Oscar winning musician A. R. Rahman (Slumdog Millionaire) has come up with a Calendar 2010 in aid of "education for the less privileged children".
With pictures of Rahman in various music related moods/settings and his thoughts on topics like love, music, and language; this desk-top calendar is being sold for Rupees 250. Reportedly produced by A. R. Rahman Foundation in collaboration with World Light (Audio Media Education subsidiary), its photographs are captured by T. Selvakumar, Audio Media Education director. “All praises belong to the Almighty”, is one of the quotes on the Calendar.
A. R. Rahman Foundation wants to “make poverty history”. As a first step towards achieving the vision of “strive towards making poverty history”, the Foundation will set up educational institutions and provide world class, state-of-the-art infrastructure and education to underprivileged children who do not have the means to access & fund their education. This will equip them with knowledge and skill sets to pursue specialized higher studies that will provide them career opportunities to build a secure future for themselves and their families, Foundation states.
Foundation is reportedly providing free music education to 30 students from corporation schools in Chennai (India) in Rahman’s world-class K M Music Conservatory and aims at increasing this number.
Acclaimed Hindu statesman Rajan Zed has applauded Rahman for his efforts in educating the less privileged children, saying religions tell us to help the helpless. Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, urged other world entertainment celebrities to follow Rahman in contributing to poverty eradication from the planet.
Rahman, who has reportedly recorded sales of over 300 million, was called “Mozart of Madras'' by Time magazine. Rahman sees music “as a way to connect to spirituality and embrace it” and for “creating harmony in troubled times”.