Heart Felt Stories
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| Date : 03/07/09 |
A gesture beyond measures
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(From left), Dr. Vasanthi Badrinath, Ms. Rukmani Venkateswaran, Chairman Emeritus Dr. S.S. Badrinath, Honorary Secretary and Treasurer, MRF, V. Vaidyanathan and Mr. Narasiman.
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Actions speak louder than words and Rukmani Venkateswaran lives by that. Ms. Venkateswaran’s journey from the small town of Trichy to the picturesque Brussels, is a journey of a daughter, a wife, a mother and of finding one’s self.
Deeply inspired by her father N.S. Arunachalam, who as part of the administrative services, worked towards helping the weaker sections of society, Ms. Venkateswaran has over the years supported a number of charitable institutions. Sankara Nethralaya is one such recipient of her boundless generosity.
Ms. Venkateswaran has set up a trust in which she has named Sankara Nethralaya as a beneficiary. Apart from this, she has also donated Rs. 15 lakhs towards naming an operation theatre in the memory of her parents.
Life is all about the choices that we make. And Ms. Venkateswaran knows her choices well. A table tennis champion, she could have taken up a career in sports; an avid writer she could have pursued her flair for writing on a more serious footing, but she did neither. She even declined Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s offer of a post in the external affairs ministry following the death of her husband R. Venkateswaran, a diplomat, in Brussels.
Instead, Ms. Venkateswaran, a post graduate from the city’s Presidency College, channelised all her energy in raising her only child.
Today, with her son well-settled, Ms. Venkateswaran has focused her attention in pursuing what she learnt from her father – helping those in need.
Over the years she has lent support to many charitable institutions, including the Hindu Mission Hospital, and several orphanages. She has also donated to the Sri Mata Trust, a trust at the Cancer Insititute in Adyar, which supports poor cancer patients and their relatives/attendants with shelter and food during the treatment period. Her selfless act, she says, is her way of carrying on her father’s mission, “what he has given, I’m giving back.”
For all those who have met her, she is an inspiration — of all that we are and can be. Indeed, her actions speak volumes of her benevolent nature. Indeed, she is her father’s daughter!
Sankara Nethralaya applauds this magnanimous personality and thanks her profusely
for her selfless gesture.
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| Date : 08/05/09 |
| A Small big step |
Charity, they say, begins at home. Vikram Falor couldn’t agree more. Growing up watching his grandparents and parents philanthropic gestures, this 19-year-old takes “great pride” in continuing with the family’s efforts in “giving back to society.”
Recently, the first year B.Com student, from Loyola College, donated Rs. 5,501 to Sankara Nethralaya.
As a teenager, Vikram watched his grandfather Mr. R. Falor and other family members actively support various charitable organisations, Sankara Nethralaya being one of them. As a XII std student, Vikram, along with a group of friends, visited the Jaslok Community Ophthalmic Centre. The visit proved to be an eye-opener to the group. “We got to meet so many people who were being treated. These were people who came from small towns and many were not aware of their medical condition,” says Vikram.
Seeing the selfless service by doctors and staff at the centre towards the underprivileged only reinforced Vikram’s belief in the need to give back to society.
The group of friends then decided that they would contribute in some way to help the needy. On May6, 2009, when Vikram handed over his donation cheque to Dr. Badrinath it was his first step, but certainly not the last, in doing his bit for society. For, this gen-next youth, who loves cars, bikes and his i-pod, believes “you have to be the change to bring out a change.” We couldn’t agree more.
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| Date : 24/04/09 |
| A MIGHTY HEART |
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| Mr. Manohar Devadoss (left) with Chairman Emeritus Dr. S.S. Badrinath and Dr. Vasanthi Badrinath during his visit to Sankara Nethralaya. |
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“Adversity is a fact of life. It can’t be controlled. What we can control is how we react to it.” …. And who better to know that than renowned artist Manohar Devadoss. Diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative eye condition, Manohar Devadoss’ story is not that of a disgruntled and cynical soul but one of courage, faith, belief and human resilience.
Unfazed by his medical condition, Mr. Devadoss has continued drawing since his diagnosis in 1975 with the same zeal and precision. What makes his drawings even more special are their purpose — proceeds got from the greeting cards bearing his drawings are given to charitable organisations. Sankara Nethralaya is fortunate to be one of those charitable organisations to whom Mr. Devadoss lends his support.
Mr. Devadoss visited Sankara Nethralaya on April 4, 2009 to handover his donation cheque as part of his continued support to the cause of Sankara Nethralaya. In an informal chat with Sampath Kumar, the hospital’s IT head, Mr. Devadoss spoke about his relationship with the hospital and about his Mahima endowment.
A “Friend of Sankara Nethralaya,” Mr. Devadoss says his association with Dr. Badrinath dates back to 1975. And since then it has grown into a doctor-patient-friend bond which has only strengthened with every passing decade. “Dr. Badri’s personality is magnetic. Vasanthi Amma also became very close to us. “If I have a vision problem, it was my misfortune. Yet knowing Dr. Badrinath has been a key fortune of my misfortune because if I didn’t have a misfortune, I wouldn’t know Dr. Badrinath,” Mr. Devadoss adds.
The Mahima endowment
The Mahima endowment was started by Mr.Devadoss in the memory of his beloved wife Mahima. Says Mr. Devadoss, “I consulted my wife Mahima about an endowment in her name, when she passes away. She immediately said: ‘Let our endowment be to Sankara Nethralaya, who cure the blind.’ That’s how the endowments started.”
He adds: “Our own contribution to Sankara Nethralaya is very small but it comes from our heart. It has enriched our life, whatever we have done, even the greeting card. My very first greeting card was about Kancheepuram Maha Periyava. That was the first greeting card we did on a mass scale to Sankara Nethralaya. Then we started doing for other companies like TVS… My best wishes and prayers to Sankara Nethralaya will keep growing. May Tamil Nadu be the first State to totally eliminate avoidable blindness.”
His wife was more than just a pillar of support to him. In fact to all those who knew her, Mahima Devadoss was an epitome of courage and grace. Courage because despite being a quadriplegic, following a road accident, she never let her disability disable her from living her life and raising funds for charitable organisations. And grace because she faced the trying times with a fountain of optimism and never letting go of her incredible spirit and warm personality.
“My wife Mahima was a talented person winning many gold medals in college days. After her accident, I saw her in a new light. She accepted the tragedy with grace. And in a positive way. She sympathized with the lot of blind children. She always wanted to help people with a vision problem since I had one,” recalls Mr. Devadoss.
“God had denied her so much in life so I want to compensate in my little way. I wrote two books on her and made two portraits of her. I hope this endowment will aid a great institution like Sankara Nethralaya which will bear her name and which will help the poor.”
Life wasn’t exactly a smooth ride for this couple, yet in adversity they mastered the art of giving.
How the endowment keeps going
Mr. Devadoss said “a computer engineer with noble thoughts came to know of the Mahima endowment and towards supporting it, he would regularly buy a greeting card of mine and contribute an equal amount. He regularly does it for the endowment.”
A writer-cum-artist, Mr. Devadoss has left many in awe, not just of his drawings but of his magnanimous personality. Life may have been more a bed of thorns than roses for him, but that hasn’t deterred this unassuming person from pledging unconditional support to a number of charitable organisations. To rise beyond your disability takes courage, unflinching resilience, belief and a mighty heart…and who better to know than Mr. Devadoss.
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| Hand Drawn Paintings of Mr. Manohar Devadoss to raise funds for Sankara Nethralaya. |
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A Thoughtful Gesture
Ms. Shankar of Burlington recently had her dance arangetram in the US. Ms Shankar had requested all the guests at the program to donate to Sankara Nethralaya instead of giving her gifts. This wonderful gesture of hers helped raised $1400 for the cause of the visually challenged in India.
This amount helped us to perform 18 free cataract surgeries on indigent patients and helped them to regain their vision and become productive members of society. |
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A Spirit of Giving
Ms. C. from Nagpur has been a regular donor to Sankara Nethralaya cause from the year 1979. Starting with a humble contribution of Rs. 5 every month, she gradually increased it in stages to Rs. 10, 20, 50, so on and so forth and today is contributing Rs. 500. This donor strongly believes that Sankara Nethralaya can make a change to the lives of people and her unflinching faith makes us feel very humble and dedicate ourselves further to the cause we espouse. |
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Igniting Hope
Master B a young boy of 6 years lost his vision due to an allergic reaction. Sankara Nethralaya gave him hope where he had none. With a new surgical procedure called MOOKP ( Modified Osteo Odonto Kerato Prosthesis), the young boy has gained the gift of sight. This complicated, time consuming and complex procedure is performed only at a few centres in the World. Sankara Nethralaya performed this very expensive procedure totally free of cost to this indigent boy.
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