Member Lalitha Swaminathan passed away.

[erode14]

Dear forumites,

Smt.Lalitha Swaminathan, (mother of Rajna Swaminathan and Anjna Swaminathan) an active member of the forum(lswaminathan) passed away on 22nd July, due to a sudden cardiac arrest. She was a great mother, singer and a good rasika.

Prayers for the soul.

nagaraj.

[vasanthakokilam]

oh... that is a very sad news.. Condolences to the family.

[ShrutiLaya]

This is sudden and shocking news. I had been communicating with her by email for concert arrangements etc. for a few years, and had met her briefly for the first time when Rajna played for us as part of the 5 ladies concert group in NY last year. She was always a very helpful and supportive person. My sincere condolences to the whole family, and may the Lord grant them strength to get through this difficult time.

- Sreenadh

[rshankar]

That is very, very sad news. May her soul rest in peace. May the family (Sri Swaminathan, and the girls, Rajna and Anjana) find the strength to negotiate these tough times. My heartfelt condolences.

[Lakshman]

Sincere condolences to the Swaminathan family.

[ragam-talam]

This is indeed quite shocking news...I believe she was quite young.
You can find a picture of Smt Lalitha here: http://www.rajnaswaminathan.com/family
Sincere condolences.

[Nick H]

How very sad. Thank you for the link to the photo and more information about the family.

Condolences to family, and friends, of whom she must have had many.

[suma]

OMG - So sorry to hear this. Havent visited the forum for a few days and I am shocked.

Dear Rajna - Very sorry to hear this. Be strong.

My heart felt condolenses.

[bilahari]

What a shock! Life is so fragile.
My heartfelt condolences to Sri Swaminathan, Rajna, Anjna, and all other family members and friends.
The forum will miss her presence.

[Sam Swaminathan]

Sri Swaminathan, Rajna and Anjna.....this is really shocking...My sincere condolences on your immense loss. May her soul rest in peace. I will remember you all in my prayers.

[mahavishnu]

Sincere condolences. What a tragedy!

[mahakavi]

I am really saddened. P K Swaminathan is a good friend of mine whom I know from 2002 when he visited St. Louis for a dance arangetram performance. I wrote about Rajna's performance in Cary, NC for an online magazine in Chennai. This sudden death of Mrs. Lalitha Swaminathan at a young age is really tragic.
PKS, Rajna, and Anjana: My heartfelt prayers for your peace and strength.

[mohan]

Very sad to hear this news. Sincere condolences to Rajna and her family

[Pratyaksham Bala]

Sincere condolences to the family.

[arasi]

Can't believe this! She was so young! She was a dedicated mother who was proud of her talented children. May God give the daughters and Swaminathan a lot of strength to cope with this tragedy.

[PUNARVASU]

A very sad news! Our condolences to the family. A big blow to them!A great pity that just as the daughters are emergng as good musicians, the mother is not around to see them. No words can be of any solace the young girls and their father and the other family members.

[semmu86]

Oh my god.. what a tragic news. makes me feel all the more sad, having interacted with them a lot at UKS sir's house.. May almighty be with their family in this turbulent time..

[rajeshnat]

Very sad to hear that. Did this happen in US . Condolences to Shri swaminathan, rajna and anjana.

[srkris]

May she rest in peace.

[Ramasubramanian M.K]

Shocking news--Myself and my wife knew her for the past 25 years--Ranjna played in one of the concerts arranged by Sruthilaya. She was a quiet dignified lady--26 years ago her husband played mridangam for an arangetram in NY where my wife sang--the rehearsals for the arangetram were lots of fun--she taught us all MD's Sankarabharanam song set in Western tune.
Never met a nicer couple. PKS was a gentleman-no fuss.

Our family's heartfelt condolences to P.K.Swaminathan,Ranjna and Anajana.

[VRV]

Very sad to hear that. Did this happen in US . Condolences to Shri swaminathan, rajna and anjana.

Rajesh, This happened while vacationing in Budapest. Mrs Swaminathan suffered a severe cardiac arrest and was pronounced brain dead after 72 hours. My sincere and heartfelt condolences to the family.

Rajna and Anjana, no words of solace can provide consolation to your loss. My heart goes out to you. I got to know you two really well while in Cleveland. May God give you all the courage.

Vinod Venkataraman

[cienu]

Extremely distressed to hear this news. Condolences to all members of the family.

[rbharath]

my heartfelt condolence to the family

[smala]

John Gunther's well known memoir, on the death of his seventeen year old son after a long struggle with brain tumor borrows the idea from the poem by John Donne :

DEATH be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,
Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,
And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,
And better then thy stroake; why swell'st thou then;
One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.

[Krishna55]

I am shocked to note the sudden demise of Lalitha madam . I Met her recently in Anjana's violin concert (Sri Parvathi Hall) and after the concert we were talking. I usually see her during the December season with Rajana. Her down to earth nature and pallakad accent tamil cannot be forgotten,

May her soul rest in peace and pray god to give strength to her family members.

[raghavt]

This is indeed shocking My friend and our forumite Arvind informed me about this today. Such incidents are examples to understand how fragile our life is. I can imagine, the world would have fallen over the two young girls. There is absolutely no substitute for one's dear mother. I pray God to give them all the strength and courage to face this situation. I'm sure they will come up, after all they have right tool 'Music' with them that will certainly help them to overcome this.

May her soul be at peace.

This makes me think again and again, the pattern of all these (life, death etc) have to be changed :^)

[sangeetha]

My heart felt condolences. Wish it was a bad dream ...

PKS sir: My prayers are with you and your girls....

[tkb]

Shocking news. Our condolence to the family and her friends & families.

[ajit]

This is a very shocking news. Condolences to the family.

[gobilalitha]

E ven though personally I didn't know much about her,i can guess about her greatness from the glowing tributes paid to her. . Heartfelt condolences to the bereaved members of her family. Tragic that she should have passed away at such an early age . gobilalitha

[venk]

It is a sad news. Let us pray that rest of the family gets the strength to cope with the tragedy.

[angarai]

It is a very sad and shocking news indeed.. Will definitely miss her and our heartfelt condolences to the family.

Her funeral service is planned for Saturday 07/31 (8 am - 11 am) at:

Philip Rinaldi Funeral services
9241 Columbia blvd
Silver Spring MD 20910
tel. 301-585-4050

Update: Public viewing is 9:30am - 11am. Cremation is at 11:30am in Beltsville.

[lswaminathan]

This is p.k. swaminathan, lalitha's husband

The time for the viewing is actually 8-10 am.
Religious function is from 10-11:30 am.

[VK RAMAN]

shocking indeed. Condolense to the family.

[ksrimech]

Heartfelt condolences to the family.

[vakul12]

very shocking, may the children have courage to withstand and continue music to fulfill their Amma's dreams