Voice mail!

HE IS not a man of many words. He is the one with many voices! Like a chameleon changing its colour, his vocal chords change sounds. But, he doesn't need the surroundings to compel him to go for a change. The voices come naturally.

Voices are his strength; his recipe for success. And old hand at voices, he's set to beam social messages - in a great number of voices, of course - from his unique platform. It's called ventriloquism.

G.V.N. Raju, a city-based ventriloquist working in the Postal Department, is undertaking a unique 12-hour non-stop ventriloquism show to spread AIDS awareness and population control at Sri Thyagaraya Gana Sabha, Chikkadpally, on Tuesday, beginning 7 a.m. Of course, his `Little Rascal' alias Singinadham would be in tow!

"Ventriloquism is not a mere tool of entertainment. It should be used to promote a social cause," he insists. The popular slogan - Talking AIDS is stopping AIDS - has come in handy for him. "I thought I'll talk for 12 full hours." Some time-talk that is!

A disciple of renowned mimicry artiste, Padmashri Dr. Nerella Venu Madhav, Raju has mastered the art of speaking without lip or jaw motion and nurtured it by adding a social cause to it. "In mimicry my disciples have broken many a record, but ventriloquism has remained an untapped area. This is being fulfilled by Raju," Dr. Madhav says.

If the name still does not ring a bell, remember the man who anchored the popular countdown programme, `Ishtapadhi', on Siticable? He is Raju for you.

By K.V.S. Madhav

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