Rahmanismdotcom's video: Rahman Tujhe Salaam - 3 10 AR Rahman CNN-IBN Interview Mar 01 2009

Rahmanism.com : 01-03-2009 CNN-IBN Interview with Veeraraghav TM Part 3 Transcript Veeraraghav TM: She would actually wait outside school for you to finish your jingles and get you dressed? AR Rahman: Sometimes, yeah. After what she went through in life, the suffering and hardship after my father passed away, I think I'll have to give it to her for bringing us up in a very good manner. Not just monetarily, but even in terms of internal strength. Veeraraghav TM: It was very difficult times... AR Rahman: It was a time of humiliation, insults and condescending attitudes, everything but we dont regret anything now. We've been given so much by god. Bharat Bala: I usually have annual functions every year and the highlight will be a musical performance by Rahman. He was like a one man band. Teachers needed Dilip at the time. They had to pick him up and say now he becomes the star. Bharathi Naimpalli: He was a very sweet child very, very timid. Hardly put his head up. YG Parthasarathy: I felt he was so tiny, he couldnt carry his key board himself. We had to help him with it. Bharathi Naimpalli: He's scored a lot of music for my fairytales. YG Parthasarathy: We did not realise he was going to be such a great musician. Valli Arunachalam: This was the classroom where Rahman studied. He used to sit on the first bench. His hair used to cover his face and we used to tell him please get your hair cut which he never did. He usually used to be very quiet. Veeraraghav TM:One of your teachers said that you never used to comb your hair. AR Rahman: Yes, I had long hair. I never had the time to cut it. Veeraraghav TM: And you didnt change after that as well. Even after Roja you were the same. AR Rahman: What you dont get at five, you wont get at 50 Veeraraghav TM: So how did that happen? Rahman who makes a style statement in an Armani suit was just a boy who didnt care about how he looked. AR Rahman: Well when you represent your country, you dont want people to say he looks like a beggar. This is a special occasion where the whole world is looking. M Haricharan Das: Jacob John, who is no more now. His family and JJ retired about 8 years back and they've settled down in London. AR Rahman: JJ died of cancer. I met him five years back in Liverpool. He said I'm seeing you after so long I want to live for 10 more years and then his wife said no he's going to live only for six months. Amazing. And then I have another master who was in Bahrain. He was my father's friend and also a teacher. I just remember his face very faintly. Then there is CG Gopalakrishnan. I've learnt qawali from Fateh Ali Khan. Bharat Bala: Rahman said that he wanted to learn qawali from him so ustadji got very excited so he said lets start now so in the next 10 minutes, he woke up all his musicians, his accompanying artistes and this whole room became a qawali session till the wee hours of morning and he taught him his first qawali and after 15 minutes Rahman joined with the troupe and it was magical.