Janani Muralidharan is currently finishing up her undergrad at UC Davis (Class of 2011). She joined Davis as a Genetics Major but recently changed to majoring in International Relations, with an emphasis on Global Health, and minoring in French.
During the 2007-2008 school year, when she was a freshman, Janani lived in Ryerson 4, an All-Women's Community. During the 2008-2009 school year, Janani lived off-campus at Adobe in West Davis. As much as she enjoyed apartment life, she really missed Student Housing. As a result, Janani started the 2009-2010 school year as a Community Assistant for Malcolm/Ryerson in Segundo. As a CA, her responsibilities included helping the RAs in M/R and also working for UCD's Housing Channel. In November of 2009, she was promoted to become the new RA for Thompson Hall, 3rd Floor. As a member of UC Davis Student Housing (UCDSH), Janani was also a peer advisor for SLAC (Segundo Leadership and Activity Council). During the 2010-2011, working as a Returning RA in Alder Hall, 2nd Floor, Janani was an integral part of establishing the APATH community's new home on campus. Currently, Janani is living off-campus and is working hard to finish her final classes and aims to graduate in December of 2011.
Janani has many interests. She is a classically trained Carnatic singer (South Indian Classical Music). She has been learning from her Guru, Smt Jayashree Varadarajan (Founder/Director Sri Rama Lalitha Kala Mandir, School of Fine Arts) since she was 4 years old and has performed at numerous venues. In April of 2004, Janani gave a solo one-hour concert for the Nandalala Mission. On September 9, 2007, Janani had her Arangetram, also known as a three-hour solo debut vocal performance. Her performance received excellent reviews from the local community. In August of 2009, Janani performed in a solo 30-minute slot on a local TV channel. The performance is archived online. In addition to singing Carnatic Music, Janani has also been performing with a band called Pallavi for the past 10 years. The band performs Tamil film music. Furthermore, Janani is a part of UCD's premiere, competitive South Asian A Cappella Team, UC Davis Jhankaar. The team's official website is ![[WWW]](../wiki/eggheadbeta/img/sycamore-www.png){kind=small}
https://www.facebook.com/UCDavisJhankaar and the team can be followed on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/UCDavisJhankaar.
Janani is also a classically trained Bharathanatyam dancer (South Indian Classical Dance) and has been officially learning from her aunt, Guru Smt Jayanthi Sridharan (Founder/Director BharathaKala Kutiram) since the age of 3. She has performed at numerous venues both locally and abroad. Janani had her Arangetram on October 14, 2006.
In addition to dance and music, Janani is also a volunteer for Sankara Eye Foundation (SEF), a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that works towards raising funds to eradicate curable blindness in India by the year 2020 (Mission Statement: Vision 20/20 by the year 2020). Janani's father, Mr. Murali Krishnamurthy, is the current CEO and one of the founding members of the organization. As a volunteer for SEF, Janani has done an internship at the Coimbatore Hospital in Indian during the summer of 2006. Janani was privileged enough to attend several Eye Camps and help screen patients to bring them back to the main hospital for eye surgery. Janani was also blessed with the opportunity to actually be in the OR during several Cataract Surgeries. Seeing the work in India really motivated Janani to make a difference and in 2007, she donated $5000 (all the gift money she received at her Music Arangetram) towards the construction of a brand new state of the art Eye Care Facility in Bangalore, India. The funds she donated were used for the construction of the Reception Lounge at the hospital. Janani donated the money in the memory of her maternal grandparents, Kondayampettai R. Chandrasekaran and C. Jayalakshmi. For just $30(USD) you can sponsor an eye surgery in India. SEF is currently trying to raise funds to help build a brand new hospital in Punjab! Please visit http://www.giftofvision.org and help make a difference in someone's life.
To find out more about Janani, you can follow her on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/JananiM.
You can also watch some of her performances on her YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/crayzidesi.
Janani still actively utilizes her talents as a singer and as a dancer to perform frequently and to help out various charities and organizations. Her upcoming performances include:
-July 2, 2011 @ Santa Clara Marriott. Janani will be donating her time as the main female singer for the evening at SEF's Golden Wall of Founders Banquet, to help raise funds for the new hospital in Ludhiana, Punjab, India. She will be joined by Vikas Singh. For more information, visit http://www.giftofvision.org/events/2011/banquet/Banquet.htm.
-August 20, 2011 @ Livermore Temple. Janani will be returning to the dance stage after a 5-year hiatus, to help raise funds for the Shiva-Vishnu Temple, along with her teacher/aunt Smt Jayanthi Sridharan and fellow students of her dance school.
