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T.M. Soundararajan, the quintessential Tamil playback singer, who was the voice of the two mega stars — M.G. Ramachandran and Sivaji Ganesan — of the Tamil film world, died here on Saturday. TMS, as he was known in the Tamil speaking world, had been unwell for quite some time and was in and out of hospital. He was discharged on Saturday morning but his condition worsened soon, and he passed away in the afternoon. He was 91 and is survived by his wife, two sons — T.M.S. Balraj and T.M.S. Selvakumar, both of whom sing for light music troupes — and a daughter. His robust and full-throated singing perfectly suited MGR and Sivaji, who had their roots in Tamil theatre. A versatile singer, he modulated his voice to suit the two stars perfectly. A listener could identify the star in the movie through TMS’ songs, even without watching the film. He also acted and sang in a few films. He had a voice that could catch the nuances and majesty of the Tamil language, but could not replicate his … [Read more...] about Playback singer TMS passes away

My wife and I sped through the streets of Santa Ana, weaving down side streets and around double-parked cars, in search of the magic house. The one with all the loquats. Late spring is when Southern California erupts with the small, fuzzy pastel-orange or -yellow fruit . Trees have groaned with their bounty for over a century in places as varied as Compton and Santa Monica, Santa Ana and Pasadena, East Los Angeles and Long Beach. They’re remnants of an era when loquats, not avocados or oranges, were a marquee crop , a sign that the region was a subtropical paradise. Today, they’re the happiest regional problem we have. Loquats seem to ripen all at once, which sparks a communal race against the clock that sees anyone who has a tree try to get as many as possible before the parrots gorge on them. People dust off their recipe books to tackle all the loquats. Jams. Preserves. Butter. Upside-down cake. Empanadas. Barbecue sauce. Liqueur. Or we just eat them fresh until we … [Read more...] about Column: In diverse Southern California, loquats are the real fruit MVPs