OM Trust
Sankara Nethralaya Honours Atlanta-based Engineer Mr. Bala Reddy Indurti with Sankara Ratna Award
Sankara Nethralaya is proud to announce that Atlanta-based engineer and philanthropist Mr. Bala Reddy Indurti was awarded the prestigious Sankara Ratna Award for 2023 on May 25, at Shri. V. D. Swami Auditorium, Sankara Nethralaya Padma Bhushan Dr. S. S. Badrinath Campus, College Road, Chennai.
Mr. Bala Reddy Indurti, an alumnus of Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad (JNTU), and the University of Texas, has channelled his professional success into passionate social work. His efforts primarily focus on providing educational assistance to underprivileged children and organizing free health camps.
As the President of Sankara Nethralaya USA, Mr. Indurti has significantly increased the organization’s footprint by establishing numerous chapters across the United States. His notable “Adopt a Village” initiative enables Indian expatriates to sponsor Mobile Eye Surgical Units (MESU) in their ancestral villages in India, delivering essential eye care to underserved communities.
The award ceremony was attended by Gagandeep Singh Bedi, Additional Chief Secretary to the Government, Health and Family Welfare Department, Government of Tamil Nadu, who presented the award. Former India cricketer Ambati Rayudu served as the guest of honour. The event also saw the presence of several dignitaries including former Sankara Ratna recipient and acclaimed Tamil movie director S. P. Muthuraman, Justice Prabha Sridevan (Retd.), and Dr. V. Thirupugazh I.A.S. (Retd.). Honorary Secretory, Medical Research Foundation, Mr. G Ramacharndran, Sankara Nethralaya’s President Dr. Girish Shiva Rao, Chairman Dr. T. S. Surendran, and Honorary Treasurer Mr. Kannan Narayanan graced the occasion.
Mr. Indurti expressed his gratitude and commitment to the cause, stating, “When I started working for the Sankara Nethralaya, I could see the vision of Dr. S. S. Badrinath. In the USA, we had 25 trustees and seven chapters. In the last six years after I became the president, we expanded from seven places to 21 places. We are trying to expand to more and more cities.”
In his address, Mr. Gagandeep Singh Bedi highlighted the importance of eye donation and the critical role of collaborations between government health sectors and NGOs like Sankara Nethralaya for societal betterment. Quoting Swami Vivekananda, he remarked, “Service of mankind is service to God. Standing here at this ceremony, I am reminded of two categories of people. One category includes people like Bala Reddy. All the way from the USA, he thought about his brothers here in India and was involved in activities for their welfare. The next category includes doctors and paramedical staff.”
Guest of honour, Ambati Rayudu, echoed these sentiments, emphasizing the need for greater appreciation of doctors. He shared a personal anecdote about how his child’s vision was restored by Sankara Nethralaya, expressing profound gratitude to the doctors and the institution.
The Sankara Ratna Award, established in 2002 to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of Sankara Nethralaya, honors distinguished individuals who have significantly supported and contributed to the institution’s mission and philosophy. Past recipients include luminaries such as Sri Ratan Tata, Sri A. M. Naik, Dr. Madhavan Nair, Tamil movie director S. P. Muthuraman, and former HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh.
This year’s award to Mr. Bala Reddy Indurti continues the tradition of recognizing exceptional contributions to society, highlighting the impactful work done by individuals in collaboration with Sankara Nethralaya.
Sankara Nethralaya Hosts “Music For Charity Margazhi Concerts”.
Sankara Nethralaya, one of the Chennai’s landmark Ophthalmic Institutions, hosted a 3 – day Carnatic Music Concert Series – “Music for Charity Margazhi Concerts”. The event was held in Sri V. D. Auditorium, Main campus of Sankara Nethralaya on College Road, Nungambakkam. Aiming to raise awareness about vision, the three days event of the musical concert had the privilege of the stellar performance by Carnatic music stalwarts like Vocalist Sri. Sikkil C. Gurucharan, Sri N. Guruprasad (Ghatam), the Sarvepalli Sisters, and the world renowned violinist, Padmashri Sangitha Kalanidhi Smt. A. Kanyakumari.
This unique fundraising musical concert series focused on raising awareness on preventable blindness and the community service activities of Sankara Nethralaya. An informative photo essay on Sankara Nethralaya’s 44- year- long journey gave the visiting public more insight into the purpose of holding music concerts in SN for charity. This charity concert continued with the Sankara Nethralaya’s long tradition of holding “The Music for Marghazi Concerts” with the patronage extended by the legendary Vocalist Padmashri M. S. Subbalakshmi Amma, who had performed several times to raise funds for SN’s Community Eye Care Services.
Dr. K. Angayarkanni, Director – Laboratory Services & Biochemistry, welcomed the keen audience. Dr. Girish S. Rao, President, Mr. Ramachandran G., Honorary Secretary, Mr. Kannan Narayanan, Chief Financial Officer, Dr. Ronnie George, President & Director of Dept. of Research and Dept. of Glaucoma Services, along with Mr. Sowmiya Narayanan, Committee Member, Sankara Nethralaya USA, lighted the traditional lamp seeking Sri Mahaperiyava’s blessings. The three days proved to be a total bliss for the music aficionados and they also encouraged budding talents who had performed for a noble cause. Padmashri A. Kanyakumari expressed her happiness for organising these ingenuous concerts to spread awareness of preventable blindness and the various community initiatives of Sankara Nethralaya. She promised that she would be very happy to attend such a uniquely themed concert yearly.
This wonderful event was sponsored by Sri Krishna Sweets, Nalli, Sai Rocks and 315 Work Avenue. Further, Sankara Nethralaya family thanks Sri. Sowmiya Narayanan, SN USA, for his tireless efforts in conceptualising and organising this musical fest in a successful manner.
The festive spirit continued and on January 1st 2023 a Mottamaadi concert was organised at the R. R. Sabha, Mylapore. Here, Dr. T. S. Surendran, Chairman, Sankara Nethralaya spoke about SN’s community services to a captive audience. Many kind hearted rasikas donated to our cause on the spot and thus joined hands with us to fight against preventable blindness. We thank Eyetex Dazzler for their sponsorship of this concert.
We wish to note that SN USA also known as the Sankara Nethralaya Ophthalmic Mission Trust is the only authorized fundraising arm of Sankara Nethralaya in the USA.
Sankara Nethralaya USA Sponsors 2022 (MESU-Adopt a Village)
Sankara Nethralaya (SN) is a non-profit charity organization providing ophthalmic(eye) care to millions of patients throughout India for the last four decades. SN also provides ophthalmic education and India-centric research. Sankara Nethralaya USA was established back in 1988 to support the mission of Sankara Nethralaya.
The main goal of the Trust was to make our vision known to NRIs and seek their support for the Noble cause. Sankara Nethralaya USA is one of the trusted and well-respected charity organizations in the USA. The Trust also received Charity Navigator’s “Four Stars” highest rating for maintaining financial accountability and fiscal transparency for funds donated by donors and how they are utilized towards the stated cause.
Our two Mobile Eye Surgical Units (MESU) are operation theatres on wheels and have so far screened 110,761 patients and performed 20,407 surgeries in the remote villages of India.
70%of the population of our country lives in rural areas – many of them in accessible tribal areas. 70% of the Ophthalmologists practice in urban cities and towns. Many of the people living in rural areas are daily wage earners. From them to travel to the city will involve (1) expenses for the travel and stay in the city for themselves and an attendant (2) loss of wages for the number of days that they are in the city (3) loss of wages for the attendant. Unable to bear such a financial burden, many of them continue to live with blindness, which could be prevented, especially in the case of cataract.
The MESU project is designed to provide Quality, World-class eye care to the rural population, at their doorsteps, totally free of cost to them. This project is the “FIRST OF ITS KIND IN INDIA” and the only project that has been approved by the Government of India, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to carry out the Cataract surgeries at the door-step of the rural indigent.
The Mobile Eye Surgical Unit (MESU), was developed in collaboration with Indian Institute of Technology and started serving the nation in 2012. A total of 94 camps have been conducted in South India with 13079 surgeries performed since inception.
Proclamation to Sankara Nethralaya, Indra Nooyi
New York Mayor Proclamation to Sankara Nethralaya USA – Special Guest, Indra Nooyi – Sudha Ragunathan’s concert, raised $227,500.
Sankara Nethralaya USA organized Padma Bhsuhan Dr. Suda Ragunathan’s carnatic music concert in Hindu Temple Society of North America on June 19th, 2022, was a grand success. Dr. Suda Ragunathan shared her experiences with Sankara Nethralaya to a full house. Dr. Suda Ragunathan enthralled audience with popular Carnatic music songs.
Global legend Padma Bhushan awardee, Indian American Business Entrepreneur & former CEO of PepsiCo, Indra Nooyi was the Keynote speaker. When Indraji was speaking huge response was received from the audience. She spoke highly about the organization, appealed the audience to open the wallet and donate generously to the noble cause to restore the vision to indigent blind patients.
Consulate General of India New York, Honorable Randhir Jaiswal is the Special Guest.
Proclamation from the Office of the Mayor City of New York – making June 19th is Sankara Nethralaya Day was presented to President Bala Reddy Indurti. He spoke about the history of Sankara Nethralaya and founders Padma Bhushan Dr. SS Badrinath and USA chapter Founder Sri SV Acharya. When he mentioned about recent 1 crore Rs from Smt Madu Gulati, who donated in memory of her parents-in-law, he received roaring response from the audience.
Mr. Dilip Chauhan, Assistant commissioner for international affairs, is a guest of honor to the NY concert who was instrumental in procuring the proclamation for Sankara Nethralaya.
Sankara Nethralaya New York chapter Board of Trustee (BOT) Dr. Raj Modi organized the event with the help of President Bala Reddy Indurti, Vice President Mr. Moorthy Rekapalli, Secretary Mr. Srinivas Ganagoni, and Board of Tustees Shankar Setty, and Sowmia Naarayan. Dr. Raj Modi and his wife Neelam Modi worked tirelessly to conduct this program successfully.
Thanks are due to Sowmia Narayan, Kamalakiran Vinjamuri, and Akshay Anantapadmanabhan for providing excellent music to back-to-back Suda Ragunathan’s concerts.
Thanks are due to the volunteers: Dr. Raj Modi’s wife Neelam Modi and his daughter Aparna Modi.
Thanks are due to the volunteers: Shankar Setty’s wife Sadhana, his daughter Shreekrutha and his Son in law Gigio Ninan.
Thanks are due to the volunteers: Dr Urmila Shivram, Ananda Iyar, Murli Iyar, Rahul Iyar, Pavithra Sundar, Meenu Sawhany, Anju Sharma, Sanjoo Sharma, Nilima Madan, Lalitha Sankaran, Chitra, Gina Shekhar, Shuba Rajgopal, Divya Shah, Sadhana Shankar, Sweekrutha Shankar, Gigio Ninan, Prameela Gopu, and Garikapati Seeta.
Thanks are due to media partners: Mana TV, TV Asia, Sakshi TV, TV5, US1, TeluguOne, GNN, and Singapore TV for promoting the mission of Sankara Nethralaya.
Thanks are due to Chennai team Mr. Theagarajan, Mr. Suresh Kumar, Mr. Deena Dayal for providing beautiful flyers and promoting the event for Morrisville PA and New York events.
We have raised $227,500.00 (Two hundred twenty-seven thousand and five hundred dollars) to restore the vision to 3,500 indigent blind patients in India.
MESU and Brand Ambassadors video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgp8Lu0gnuk
Recent activities and developments in Sankara Nethralaya in other parts of the world:
- Shri S. V. Acharya, President Emeritus, SNUSA was honored with the A Shama Rao Memorial Outstanding Achievers Award 2022 on Friday May 27 at the Srinivas University Mukka campus in Mangalore, India.
- Mr. Selva Jayaraman, Mrs. Leela Krishnamurthy, Mr. Anand Dasari, and Mr. Ravi Maraka sponsored Adopt-A-Village MESU 11-day programs successfully in their respective villages.
- For the second year in a row, Newsweek magazine has named Sankara Nethralaya as one of the best 100 hospitals in the world. Our fund-raising arm in US, Sankara Nethralaya USA was given the highest rating of four stars for the third year in a row by Charity Navigator.
- Our Newark Delaware team organized Padma Bhushan Dr. Sudha Raghunathan concert in Morrisville, PA in coordination with Chinmaya mission.
While we appreciate your support for the past four decades, we seek your continued support. You may donate your tax-deductible contributions by credit card or by check.
For more details and donations, please visit www.SankaraNethralayaUSA.org
Sankara Nethralaya (SN) is a non-profit charity organization providing ophthalmic(eye) care to millions of patients throughout India for the last four decades. Nethralaya also provides ophthalmic education and India-centric research. To support the mission of Sankara Nethralaya, Sankara Nethralaya USA was established back in 1988.
The main goal of the Trust creation was to have the NRIs support and contribute to the Noble cause. Sankara Nethralaya USA is one of the trusted and well-respected charity organizations in the USA. The Trust also received Charity Navigator’s “Four Stars” highest rating for maintaining financial accountability and fiscal transparency for funds donated by donors and how they are utilized towards the stated cause.
On an average, Sankara Nethralaya treats 3,000 outpatients and performs 300 surgeries/day almost half of them free on poor patients. Our two Mobile Surgical Units (operation theatres on wheels – only one of its kind in Asia) have so far screened 110,761 patients and performed 20,407 surgeries in the remote villages of India.
Program was concluded with New York Board of Trustee Dr. Raj Modi’s vote of thanks.
Please visit www.SankaraNethralayaUSA.org for more details.
To read the article on Great Andhra.com, please click here:-
https://www.greatandhra.com/articles/special-articles/proclamation-to-sankara-nethralaya-indra-nooyi-122109
To read the article on NRI Pulse.com, please click here:-
https://nripulse.com/nyc-mayor-proclaims-june-19-sankara-nethralaya-day-indra-nooyi-keynotes-event/
Madhu Gulati donates $130,000 to Sankara Nethralaya in memory of her in-laws
Sankara Nethralaya (SN) is a non-profit charity organization providing ophthalmic(eye) care to millions of patients throughout India for the last four decades. Nethralaya also provides ophthalmic education and India-centric research. To support the mission of Sankara Nethralaya, Sankara Nethralaya USA was established back in 1988. The main goal of the Trust creation was to have the NRIs support and contribute to the Noble cause.
Sankara Nethralaya USA is one of the trusted and well-respected charity organizations in the USA. The Trust also received Charity Navigator’s “Four Stars” highest rating for maintaining financial accountability and fiscal transparency for funds donated by donors and how they are utilized towards the stated cause.
Sankara Nethralaya has recently received a whopping Rs. 1 crore ($130,000) donation from Madhu Gulatiji in memory of her in-laws. Her generous donation would help to care for 2000 deserving blind patients in India.
Jagdish Chander Gulati, Ms. Gulati’s husband who preferred to be addressed as JC, was born in 1938 to Bhisham Ji and Padma Vati Gulati in a town named Bannu which was part of Northwest Frontier during the Pre Independence-Era. Gulati’s were a simple Punjabi family and could trace their roots back to four generations in the same town.
JC’s father Bhishamji, born in 1906 to Manna Ram and Ganga Vati Gulati was named Bhisham because in Mahabharata Bhisham was Ganga’s son. He was the oldest of the three siblings. He was very enthusiastic about studies because he knew that hard work and education would get him somewhere in life. He did his Master of Science from The University of Punjab, Lahore in 1929 in the First Division and was appointed as Chief Engineer of All India Radio, Lahore.
While studying for his Masters, in 1927 he got married to a local Punjabi girl, Padma Vati Narula, born in 1911 to Roop Chand and Binni Vati Narula, oldest of the six siblings. She was a simple girl endowed with high values and dignity. She supported her husband in all his ventures and took care of the family and was blessed with seven children (five sons and two daughters).
In 1942, Bhisham Ji Gulati was posted to All India Radio, Madras (present day Chennai) as Chief Engineer. He moved to Madras with his family, with a heavy heart because he was leaving behind the whole clan of Gulati’s and Narula’s in Bannu where the political conditions were very unstable.
When the Migration took place in 1947 and 1948, all the Gulati’s and Narula’s moved back to India. It became a mission for Bhisham Ji and Padma Vati Gulati to make sure that each member of the extended family got settled quickly. Bhisham ji instilled in nieces and nephews his two solid principles – hard work and education is the key to success. They both sacrificed their own comforts to pay for the school and college tuition for the children of the extended families. Their home was an open house with warm, simple and nutritious food on the table for any visitor.
Bhisham Ji Gulati did so well as Chief Engineer that he was admitted as a member to The Institution of Electrical Engineers in England, UK in 1957 which was considered as a very high honor in those days. In 1958, he was posted to All India Radio, Delhi as Chief Engineer and that’s where he worked until his retirement in 1963. He passed away in 1970 leaving behind his wife Padma Vati Gulati as the head of the family and she carried on until her death in 1989. They are survived by five daughters-in-law, fourteen grand-children, twenty five great grand-children and one great grand, grand-child. All the children are doing very well in their chosen field in three countries, India, USA, and Singapore.
This donation is a humble tribute to Bhisham Ji Gulati and Padma Vati Gulati from each and every member of the Gulati and Narula Families. OM SHANTI
Both Sankara Nethralaya USA and the Sankara Nehralaya India teams, thank Ms. Madhu Gulatiji for her generous donation and shared the following appreciations.
Dr. Girish Rao, President of Sankara Nethralaya: Sincere gratitude to Madhuji for the generous donation and to Balaji for his tireless services.
Sankara Netharalaya USA Executive Committee & Board of Trustees appreciation:
S.V. Acharya, President Emeritus, Sankara Nethralaya USA: Mrs. Madhu Gulati Ji – We greatly appreciate your generous contribution of $ 130,000 for naming a floor at our Chennai hospital in memory of your late in-laws Bhishamji and Padmavati. This kind gesture of yours will go a long way in materializing our Founder Living Legend, Padmabhushan Dr. S. S. Badrinath’s vision of providing free eyesight to indigent patients and eradicating blindness in the Indian sub-continent.
Bala Reddy Indurti, President, Sankara Netharalaya USA: Dear Ms Madhuji, I am truly honored to be the receiver of your generosity $130,000 (one hundred thirty thousand US dollars) on behalf of Sankara Nethralaya to support 2000 indigent blind patients in India. “The highest of distinction is service to others” – your magnanimity & selflessness is unparalleled, and it would bring hope and ray of light into many unfortunate lives. Thank you heart fully, and I am sure your in-laws would be delighted watching from above. Glad to know you during my tenure as Sankara Nethralaya USA president. I am also very thankful to your son Vishal for supporting these noble deeds.
Moorthy Rekapalli, Vice President: Madhuji’s generous contribution will restore vision for thousands of indigent patients every year. That is a great service to humanity and nation.
Banu Ramakrishnan, Treasurer: It is really a bid donation Ms Madhuji. We the SNOM Trust family thank you for your kindness and generosity.
Prasad Rani, Jt Secretary: Great news!
Krishnaraj Bhat, Jt Treasurer: Through your donation we will be able to restore vision and provide essential vision surgery to countless people in need. You truly make the difference for us, and we are extremely grateful!
Leela Krishnamurthy, Past President: Huge Dear Madhuji and Vishal, what an extremely charity minded family our deepest gratitude to you Ms Madhuji and Vishal for identifying Sankara Nethralaya as a recipient of your huge donation. Your generous donation will restore the eyesight of 2000 patients. We are sure that you will receive the blessings of these very grateful people who have received the gift of sight Gods blessings to you and your family. With deep appreciation.
Dr. Raj Modi, BOT: Dear Madhu ji and family. Thank you very much for this very generous donation for this very important cause. Your contribution will help thousands of poor people, I assure you the amount you have donated will be used properly for the intended purpose. I have been associated with Sankara Nethralaya for the last 35 years. We really thank you and your family for this generous donation.
Srini Vangimalla, BOT: Madhuji and family, thank you for your great generosity and thoughtful donation to Sankara Nethralaya. Your support helps to further our mission of eradicating preventable blindness and providing free access to eye care in rural India.
Shankar Setty, BOT: Dear Madhu ji, your contribution speaks volumes about your values towards society, particularly the community who needs help to get their eyes fixed and your donation goes a long way!! God bless you & your family. We are very thankful!!
Upendra Rachupally, BOT: Amazing, Awesome, and motivational.
Meher Lanka, BOT: Dear Madhu ji, we are highly indebted to you and have tremendous appreciation for your magnanimous contribution to Sankara Nethralaya. Providing eyesight to the needy is indeed a very noble deed. Thank you so much, our sincere Pranams to you!
Anand Dasari, BOT: Dear Madhu ji and family, thank you for your generous contributions for the people in need. Service to humanity is service to God. May God continually bless your family with abundance of health, happiness, and wealth.
Ravi Maraka, BOT: Dear Madhuji & family, Thank you very much for your generous donation to Sankara Nethralaya. Your donation not only helps underprivileged people in India, and it also inspires many people to follow your footsteps. I am truly blessed to witness this kind of generous donation from you.
Jagannath Vedula. BOT: Thank you Balaji for sharing the inspiring news about Smt. MadhuJi. It is great to see their faith in Sankara Nethralaya and its mission. This donation will provide vision to many people in need and will stay as an icon of inspiration. Lord bless Madhuji and family with abundance and a big heart.
Piram Manickavasagam, BOT: Thanks, and may God bless in abundance for generous donation.
Shyam Appali, BOT: Thank you for your generous donation, Madhu Ji. Your donation will enable us to provide much-needed services to India’s thousands of indigent blind people. Our programs could not exist without the generosity of individuals like you. Thank you for making a difference with your donation.
Bhaskar Ganti, BOT: Dear MadhuJi, through your donation we will be able to restore vision and provide essential vision surgery to countless people in need. You truly make the difference for us, and we are extremely grateful!
Vamsi Eruvaram, BOT: Wow! Thanks, Madhuji.
To read the article on Great Andhra.com, please click here:- https://www.greatandhra.com/articles/special-articles/gulatis-donated-rs-1-crore-to-sankara-nethralaya-121175
To read the article on NRI Pulse.com, please click here:- https://nripulse.com/madhu-gulati-donates-to-sankara-nethralaya-in-honor-of-inlaws/
To read the article on Atlanta Dunia.com, please click here:- https://atlantadunia.com/Dunia/Newsdetail.aspx?q=1390
Sankara Nethralaya’s Virtual Concert: Raised $101,010
Greetings from Sankara Nethralaya USA. Sankara Nethralaya’s patriotic songs concert raised $101,010 to restore vision to 1,554 indigent blind patients.
Inspired by a speech by Pontiff of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham he attended in 1974, Dr. S S Badrinath founded Sankara Nethralaya in Chennai in 1978 with the sole objective of providing world class eye care, free to the poor and affordable price to others. Sankara Nethralaya (SN) is a not-for-profit charity organization providing ophthalmic (eye) care throughout India.
For the last four decades, SN has treated millions of patients. Nethralaya also holds eye camps, school screenings and eye bank. One of the unique services is Mobile Eye Surgical Unit (MESU), only one of its kind approved by Government of India. These are operation theatres on wheels. MESU consists of two buses serving as operation theatre, go out remote villages, perform cataract surgeries on 150 to 200 patients over a two-week period and return to main campus after post-operative care.
Sankara Nethralaya USA (SN USA), our fund-raising arm in US was established in 1988 with the sole objective of raising funds for Nethralaya to provide free services to indigent patients. SN USA is managed by thirty-five honorary trustees spread across fourteen chapters in US and has been raising over a million dollars during the past several years.
Every year, Sankara Nethralaya USA organizes Indian classical dance and music programs in various cities to raise awareness and funds. Because of the pandemic, this year all programs were conducted through online virtual streaming.
Indian patriotic songs concert was organized on January 30th, 2022, and it was telecasted by the following major channels:
ManaTV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhamllfcCiM
TVAsia Telugu: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEpXgUkZqy8
SakshiTV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftFQw6dbrr0
TV5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJOs0jedy5M
99TV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTDSogOble0
GNN: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ah0-HpMLYtE
Great response was received for the program and through this, Sankara Nethralaya USA raised $101,010 to restore vision to 1,554 indigent blind patients in India. Kudos to the patrons, Philanthropists, and community across the USA for unconditional support.
President Bala Reddy Indurti, President Emeritus S V Acharya, Vice President Moorthy Rekapalli planned, coordinated, and executed the Sankara Nethralaya USA Republic day campaign with grand success.
Shailesh Lakthakia, IFS, Consul (Retd), Indian Consulate, Atlanta GA gave passionate appeal about Republic Day virtual concert to encourage the donors. Dr. Girish Rao, President of Sankara Nethralaya made appeal to the community for the campaign and explained Sankara Nethralaya service activities.
Sankara Nethralaya USA’s Past President Leela Krishnamurthy and Board Of Trustee Upendra Rachupally also gave video appeal during the program.
During the program the MESU (Mobile Eye Surgical Unit) operations and the following brand ambassadors’ messages were shown: Former President and Bharat Ratna awardee Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Bharat Ratna Smt M.S. Subbalakshmi, Padma Vibhushan Nani Phalkiwala, Padma Vibhushan Ratan Tata, Padma Vibhushan Amitabh Bachchan, Padma Vibhushan Rajnikanth, Padma Shri Sourav Ganguly, DRDO Chairman Dr. Satheesh Reddy, Tollywood actor Madhavan. Sankara Nethralaya Team is very thankful to these ambassadors.
President Bala Indurti coordinated with Joint Secretary, Prasad Rani & Board of Trustee, Shyam Appali to present this virtual concert on January 30th through various TV channels and social media.
President Emeritus SV Acharya announced new Board of Trustees Rao Kalvala (Dallas TX) and Dr. Madhuri Namuduri for the year 2022.
Thanks to Board of Trustee Sowmia Narayan for coordinating and presenting daily classical singing virtual concert “Do you have 11 minutes?”. We have participants from US, India, UAE, Canada, and Australia.
Thanks are due to Neelima Gaddamanugu and Narayan Indurthi for promoting Republic Day concert in social media.
Singers Names, Song, and their Geographical Locations:
Srivalli Sridhar – Vinara Vinara Desam Manadera – Atlanta GA USA
Usha Mocherla – Jaya Jaya Priya Bharatha – Atlanta GA USA
Ram Durvasula – Punya Bhumi naa desam – Atlanta GA USA
Srinivas Durgam – Janani Janma Bhoomi – Atlanta GA USA
Radhika Nori – Padavoyi Bharateeyuda- Talahasse FL USA
Shivnath Paranandi – Jis desh mein ganga behti hai – Los Angeles CA USA
Sabari Girish & Keerthana Girish – Mile Sur Mera Tumhara – Los Angeles CA USA
Sai Kasibhatla – Bharata Mataku Jejelu – Los Angeles CA USA
Bhaskar Ganti – Naa Janma Bhoomi Yenthaandhamaina – Rockville MD USA
Nagarjuna Reddy – Gandhi puttina desama idi – Ashburn VA USA
Harini Sugantharaman – Ninnai Charanadainthen – Ashburn VA USA
Sandhya Eswara – Aye Mere Wattan Ke Logo – Melbourne Australia
Thanks are due to all Board of Trustees, Volunteers, Philanthropists, and supporters who are working selflessly to restore vision for indigent patients.
Thanks are due to media partners manaTV, manaTV International, TV5 (Sridhar Chillara, Raagini, Harish Bennuri, and Sharat Pasumathy), TVAsia Telugu (Srinivas Ganagoni), Sakshi TV (Simha Hanumanth), 99TV (Harikrishna Inturu) , and GNN (Rama Mohan Reddy Yellampally & Ravi Reddy Maraka) for promoting Sankara Nethralaya patriotic songs’s virtual concert on January 30th at different timings to give the flexibility to all viewers in different time zones.
Sankara Nethralaya professionals were awarded with numerous awards for their outstanding accomplishments. Our founder Dr. S S Badrinath was given the prestigious awards of Living Legend and Padma Bhushan for his outstanding public service. Newsweek named Sankara Nethralaya as one of the four Best Ophthalmic institutions and one of the Best one hundred hospitals in the World. SN USA, our fund-raising arm in US was given the given the highest rating of four stars by prestigious rating organization Charity Navigator.
Please extend your support for this noble cause of restoring the vision of indigent patients by generously contributing at https://www.sankaranethralayausa.org/
To read the article on Great Andhra.com, please click here:-
https://www.greatandhra.com/articles/special-articles/sankara-nethralayas-virtual-concert-raised-101010-118942
To read the article on NRI Pulse.com, please click here:-
https://nripulse.com/sankara-nethralayas-virtual-concert-raises-101010
Kurai Ondrum Illai Humble Tribute to Sankara Nethralaya’s Frontline Warriors
48 talented vocalists and instrumentalists gave a soulful rendition of Kurai Ondrum Illai song as a tribute to our frontline heroes of Sankara Nethralaya Chennai team.
‘Kurai Ondrum Illai’ is one of the famous Tamil devotional songs, which was tuned by Shri Kadayanallur Venkatraman, who was a close associate of Shri Semmangudi. Governor General of India Sri C. Rajagopalachari has weaved those beautiful words into an amazing song and popularized by Bharat Ratna M. S. Subbulakshmi amma who has made this lively song divine and immortal with her soulful voice. The song is an expression of thankfulness to the divine without any wants left unfulfilled.
To mention the raagams, the whole song is not based on just one raagam but is a Raagamalika. The pallavi and anupallavi are sung in Shivaranjani while the charanam is rendered in Shivaranjani, Kapi and Sindubhairavi.
All the 48 artists are carefully selected and this project was started in July and completed on Sep 7, 2020. The concept, execution and the direction is by Sowmiya Narayanan, Kamalakiran Vinjamuri and Somanath Dhandibotla. The video, audio, editing, mastering and mixing were done by Somanath Dhandibotla. All the participants are from various states in US.
Many prominent figures from the world of Carnatic classical music gave positive reviews and this Youtube video is getting lot of positive acclamations.
Kalaimamani Sri Unnikrishnan appreciated the efforts of youngsters for arranging a precise orchestration. “Must have been quite a task. Everybody has sung and played very well. In unison. Convey my Best wishes to the entire team,” he said.
Sangita Kalanidhi Padma Bhushan Smt. Sudha Raghunathan gave her appreciation and observed, “Wonderful effort ji! Joara paadi vaasitchirka!”
Please watch this rendition at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEdmK49Iyhc
A Woman of Substance: Mrs. Leela Krishnamurthy, Past President
We are pleased to announce that Mrs. Leela Krishnamurthy, past President of Sankara Nethralaya OM Trust, has been nominated as a Woman of Substance, for her work in the local community; the virtual gala will be held on Nov 6th 2020. The money raised at this gala will benefit the Mission of Yahweh, a shelter for homeless families. Mrs. Leela Krishnamurthy is the only woman of Indian origin to have nominated for this award.
Leela Krishnamurthy came to the US to get a master’s degree and was offered a full scholarship to do her Masters in Library Science by the Clark University , Atlanta, GA. While at Clark, Leela worked closely with Coretta Scott King at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change.
Leela was recruited by the Los Angeles County Library System and accepted a position as the Head Librarian for the Bell Library. She arranged programs of interest to all library patrons bringing best-selling authors such as Ray Bradbury, Vincent Bugliosi (Charles Manson prosecutor) and brought exotic animals: lion cubs, orangutans, chimpanzee, reptiles and puppet shows. The programs quickly became standing-room only events and resulted in commendations from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent, Mayor and City Council of Bell and culminating in receiving a key to the City of Bell. In addition, she devoted her personal time as one of the founding members of the Malibu Temple – one of the largest temple in the US. She organized the first-ever fund raising event with Srimathi Vyjayanthimala who was their house guest along with her husband Mr. Bali and their son.
Her husband, Nat was transferred from Los Angeles to Houston and Leela joined the Harris County library system as head librarian at the Barbara Bush Library the largest county library located in Spring, TX. She continued her author’s program bringing best-selling novelist Stephen King and others as guest speakers. Later, she moved to become the Research Assistant at Pannell Kerr Forester and was the co-editor of the magazine Trends. Her fundraising activities had a broad range. She organized an event benefitting UNICEF with the famous sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar. She is a Steering Committee member of the Sri Meenakshi Temple and did a similar fundraiser featuring Sri Ravi Shankar for the temple. She participated in Mayor Bill White’s initiative “Expectation Graduation” giving high school students an incentive to complete high school by giving them all the supplies for college including a new computer.
Leela moved to New Orleans where she worked at the Second Harvester Food Bank. Subsequently, at the Children’s Bureau as the Director of Development, she hand-delivered a proposal requesting funding for the prevention of domestic violence and abuse to the well-known basketball player Michael Jordan. The proposal was funded by his foundation. She organized a Bharat Natyam dance program to raise funds for The House of Ruth for the homeless. She received a commendation from the Governor of Louisiana, Mike Foster.
Leela returned to Houston and continues to remain active in numerous social programs. As a board member and president of the Indo American Charity Foundation, she facilitated the building of two-homes for Houston Habitat for Humanity’s deserving families. Her numerous accolades include: Congressional Recognition from Pete Olson, Easter Seals ”Hats Off” to Mothers, and the Top 20 Impact Maker Award from CKW , presented by Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner. She has received numerous awards from Indian associations such as Indo American Charity Foundation, India Cultural Center, Meenakshi Temple Bharathi Kalai Manram, and Telugu Association.
She is currently on the board of UNICEF, and is the past President of Indo American Charity Foundation, Bharathi Kalai Manram and board member of several organizations including Houston Habitat for Humanity.
Heartiest congratulations Ms. Leela
Music for a noble cause warms hearts and raises hope on a cool Dallas weekend
On a cold day of Spring on the March 31, 2019 Sankara Nethralaya Ophthalmic Mission (OM) Trust joined forces for the third time with the Indian Fine Arts Association (IFAA), Dallas to present the 2019 concert by Padma Bhushan, Mrs Sudha Ragunathan for Dallas / Fort Worth Metroplex, Texas, USA.
Approximately 500 Dallas musical rasiga’s were warmly welcomed by Mr. Santhanam Mullur, Former Trustee, Sankara Nethralaya OM Trust, USA and the objectives to raise funds for providing free surgeries to the indigent at home.
The new SN OM Trustees Dr Narasimha Reddy Urimindi and Nani Iswara were introduced to the DFW community by Mr. Mullur.
This was followed by a brief Video presentation of Sankara Nethralaya’s community service activities.
Dr Sujatha Subramanian, President, IFAA, Dallas warmly welcomed the community as well and introduced the profile of Padma Bhushan, Mrs Sudha Ragunathan and upcoming eminent youngsters Kamalakiran Vinjamuri on the violin, Akshay Anantha Padmanabhan on the Mridangam and Soumiya Narayanan (Trustee of Sankara Nethralaya OM Trust) on the Ghatam.
Mrs. Sudha Ragunathan rendered songs that MLV Amma used to sing, Muthuswany Dikshithar and a vast collection of other songs to treat the Carnatic Music rasigas with a brilliant demonstration of her skill, versatility and unique style.
Vote of Thanks was presented by Dr Narasimha Reddy Urimindi, New Trustee of Sankara Nethralaya OM Trust thanking the IFAA committee members, IFAA volunteers, SN OM Trustees and volunteers and Donors that supported the event by their warm attendance and donations to support the needy at home with free eye surgeries.
The poster exhibits on Sankara Nethralaya activities in India was very well received by all the Dallas Rasiga’s
‘Natya Drishti’, leaves audience spellbound
‘Natya Drishti’, a well-choreographed Bharatnatyam performance by students from the Ellora Centre for Performing Arts, was presented in Dallas-Forth Worth, Texas, US, on October 24, 2010, in aid of Sankara Nethralaya. The theme — “Vision-A Gift from God”— was in conjunction with Sankara Nethralaya’s mission for vision and was presented by twenty-five children from the […]