34th Foundation Day Celebrations

The Sankara Nethralaya family celebrated its ‘Day Out’ and culturals as part of its 34th Foundation Day on Sunday the 16th of September 2012. The organizing committee members of the event had gathered at the Narada Gana Sabha the venue of the function well in advance of the scheduled time of the programs to give the finishing touches and ensure that everything was organized well, the participants were there too getting their moves and expressions right and their dialogs by heart. The rear part of the venue presented a picture of merry activity with anxious parents of the tiny tot participants giving the finishing touches to their wards to ensure that little Bhagat Singh’s hat did not impede his view, the little Father of the Nation did not lose his walking stick and the grand thrones and hairdo of the little Gods, Goddesses and mythological characters were in place and their lip stick did not get smudged as they ran about in gay abandon.

The organizers of the event and the senior management had made it apparent that it was a day fun and entertainment and there was little time for anything else. The proceedings got off to an auspicious start with the lighting of the sacred lamp by Dr KS.Vasan, Managing Director, Dr Vasanthi Badrinath, Director, Clinical Services, Shri PR.Ravindran, Chief General Manager and Shri Sampath Kumar, Chief Information Technology officer, followed by a crisp welcome address by Shri Sampath Kumar. The day coincided with the birthday of one of Sankara Nethralaya’s greatest benefactors and well-wisher, the legendary MS Amma and the invocation song by Ms Sumana Vishnu Vahan wife of Dr Vishnu Vahan Prasan, Consultant at the Sri Srinivasa Sankara Nethralaya, Tirupathi was a gem immortalized by her, rendered in her memory.

Dr TS.Surendran,Vice-Chairman welcomed the gathering with interesting reminiscences and a quick recap of lively events that took place on previous Foundation Day functions and wished the participants and audience a great day and the orchestra by Shri Gangadharan contributed its bit in taking the audience back in time with an evergreen melody of the 60s.

The Swami Gnananda Hall presented a picture of celebration and festivity with the students from the various Sankara Nethralaya run educational institutions demonstrating their lung power and cheering their favourite teams. The events that followed showcased the versatility and talent of the members of the Sankara Nethralaya family. While the ‘Fancy Dress’ show by the tiny tots won many hearts the compeer  Shri Devaraj from the Maintenance Department added a new meaning and moral to this show. The dumb charade competition kept up the tempo and had the whole audience participating in guessing the elusive names, if the humour in the skits that followed kept the audience in splits of laughter, the professional acting of the players won great admiration. This was followed by savvy members rocking the stage with their ramp walk and showing off their dress sense and spouses of staff members showcasing their culinary skills and speed at the make shift kitchen at the rear of the hall. Prizes to the winners were presented by Shri SP.Muthuraman, Dr S. Bhaskaran, Chairman, Sankara Nethralaya and Professor S.Veeraraghavan, senior faculty member from the Elite School of Optometry. A memento was presented on the occasion to Shri SP.Muthuraman one of Sankara Nethralaya’s ardent supporters and friend by Dr S.Bhaskaran.

The fun and entertainment show came to a close with an informal Vote of Thanks by Shri Devaraj from the Maintenance Department team, followed by lunch.