Anything about IR found on the net - Vol 2

Raaja himself speaks on his health:



Slightly pissed off with KR and YSR for coming through the organizers of a concert. appo concert illEnA idhu vandhurukkAdhA? ennAngadA neengaLum unga concert'um.

Raja  ..

Sorry to hear this news. I heard the press conf. Just when IR laughed, along with whole room, I also had a smile.. a sense of relief and happiness he is doing fine .. Genuine love and concern for the man is obvious.
Even in the hospital, he never loses his philosophical attitude .. health will take care of him :-) Implies some divine force is responsible for his health (and his contribution to music).
Considering the quality of his music, it looks like that to me as well ..

udamba nalla parthukonga sir............

IR  - naan ila. udambu dhan  enna parthukudhu. adhu nalla dhan parthukudhu.........   enna oru vaarthai..........

Happy to know IR is stable and recovering. Pray and wish for his good health and a long life. As usual, his speech and thoughts are always the same even when unwell. Happy to hear his voice, it does bring a great sense of relief.

Karthik Raaja got back with a few tweets on what happened and Raaja's current health:

https://twitter.com/raajakarthik/status/415766646041485312

https://twitter.com/raajakarthik/status/415845465268027393

https://twitter.com/raajakarthik/status/415845911399366657

and this site now says the Malaysian show now stands cancelled: http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/celebrities/features/type/view/id/5948

I feel the extensive and frequent overseas concerts must have taken a toll on our frail man. May he be permitted a complete rest and relaxation for complete recovery.

Thanks to Karthikraja for the updates.
DM, thanks for bringing them here.
Raja, We love you very much, please take care of you. 
Holidays/festival time namaskaram to you!

Looks like the concert is indeed happening, just without Raaja: https://twitter.com/raajakarthik/status/415909416274120705 also, awww. kozhandha manasu baa  

Raaja is getting discharged tomorrow. Director KS Suka met him with his mentor Balu Mahendra and posted on facebook. It is accessible only to his friends. Hence a friend, R Prasanna copied and posted a twitlonger: http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1rv3n5j

Director Suka wrote:நாளை டிஸ்சார்ஜ் . . .

ராஜாஸார் மருத்துவமனையில் அனுமதிக்கப்பட்ட நாளே அவரது மேலாளர் சுப்பையா, ‘ஒங்கள யாரு தடுக்கப் போறா? நீங்க போயிப் பாருங்க’ என்று சொன்னார். எனக்குத்தான் மனதில் தைரியமில்லாமல் அதைத் தவிர்த்து விட்டேன். ஆனாலும், தொடர்ந்து மருத்துவமனை நிலவரங்களை நண்பர் பழனிபாரதி மூலம் அறிந்து வந்தேன்.

இரண்டு நாட்களாகவே ‘வாத்தியார்’ பாலுமகேந்திரா கேட்டுக் கொண்டே இருந்தார்.

‘ராஜா எப்பிடி இருக்காராம்? நீ பாத்தியா?’

‘நான் பாக்கல. ஆனா நல்லா இருக்காராம், ஸார்’ என்று சொல்லி வந்தேன்.

இன்று காலை, எடுத்த எடுப்பில் ‘இன்னிக்கு ராஜாவப் பாக்கணும். கூட்டிட்டு போ’ என்றார்.

தயக்கத்துடன், ‘அங்கெ யாரயும் அனுமதிக்கறதில்லயாம்’ என்று இழுத்தேன்.

‘பரவாயில்ல. டாக்டர்கிட்டெயாவது பேசிட்டு வருவோம். அதுவுமில்லேன்னா ராஜா இருக்கிற ஆஸ்பத்திரி கட்டிடத்தைப் பாத்துட்டு வரலாம், வா’ என்றார்.

‘நாலரை மணிவாக்கில போனீங்கன்னா, ஸாரையே பாக்க வாய்ப்பிருக்கு’ என்றார் பழனிபாரதி.

அப்பல்லோ மருத்துவமனையின் நான்காம் மாடி. வாத்தியாரின் கையைப் பிடித்தபடி அவரது தளர்ந்த நடையுடன், படபடக்கும் என் இதயத்துடிப்பும் சேர்ந்து கொள்ள, மெல்ல அந்த அறையை நெருங்கினோம். கதவைத் திறக்கவும், பளீரென்று சிரிப்புடன் எழுந்து நின்று, வாத்தியாரைப் பார்த்து ‘வாங்க’ என்று கைகுலுக்கி வரவேற்றவர், என்னைப் பார்த்து ‘உன்ன முதல்நாள்ல இருந்தே எதிர்பாத்துக்கிட்டிருக்கேன்’ என்றார்.

பொங்கி வந்த அழுகையைக் கட்டுப்படுத்த அவ்வளவு போராட வேண்டியிருந்தது.

Looks like most of the folks in the forum are out on vacation. ippO nu pArthu Raaja udal nalathula kuraivu. Forum la activity'um kuraivu. I hope Raaja will be back to good health soon. And I hope we in the forum are all back soon and continue. I know we will. enna, forum oru mooNu naaLA konjam veruchOdi irukku. enakkum uLLa pOttu pesayudhu, ennavO seyyudhu   Recording all the important updates here so that once people are back to their routine, they can fall back here to get a gist of what happened since Monday.

Small summary: Monday afternoon, twitter was abuzz with tweets that Raaja had been admitted to Apollo Hospitals (https://twitter.com/ramyakannan/status/415046943304187905). padhattam. Almost immediately, Alex Raja confirmed on Facebook (link: https://m.facebook.com/alex.raja.311/posts/629113780480503) that it is a general illness and Raaja has gone for regular check ups and asked us not to believe in rumours and that he had spoken to sources close to Karthik Raaja. I left it at that. But later in the evening, Venkat Prabhu gave an interview to a TV channel that his periappa had suffered a mild heart attack (link: http://t.co/kFqc8p2Hwk). Internet was abuzz with speculation on what happened. Later that night, Yuvan and Karthik brought Raaja on conference and assured he was fine and he will take part in Malaysia (https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5XZqux-pAsA). Karthikeyan said Raaja had food allergy and that he complained of chest pain and docs have done an angiogram and he'll be discharged in 2 days and he'll be fine. Then on Tuesday, a lot of the newspapers in Chennai carried the news that IR had a heart attack and docs have done an angioplasty (which was not mentioned by Karthikeyan) and placed a stent in his artery since an artery leading to the heart was blocked. Again, there was confusion since Karthikeyan never mentioned about heart attack and angioplasty (angiogram is a diagnostic procedure while angioplasty is a treatment for heart attacks. They have a world of a difference). And then came the series of tweets yesterday from Karthikeyan confirming about the heart attack and angioplasty which was reproduced in the forum in this page. Karthikeyan evidently wanted to reveal the facts slowly before which Venkat Prabhu jumped the gun on TV. As it stands, Raaja had a mild heart attack as he was rehearsing for Malaysia and having his breakfast on Monday morning. Angiogram confirmed and almost immediately an angioplasty was performed and stent was placed in his heart. He is fine now and under rest. He will be discharged tomorrow, December 27th, 2013 on Friday while Karthikeyan and Yuvan are in Malaysia for the concert. Concert will go on without Raaja. I hear from the internet that Raaja might appear on screen live for the audience and shall travel to meet his Malaysian fans a few months later as soon as he fully fit to travel abroad. Karthikeyan confirmed that the rehearsals are going on in Malaysia a couple of hours back on twitter: https://twitter.com/raajakarthik/status/416225750010699776

Photo of Raaja from the hospital room, taken by Director Suka: 

DM,
  Thanks a lot for the good news........NIce to see HIs photo.........

Manasu sonnadhu... seekiram sari agiduvar nu.....    Hearty Thanks to The God...............

You are welcome Usha ji. idhellAm kadamai illayA? Latest update on concert:



I've not watched it myself. inimE dhAn nAnum pAkkaNum.

DM,
  10 min video parthen...........   ellarum anga irukanga...  Raja vai yar parthukaranga nu manasil sogam.......

Karthick raja.. pesa arambichadhum.. enga family function nu solli..  udanae azhugai...........  Great Soul........ 

(Mild attack. en thatha ku vandhu.. pin..heavy agi...  andha kashtam.. avarin kashtam enna nu parthu iruken.)

Karthick in tweet.. vaarthaigal.... enna oru observation.........  appa val nadaka mudiyaradhu.. paduthuka mudiyaradhu.
S. adhu dhan   venum.......... 

karthick, yuvan and bava.. ellarum anga irukanga.. avanga manasu inga dhan irukum...................

Elllorudiaya prayers um.. .IR kaga.. kudavae iruku. Kadavuluku karunai iruku..............  Raja  Discharge aga porar.........

@DM - thanks for the update. I was a bit disturbed by the news. My mother-in-law went through an angioplasty recently, so I had some courage. But the stent thing worries me. Hope, he does recover well and the doctors have done a complete job. I am surprised that even his vegetarianism and self-discipline has not helped. South indian genetics does not seem to handle cholesterol well. IR is a source of inspiration for me in my professional and personal life as well. One of the reasons for me to give up non-veg food and shift to white clothing. Again, I hope and pray he recovers as much as I would feel if this had happened to my own dad.
@DM - appreciate young people like showing the maturity and concern that even sometime older people like me do not voice,.
To the rest of my forum friends - seasons greeting and wish you/your family/kids a Healthy and a Happy New Year.

DM, thanks for the further update.
With prayers...
Vinatha

Usha wrote:DM,
  10 min video parthen...........   ellarum anga irukanga...  Raja vai yar parthukaranga nu manasil sogam.......

andha kavalai enakkum irukku. Hopefully GangaiyAr and his wife will take care of him.

kiru wrote: But the stent thing worries me.

A stent is a precautionary measure imho, just to ensure that the artery doesn't get blocked again. Angiogram is more of an x-ray (for those who might wish to know what is the difference between an angiogram and an angioplasty) that uses fluoroscopy (dye mAdhri which is injected into the blood vessels via a catheter punctured into the hip or above the elbow so that it tracks blood flow in the vessels to and from the heart). That will tell us if there could be a block or not. Based on the fact that Karthikeyan said an angiogram was done and "appa had some food allergy and complained of chest pain and doctors have confirmed there is nothing to worry now", it was fair to assume some food allergy had caused chest pain and doctors were being extra safe in doing an angiogram to rule out heart ailments (since IR complained of chest pain).

Angioplasty is a different ball game. Based on what Karthikeyan clarified 2 days back, it was evident the angiogram confirmed a block in the artery which led to a mild heart attack. Angioplasty is a treatment procedure which uses a balloon catheter to open the block in the blood vessel and make way for blood to circulate by puncturing a vessel through the hip or elbow like with an angiogram. Just that, this procedure adds the balloon catheter to release the blockage. This picture can explain it better:



The blocked vessels are released artificially and a stent is a mesh tube that may or may not be inserted and maintains the vessels in their normal distances and imo, it is a precautionary measure here to ensure that the vessels don't block that artery again. Is Raaja safe? Yes, for now. But like Kiru mentioned, cholesterol in South Indian families tends to accumulate. Cholesterol in normal conditions is an essential molecule that maintains cellular permeability but when it accumulates, it can block blood vessels and when the vessel is linked to the heart, it causes heart ailments. Being a geneticist myself, I've seen my family (dad and his siblings) all have elevated cholesterol levels and most of them don't consume a lot of oil products. It's in the genes and an elevated cholesterol range in a human being makes him more prone to cholesterol accumulation than a person with a lower range and a little accumulation through foods is enough to cause BP and heart ailments. My dad has BP though his lifestyle is not very stressful (teetotaler, vegetarian, etc.) and for Raaja who has led a high stress life for 40+ years with little sleep for a better part of his younger days, the pinch is evident now. Blame it on the genetics and the golden goose laying lifestyle which the film industry exploited and Raaja himself gave way for all of us, it has come to this. But control in the diet (he is already a very disciplined man. solli thara vENdAm) and lifestyle (again teetotaler, so no problem) can reduce risk very much and it becomes a problem for folks who have drinking, smoking habits. Raaja should be fine given his lifestyle and it was good that this was discovered early now in its mild stage. Normally, the mild heart attacks can be mistaken for gastric problems (when we don't eat regularly) and arm aches when the aches in the arms and shoulders with chest pain are the give aways that it could be a heart attack and not looking at it then and continuing with our lifestyle will eventually lead to a more massive attack and result in problems. It is good that this was detected now itself and a Raaja with his usual discipline and medications should be fine for sometime to come. I just hope he reduces his work load and selects movies which are close to his heart and learns to say no for his own health.

Thanks DM for the updates and medical explanations.  Re: cholesterol and South Indian genetics, I do wonder how much of it is down to genetics and how much to poor dietary choices and a sedentary lifestyle. I know in my extended family that most people over 40 simply don't get enough exercise( both men and women), many are overweight and quite simply not "fit", forget athletic. My family and I are vegetarian too, but I tend to think at times that the modern South Indian vegetarian diet is one of the most unhealthy types of vegetarian diets in the world. My father tells me that growing up, healthy carbs like thInai and kEzhveragu were almost a staple at his home, whereas these are all but forgotten now and most SI's consume excessively high quantities of white rice which IMO is closely linked to the high prevalence of diabetes . Also too much fried, oily stuff and not enough protein. And again, almost zero physical activity (I don't count "walking" as exercise) . These things strike me more, now that I have seen how fit a lot of men and women in the US tend to be, well into their 40s and 50s.

None of the above was about IR who has always struck me to be quite fit and healthy for his age, despite his somewhat frail appearance. I remember people reviewing his concerts last year marveling at how he was able to stand on stage for 5 hours straight without taking a break. His discipline and clean lifestyle are, of course legendary. I sure hope he recovers soon and continues to enthrall us for many more years.

I am also curious what music he is listening to now. Any guesses? Would it be Thyagaraja Keerthanas or Bach cantatas or a little of all his favourites? One thing we can be sure of is that it is not likely to be his own music.

Sad to read about IR's heart attack

Hope he gets better soon!

(BTW, angioplasty means it's not too serious that demands a bye-pass; that makes one feel not too bad)

Excellent, educative and informative post by DM.
Good points by fring with valid observations by his dad (I have eaten thinai athirasam once.. delicious ..'thEnum thinai maavum' is referenced in tamil literature)
Yes, we are not supposed to eat 'white rice' that much especially when we dont consume high fiber/protein wheat like our north indian brethren.
The traditional grains (like kambu, kEzhvaragu) have completely out of fashion. 'koozhu' has been relegated to the 'mariamman' temple festivals and nobody ever consumes them.
Atleast in Karnataka, they continue to use ragi (moddhai balls instead of koozh like in TN). Ragi also has high calcium.
SIs should watch out for cholesterol, take high-fiber and little rich in protein diets. Women (mainly) should get tested for thyroid (otherwise they might have weight issues).
As I found out from my physicals, people in North America or those who stay indoors a lot should watch out for Vitamin D deficiency as well.
Low bone density/osteoporosis might be another issue for SIs (as a health camp at work here in showed that may SI software engineers to be having low bone density as well)

Raaja speaks today confirming his unavailability for the concert and requesting audience to not ask for a refund. Evidently under request from the sponsors. Karthikeyan'um kai neetti kaasu vaangiruppAr. Hence:

Good to see Raja!

Updated the blog. Ramanukke Seethai: http://raajasongadaykeepsboredomaway.wordpress.com/2013/12/29/sangamam/

I attended the KL concert last Saturday. IR appeared on a live video conference, he started off by singing Janani,janani. He seemed very fragile in the beginning. 

My heart just sank, and couldn't hold my tears. But, his ever green  smile & laughter , some what gave me some calmness. he genuinely apologized for his absence. 

the second video, he seemed a lot more at ease. I am not sure if it was a right or a wrong thing about the live conference. But, I was glad to have seen him and hearing him. 

Dear Raaja sir, please take care of yourself. Your music is an integral part of my life, in the times of joy, sorrow,loneliness, You have always lifted up my spirit with your unconditional , healing music. 

Love you very much sir, let the strength of the our prayers be with you always....