Sankara Nethralaya OM TRUST Inc., a fund-raising vehicle for Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai, organized a Charity Fund-raising Carnatic Classical music live-streamed concert featuring the young prodigy Master Rahul Vellal. The virtual concert streamed live on June 20th, 2020 at 10:30 AM EST USA, and 08 PM IST India.

We thank S. V. Acharya, President Emeritus; Bala Reddy Indurti, President; Moorthy Rekapalli, Vice President; Sudhakar Mattu, Secretary; Krishna Raj Bhat, Joint Secretary; Banumati Ramakrishnan, Treasurer; Sowmiya J. Narayanan, Joint Treasurer; and Leela Krishnamurthy, Trustee, the principal members of SN OM Trust Inc. USA. Their altruistic dedication to bringing vision to the poor and destitute in India is uncompensated and entirely voluntary. Without their selflessness and visionary drive to give back to the Motherland, this virtual fund-raiser would not have been possible.

Even though Sankara Nethralaya’s charity fund-raising activities have been curtailed due to the Covid-19 lockdown, Master Rahul Vellal’s virtual performance demonstrates how we can come together virtually to raise funds for our less fortunate fellow Indians who need the Gift of Sight.

The young and selfless prodigy was excited to be performing this philanthropic concert and even invited everyone via a short video. He was accompanied by Vaibhav Ramani on the violin, Sunaad Anoor on the khanjira, Vinod Shyam Anoor on the mridangam. The enthusiastic performance from this young child has served to highlight how much Sankara Nethralaya has been able to bring the plight of impoverished visually impaired Indians to the public’s attention.

Our work is by no means done! Sankara Nethralaya is a not-for-profit eye hospital, which performs world-quality cataract operations for the poor in rural areas. We are yet to reach many inaccessible villages in the 35 Indian states with our Mobile Eye Surgical Units – not due to lack of enthusiasm but due to lack of resources!

The global pandemic has severely restricted many paying patients coming in for eye-checkups, treatments, and diagnoses. This means that even those poor people who depend on public transport throughout India have been unable to reach us for timely eye treatment & diagnosis. We urge you to consider the plight of helpless blind Indians who need high-quality care and whose only hope to save their eye-sight is Sankara Nethralaya.

Every little bit goes a long way in bringing the Gift of Sight to people who cannot afford expensive treatments.