Dhingra Trust Awards Distributed were distributed to the meritorious children of Sankara Nethralaya’s employees

On 7th January 2023, the staff and employees of Sankara Nethralaya gathered at the Sri V. D. Swami Auditorium to observe the annual homage to the inspiration behind this institution- the Maha Periyava of Kanchi and seek his blessings.

The programme was compered by Dr. N. Anuradha and was followed by the students of Sri Sankar Alayam, Chetpet singing a Veda Ghosala.  Welcoming the audience with their sweet voices, Ms. Priya and Ms. Soundaraya, undergraduate students of the Elite School of Optometry, captured the audience’s hearts with a prayer song.

Dr. Angayarkanni Narayanaswamy, Chief Scientist / Professor, Laboratory Services, introduced the Chief Guest, Prof. Dr. V. Kamakoti, Director, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, who is faculty in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering.  He also received his Ph. D from IIT- M in 1995 and is known for leading his team to build the indigenous SHAKTI microprocessor.  Dr. Girish S. Rao, President and Dr. T. S. Surendran, the Chairman, honoured Prof Dr. Kamakoti and invited him to the podium.

More than all these accolades, it is his connection to Sankara Nethralaya through his father, Dr. N. Veezhinathan, which was forged when he was a young child that links him to Sankara Nethralaya.  In his discourse, he recollected his memories of Sri Mahaperiyava’s cataract surgery when he was around 4 y.o.  The Chief Guest complimented SN saying it was with the sage’s blessings that this institution has achieved the volume of footprints in one day equal to a month’s or a year’s worth of footprints in many other places.

He also complimented the eye hospital for its scale of operations compared to many hospitals in the West.  The Chief Guest also lauded the Mobile Eye Surgical Unit (MESU) for reaching the centennial milestone of the 100th camp.

Dr. V. Kamakoti concluded his speech by wishing Sankara Nethralaya many more years of successfully serving the community.  He gave young people in the audience a few pearls of wisdom from Sri Maha Periya, the first was that “simplicity is natural power and luxury is artificial poverty” and the second piece of advice was that working towards achieving one’s goal would automatically bring riches and fame instead of seeking fame and fortune only.

Dr. V. V. Jaichandran, Deputy Director, Department of Anaesthesiology, introduced the SN Health Bytes app to the audience. The app represents the employees of the institution, providing a showcase for their talents. Dr. V. V. Jaichandran described the app as a way of communicating birthdays, achievements, etc in a very easy manner.

Dr. V. Kamakoti inaugurated the app, and a short demo video introducing the app, which was developed in-house, was played.  

The Dhingra Trust awards

Sri Ram P Dhingra (California), one of our long-time supporters, helped establish the Dhingra Family Trust in 2004 to provide scholarships for higher education to the children of Sankara Nethralaya’s employees. The merit awards are given each year to benefit academically- inclined children. This year, 12 meritorious students received the awards from the Chief Guest, Dr. V. Kamakoti, much the pride and joy of their parents.

The aarthi was received by the devout at the end of the ceremony.