a good cause.
While a “Motte” (Egg) can be helpful in making a delicious omelette or egg bhurji, but a “Shendi” can work miracles in raising money. Having said so, that a “Shendi” can prove luck and miracles, chances are that Mukund Kamath who have been the creator of many new flavors of Ice Cream/Candies like ‘Bella Candy’; ‘Panak Candy’; ‘Swizilla’; ‘iPizza”; “Aambuli Candy” etc, may think of creating a new flavor of candy called “Shendi Candy”. You Never Know!
And to mention a little about, “Raag and Rhythm Karaoke Club of Mangalore”-it was started in December, 2010 and is now one of the leading karaoke clubs of City for all family members. The club members who meet once in a month, on First Sunday evening at Ocean Pearl Hotel, sing Bollywood songs on karaoke tracks for about three hours, starting from 6pm-10 pm or so. Speaking to Team Mangalorean, Founder of the Club, Savita Shenoy said, ” Many of our club members have been staging performances in the invited programmes in Mangaluru as well as as Bengaluru. We have a whole bunch of good singers who have the style and voice of well-known singers like Kishore Kumar, Mohd Rafi, Latha Mangeshkar which makes the karaoke nights very vibrant. The club which began with six members now has the strength of 75 plus. Interested persons can join our club- come to our next Karaoke night-4 February 2018″
Click on the Link for “Padosan” movie song “Ek Chatur Naar Karke Sringar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HwrMGpFaik
