LOVELY SMILE CENTRE BEACONS COLABA RESIDENTS
The ultramodern dental clinic located opposite Strand Cinema in Colaba is the brainchild of Dr. Rekha Chadha-Bhasin, an endodontist having more than a decade's experience.


The name says it all. The name is quite simply Lovely Smile Centre where apart from regular dental treatment, high class cosmetic dentistry and implant dentistry on par with international standards is made available to the residents of Cuffe Parade and Colaba. Says Dr. Rekha Chadha-Bhasin, " This clinic is well equipped with diagnostic equipment like computerised Dexis X-ray machine which is one of the very few available in the city of Mumbai". People from all over Mumbai as well as from other States prefer to visit this Centre which follows strict sterilization procedures. According to Dr. Chadha the Centre uses high quality dental materials which are mainly imported.


Even though Dr. Chadha boasts of clientele from India and abroad, her concern for the deplorable and deteriorating condition of the teeth among children is very great. Hence she has offered her voluntary services to hold dental awareness and check-up camps in various schools and areas in this vicinity. Depending on the situation she also educates the parents on dental care.

Although the main focus in the clinic is dnetal treatment, you could always walk in for a regular dental check-up at a reasonable cost. A specialist in root canal treatment. Dr Chadha aims to bring close to the residents of Cuffe Parade and Colaba the personal touch while giving dental treatment.


Among various future plans of the Centre are development of a website for the clinic so that at the click of the mouse anyone can have up-to-date access to the intricacy of services offered by the Centre.


"It's such a wonderful field of work where you always strive to do a better job than what was done earlier and it is this pace which eggs you to perform better everytime", adds Dr. Chadha.


So watch out. Dr. Chadha's Lovely Smile Centre has arrived in Colaba to bring the smile back on your face.

The Shanmukhananda Hall has stood the test of time and is all set to regain the pristine glory which it used to enjoy for decades before a fire devastated it in February 1990.

Circa 1943. After deep confabulations, few music oriented minds like Dr. Iyengar, Rao Saheb, Anantha Iyer, P R Sundaraja Iyengar, Srinivasa Iyer, S Seshadri and some others decided to come together and form Krishna Gana Sabha. The Sabha was then the largest cultural organisation in Bombay with a membership strength of 1000. Apart from monthly programs for members, the Sabha for the first time organised a ten-day music and dance fetival in the evergreen lawns of the Podar College in Matunga. At a later stage the regular programs were held at the Palamkote Hall in the periphery of five gardens in Dadar. The show went on for about eight years.

Sometime around 1951, the late prime minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru while addressing a gathering at Metro theatre, lamented at the lack of a large hall in Bombay - the city of millionaires. Immediately, some music lovers including T V Ramanujam, R S Mani (Father of Jayaram Mani, Hon. Secretary of the Board of Trustees), A C Ramalingam, B Narayanaswamy (father of Justice Srikrishna), T V Doraiswamy, K S Mahadevan, T N P Easwar, S R Kasturi and S Seshadri formed themselves into a think-tank. Several brainstorming sessions culminated in the birth of Shanmukhananda Fine Arts & Sangeetha Sabha in September 1952 at the very Podar College Hall.

The Shanmukhananda Sabha was formed by merging three existing organisations; Sri Shanmukhananda Sabha, Indian Fine Arts Society and the South Indian Sangeetha Sabha. "The merging was necessary in order to bring about organisational economy and efficiency so as to provide meaningful programmes to all music lovers," says S Seshadri, founder trustee and managing committee member of the Sabha. In 1964 when the gigantic hall came up in Kings' Circle (Matunga), Pandit Nehru acclaimed the hall as the biggest in the east of Suez and Rajaji hailed it as the temple of music. Thereafter, the Shanmukhananda Hall, a success story in itself, saw many luminaries perform in its precincts. M S Subbalakhsmi, Ustad Bismillah Khan, Zubin Mehta, Lata Mangeshkar.... Global leaders like Indira Gandhi, Atal Behari Vajpayee have given historical speeches at this place.

And, in February 1990 an unfortunate tragedy struck. A major fire devastated the hall into cinders. Rebuilding the edifice from shambles was indeed a formidable and herculean task for its president Dr. S Subramanian and other members of the managing committee and board of trustees. "In order to restore the Sabha's glory and rebuild the structure, all of us had to spend sleepless nights for nine long years planning the massive project and gathering funds," states Seshadri. Several luminaries, philantropists, instituions and business houses were roped in for financial assistance to meet the required target of Rs. 12 crores.

The donors' magnanimity knew no bounds and a single donor who wishes to remain in the background managed to gather Rs.1.6 crores. The new building which was inaugurated in November 1999 consists an auditorium which is the largest cultural hall in India having 2800 seats, state of the art lighting, a stage measuring 52 x 51 feet, U.S. made JBL Harmone group amplifiers, speakers and mixers. The unique seating system is designed on a three tiered level and is compact enough to ensure visibility from each seat. "This hall is Asia's biggest and has been built out of public money and donations amounting to Rs.12 crores. And the functions and activities of the Sabha will be aimed towards national integration," says Dr. V. Subramanian, president of the Sabha. Shanmukhananda Sabha's present membership strength stands at 3400 with the annual subscription fees being Rs.240/-. "The Sabha has the largest music school (Sangeeth Vidyalaya) in India comprising an average of 400 students and eight faculties for Hindustani and Carnatic music. It is the only professional institution in the city that offers a Mumbai University affiliated diploma in Carnatic music," says Seshadri. The other activities of the Sabha include running a medical centre catering to the needs of poor at subsidised rates and yoga classes. The Hall has also installed infrastructural facilities for a telecasting centre to show select programs around the world.

Refuting allegations that certain members have continued to be in the managing committee for years together Seshadri says; "For certain disgruntled elements, making such false allegations has become a hobby. The Sabha is a highly democratic body and members to the committee are elected by the members in regular election to serve the organisation, so there is no question of any member remaining in the committee for years together

". "I am confident that the Sabha has a promising future and is all set to become a historical institution and a landmark in the new millennium, provided it is in safe hands", avers Seshadri who has been associated with the institution right from its "think-tank" days.