Little boy,Large cause

It’s all the media’s fault — nowadays, one vacation every summer is not enough. A family has to visit at least three destinations to get a sense of having gotten away from it all. Interestingly, the loudest clamour for multiple vacations comes from the smallest members of the family — children.

So, 11-year-old Prithvi hopping from one city to another and staying at star hotels with his parents may not come as a surprise. Quite a number of eyebrows goes up when people learn the ambition behind Prithvi’s city-hopping.

Prithvi did not pester his dad Raghu for an extended vacation, but wanted to be taken to a few cities so he could raise funds for less fortunate children. How? The Hyderabad-based Prithvi is a DJ, honoured by U.K.-based World Record Academy for his effort at Katriya Hotel in Hyderabad on June 18, 2008. The boy played non-stop for three hours and five minutes, mixing over 100 songs.

“From the Internet, I found out that somebody in the U.K. became a professional DJ at eight. Prithvi must be the youngest DJ in Asia,” says Raghu, a graphic designer who takes time off work to nurture his son’s talent. It all started on December 31, 2007 at a New Year’s Eve party. “I also manage events. For this one, I had brought DJ Jimmy Bell from the Ministry of Sound (a global dance music phenomenon). As it was my event, Prithvi climbed on to the stage, and stood behind the DJ cabin. Seeing how the music from Bell’s turntable swayed the crowd, Prithvi decided there can’t be a better profession than playing discs.”

On January 1, 2008, he started to explore options for making dance music. He downloaded the 15-day trial version of Virtual DJ, a software for mixing songs. “He mixed two songs — impressed with what I heard, I bought him the software. On an overdrive, Prithvi mixed about 25 songs in a month. I put him under the tutelage of Ananth, a DJ in Hyderabad,” says Raghu.

As if on fast forward, DJ Prithvi quickly went on to play at clubs, and also mixed a song for “Mahatma”, a film directed by Krishna Vamsi. The highlight, however, is what Prithvi has been doing to raise funds for Abhaya Foundation in Hyderabad, which supports children with disabilities and terminal diseases.

This year, he played at Athina in Durgamma Cheruvu (Hyderabad), and on April 16 at Athina (Leela Palace, Bangalore), and raised Rs. 1,30,000 (including sponsorships). Last Saturday, he performed at Vertigo (Deccan Plaza, Chennai) and his ‘do-gooder’s vacation’ will be complete after two more performances — in Vishakapatnam and Hyderabad.

Among other plans are, raising funds to help Sri Lankan Tamils.

source:The Hindu