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.

To read the article on Great Andhra.com, please click here:-
https://www.greatandhra.com/articles/news/sankara-ratna-award-to-bala-reddy-indurti-138199

Media Spotlight: Press Coverage of the Sankara Ratna Award Ceremony, please click here:-
https://www.sankaranethralayausa.org/pdf/media-news-of-sankara-ratna-award-function-2024.pdf

To watch the event: https://youtu.be/ObC6y1dthpU

PART - 1

TV5 Digital: https://youtu.be/4G7Cy3L7U_Q

Tone News: https://youtu.be/4YAZijKgIJA

Mana TV: https://youtu.be/4XaGbqBvO70

Telugu NRI Radio: https://youtu.be/PaE9gkIGVes

Sakshi TV: https://youtu.be/3TzcOlXNZ9g

Kiw World: https://kiwworld.com/home/play-video/

PART - 2

Mana tv: https://youtu.be/aVauX0vC5QI

Telugu NRI Radio: https://youtu.be/po2qAI9jlxo

TV5 Digital: https://youtu.be/2-PuCANjWZI

Sakshi TV: https://youtu.be/Y20A_9TwvZ4

PART - 3

Tone News: https://youtu.be/wEx_zp-kitI

TV5 Digital: https://youtu.be/Luf2Ya3dfeo

Sakshi TV: https://youtu.be/-mrjoew_Tg0

TV5 Digital: https://youtu.be/QvAW2UCj5f8

Sakshi TV: https://youtu.be/8PfHGR3U8dY

Tone News: https://youtu.be/IqdIE_8mFYY

Telugu NRI Radio: https://youtu.be/pfQRGz8_CL4

Mana TV: https://youtu.be/NBHRgt5GWus

US 1 Television, Inc: https://youtu.be/V2sBle8Eil4

Kiw World: https://kiwworld.com/home/play-video/

TV5 Digital: https://youtu.be/CyiPKKalWnY

Sakshi TV: https://youtu.be/1TUG1Z21glI

Telugu NRI Radio: https://youtu.be/vm20kRBuYBI

Mana tv: https://youtu.be/d_tQlM7YCEI

Tone News: https://youtu.be/b2b8WBaZtsU

Sankara Nethralaya: https://youtu.be/SC2GbXIrEKA

Sankara Nethralaya: https://youtu.be/-MSpIwqofoY

To read the article on Great Andhra.com, please click here:-
https://www.greatandhra.com/articles/news/sankara-nethralaya-usa-concert-raised-715000-133869

To read the article on NRI2NRI.com, please click here:-
https://nri2nri.com/sankara-nethralaya-usa-concert-in-atlanta-raised-715000-dollars/

US 1 Television, Inc: https://youtu.be/af42lpt8pks

Me World ET: https://meworldet.com/home/play-video/758

Telugu NRI Radio:https://youtu.be/4fdSTBg2gIM

Mana tv:https://youtu.be/fx_fjsgd5aE

Tone News:https://youtu.be/76fUbqt84as

TV5 Digital:https://youtu.be/KLDP9BziBME

Sakshi TV Commercials:https://youtu.be/uf1TK3N-cPk

To read the article on Great Andhra.com, please click here:-
https://www.greatandhra.com/articles/news/sankara-nethralaya-usa-kickoff-chapter-in-wi-132358

To read the article on Teluguvox, please click here:-
https://www.teluguvox.com/nri-news/5239-samabhavana-foundation-organizes-event-in-wisconsin-for-sankara-nethralaya.html

To read the article on Great Andhra.com, please click here:-
https://www.greatandhra.com/articles/news/sankara-nethralaya-usa-in-phoenix-az-raised-30k-132316

To read the article on NRI2NRI, please click here:-
https://nri2nri.com/sankara-nethralaya-in-chandler-arizona-raised-30k-towards-mesu/

To read the article on Telugutimes.net, please click here:-
https://www.telugutimes.net/article/sankara-nethralaya-usa-in-phoenix-az-raised-30k

To read the article on Teluguvox, please click here:-
https://www.teluguvox.com/nri-news/5228-sankara-nethralaya-usa-event-in-phoenix-az-raises-usd-30,000.html

Padma Bhushan awardee Dr. S.S. Badrinath founded Sankara Nethralaya in 1978 with the inspiration from the speech by Pontiff of Kanchi Kamakoti Mutt. Sole objective of this organization is to provide world class eye care to the poor at free of cost and at affordable price to others.

Sankara Nethralaya (SN) is a not-for-profit charity organization providing ophthalmic (eye) care throughout India. For the last 4 decades, SN has treated Millions of patients. SN also organizes eye camps, school screenings and has eye banks.

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 to remote villages, screen around 1,000 patients and 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), fund-raising arm in the USA was established in 1988 with the sole objective of raising funds for SN to provide free services to indigent patients. SN USA is managed by thirty-five honorary trustees spread across fourteen chapters in the USA and has been raising over a Million dollars for the past several years.

On the occasion of Maha Shivarathri, SN USA organized a program of devotional songs on Lord Sankara in Telugu, Tamil and Kannada by singers from USA, Australia and Singapore. It was telecasted by the following major channels:

ManaTV: https://youtu.be/f5aAjhhNtes

TVASIA TELUGU: https://youtu.be/xjB10ksB9R4

Singapore Telugu TV: https://youtu.be/sE0zxvkdTz4

Tone News: https://youtu.be/wlw367fnvmo

ME World Australian TV channel: https://meworldet.com/home/play-video/705

Sakshi TV: https://youtu.be/YuzjsEDqF-M

TV5 USA: https://youtu.be/LSu6k_3MSNc

Thanks are due to the following singers across the globe. Without their support we could not have raised significant amounts for this virtual concert.
- Sri Sai Kasibhatla (Los Angeles, CA)
- Smt.Sandhya Eswara (Melbourne, Australia)
- Smt.Edavalli Seshu Kumari from Swara Laya Arts along with her students Abhinav Kantipudi and Aadarsh Agni on behalf of Samskrutika Kalasaradhi, Singapore
- Smt.Geetha Bhat (Rockville, MD)
- Smt.Shanti Medicherla & Smt.Neelima Gaddamanugu (Atlanta, GA)
- Sri.Srikanth Lanka & Smt.Sreshta (Dallas, TX)
- Sri.Babu Vinayagam & Smt.Sumitra Sampath(Herndon, VA)
- Vidwan Sri Sabari Girish (Los Angeles, CA)
- Sri.Bhaskar Udaya Ganti, (Washington D.C.)
- Sri.Srinivas Durgam(Atlanta, GA)

President of Medical Research Foundation, Dr. Girish Rao thanked the efforts of Sankara Nethralaya USA and the service of NRIs.

President Sri.Bala Reddy Indurti, President Emeritus Sri.SV Acharya planned, coordinated, and well executed this program and made it a grand success. Following Trustees and office bearers of Sankara Nethralaya USA appealed to donate generously to restore the vision of poor patients.

Sri.Moorthy Rekapalli, Vice President; Sri.Krishna Raj Bhat, Secretary; Sri.Shyam Appali, Joint Secretary; Dr.Raj Modi, Trustee; Sri.Sowmiya Narayanan, Trustee; Sri.Srini Reddy Vangimalla, Trustee; Sri.Upendra Rachupally, Trustee.

During the show, appeals by following Brand Ambassadors of Sankara Nethralaya was telecasted.

Bharat Ratna awardee Dr.A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Bharat Ratna awardee Smt M.S.Subbu Lakshmi; Padma Vibhushan awardee Sri.Nani Palkhivala; Padma Vibhushan awardee Ratan Tata; Padma Vibhushan awardee Amitab Bachchan; Padma Vibhushan awardee Rajnikanth; Former CEO of Pepsico, Padma Bhushan awardee Indra Nooyi; Padma Shri awardee Sourav Ganguly; Scientific Advisor to Raksha mantri Dr.G.Satheesh Reddy; and Famous actor Madhavan.

On this auspicious occasion, Sankara Nethralaya USA welcomes new Board of Trustees: Dr. Kishore Chivukula, Auburn AL; Sri. T. Sridhar Reddy, Philadelphia PA; Sri. Raju Pusapati, Salt Lake City UT; Sri. Hari Raini, Chicago IL; Dr. Jayasimha Sunku, Colorado Springs CO; Sri. Suresh Vemulamada, Atlanta GA; Sri. Sridhar Julapally Atlanta GA; Sri. Vinod Parna, Seattle WA; Sri. Ramkumar Yadavalli, Freemont CA.

Sri. Ramesh Reddy Valluru from Washington DC is sponsoring MESU camp through Adopt-A-Village program. This camp will be organized in his village, Nendalur of Annamayya district from August 24th to September 3rd 2023. Smt. Ruby Nahar has contributed $15,000 and this generous donation will restore the vision to 230 indigent blind patients in India.

Thanks are due to all Board of Trustees, Volunteers, Philanthropists, and supporters who are working selflessly to restore vision to indigent patients.

Thanks are due to media partners manaTV, TV5 (Sridhar Chillara), TVAsia (Srinivas Ganagoni), Sakshi TV, US1 (Simhabaludu), TeluguOne (Subbu Kosuri), KIW WORLD TV (Srihari Kommineni) for promoting Sankara Nethralaya virtual streaming concert on different timings to give the flexibility to all viewers in different time zones.

SN USA, our fund-raising arm in the USA was 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 to indigent patients by generously contributing at https://www.sankaranethralayausa.org

To read the article on TeluguVox.com, please click here:-
https://teluguvox.com/nri-news/1855-sankara-nethralaya-usa-maha-shivarathri-virtual-devotional-concert.html

To read the article on Great Andhra.com, please click here:-
https://www.greatandhra.com/articles/news/sankara-nethralaya-usa-maha-sivaratri-special-127686

To read the article on nripulse.com, please click here:-
https://nripulse.com/sankara-nethralaya-usa-hosts-virtual-devotional-concert-on-maha-shivaratri/

Padma Bhushan Dr. S.S. Badrinath founded Sankara Nethralaya in 1978 with the inspiration from the speech by Pontiff of Kanchi Kamakoti Mutt. Sole objective of this organization is to provide world class eye care to the poor at free of cost and at affordable price to others.

Sankara Nethralaya (SN) is a not-for-profit charity organization providing ophthalmic (eye) care throughout India. For the last 4 decades, SN has treated Millions of patients. SN also organizes eye camps, school screenings and has eye banks.

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 to remote villages, screen around 1,000 patients and 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), fund-raising arm in USA was established in 1988 with the sole objective of raising funds for SN 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 for the past several years.

In the year 2022 also, SN USA raised USD 1.1 million that can restore vision to 17,000 indigent patients. Renowned singer and music director, Sri Parthu Nemani, Smt Harini Ivaturi along with their music team rendered semi classical devotional music on December 4th, 2022, and it was telecasted by the following major channels:

TVAsia Telugu: https://youtu.be/min5R6hNl_s

ManaTV: https://youtu.be/EklGCb9v5l4

ME World Australian TV channel: https://meworldet.com/home/play-video/686

Tone News: https://youtu.be/DxKGlABDAG0

TV5 News: https://youtu.be/Y7Sj5yyHusY

Sakshi TV: https://youtu.be/M-f2xex8X9o

President Bala Reddy Indurti, President Emeritus SV Acharya planned, coordinated, and well executed the SN USA year end campaign and made it a grand success.

PThanks are due to singer and music director Parthu Nemani and his team of Musicians:
Prakash (Keyboard), Srinivas (Flute), Suresh Prasad (Tabala), Swamy (Rhythms).
Harmony: Students of Keerthana Academy (Bhuvana Swaraja Challa, Meghana Naidu, Akhil Chandra, Saketh Kommajosyula)
Camera & Lights: K. Rama Naidu
Recording & Mixing: Sai ManoharDubbaka
Editing: Srikanth Pudari
Assistant: Amar Reddy
Sound: Keerthana Recording Studios
Video Floor: String Wings

Thanks are due to fundraising team - Upendra Rachupally, Moorthy Rekapalli, Leela Krishnamoorthy, Banu Ramakrishnan, Dr. Raj Modi, KG Venkatraman, Srini Vangimalla, Shankar Setty, Meher Lanka, Neelima Gaddamanugu, Sowmi Narayan, Shyam Appali, Narayan Indurthi, Vamsi Krishna Eruvaram, Dr. Jagannath Vedula, Raj Aila, Prasad Rani, Ramesh Chaparala, Srinivas Ganagoni, Krishnaraj Bhat, Dr. Madhuri Namuduri, and Jayakiran Pagadala for their outstanding contributions to 2022-year end fundraiser.

Thanks are due to all Board of Trustees, Volunteers, Philanthropists, and supporters who are working selflessly to restore vision to indigent patients.

Thanks are due to Moorthy Rekapalli and Bhaskar Ganti for MESU (Mobile Eye Surgical Unit) project, Dr. Kishore Chivukula for sponsoring a Consultancy room, and the following ADOPT-A-Village donors Shankar Krishnan (California), Dr. Govinda Visvesvara (Atlanta), Leela Krishnamurthy (Houston), Dr. Raghava Reddy Gosala (Philadelphia), Dr. Kishore Rasamallu (Atlanta), Murali Sajja (Atlanta), Subrahmanyam Naidu (Atlanta), Ashok Kanagal (India), Srihari Santhosh (Metro DC), Anand Dasari (Dallas).

President of Medical Research Foundation, Dr. Girish Rao thanked the efforts of Sankara Nethralaya USA and the service of NRIs.

Thanks are due to media partners manaTV, TV5 (Sridhar Chillara), TVAsia (Srinivas Ganagoni), Sakshi TV, US1 (Simhabaludu), TeluguOne (Subbu Kosuri), KIW WORLD TV (Srihari Kommineni) for promoting Sankara Nethralaya virtual streaming concert on Dec 4th, 2022, at different timings to give the flexibility to all viewers in different time zones.

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 to 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-nethralaya-usa-fund-raiser-a-grand-success-126728

To read the article on TeluguVox.com, please click here:-
https://teluguvox.com/index.php/nri-news/1070-sankara-nethralaya-usa-fund-raiser-is-a-grand-success

To read the article on nripulse.com, please click here:-
https://nripulse.com/televised-concert-raises-money-for-sankara-netralaya/

To read the article on atlantadunia.com, please click here:-
https://atlantadunia.com/Dunia/Newsdetail.aspx?q=1419

ManaTV: https://youtu.be/bsKB7cLnqPU

ME World Australian TV channel: https://meworldet.com/home/play-video/665

TVAsia Telugu: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rb057w1nTlY

US 1 Television: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdjB_m15Z2c

TV5 News: https://youtu.be/pn4qRjxghJM

Sakshi TV: https://youtu.be/ionXZqt2poY

ManaTV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hV4QcC_MHZc

ME World Australian TV channel: https://meworldet.com/home/play-video/659

TVAsia Telugu: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4icumGwjUqs

Sakshi TV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jj8qdDKcXrE

TV5 News: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkzCheeRhkk

ManaTV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b43liUFg5uY

TVAsia Telugu: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zq3Mqq0f8Qc

TV5 Digital: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6u7I3j0jfhs

US 1 Television: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-LqPQKRjcc

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

Inspired by a speech by Pontiff of Kanchi Kamakoti Mutt 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. SN 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.

Renowned playback singer and music director, Parthu Nemani along with his music team presented virtual semi classical devotional music program on December 19th, 2021, and it was telecast by the following major channels:

Mana TV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUitJfqJTBs

TVAsia Telugu: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_2RD-lakO4

Sakshi TV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWWlw_FSQS4

TV5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-Yv2I5PXXU

GNN: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwQBDuJH58E

Great response to the program towards the Sankara Nethralaya USA year-end campaign raised USD $520,000 to restore vision to 8,000 indigent blind patients in India. Kudos to the fundraising team, 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 year end campaign with grand success.

Dr. Girish Rao, President of Sankara Nethralaya made passionate appeal to the community for the campaign and explained Sankara Nethralaya service activities. 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 Ranta Smt M.S. Subbalakshmi, Padma Vihushan 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.

Special thanks to Tollywood writer, actor, and director Tanikella Bharani for his passionate appeal to the campaign.

Thanks to Singer/Music Director Parthu Nemani and his team of Musicians: Prakash (Keyboards), Srinivas (Flute), Suresh Prasad (Tabala), and Srinivasa Reddy (Rhythms). Harmony: Students of Keerrhana Academy (Bhuvana Swaraja Challa, Vaishnavi Kovvuri, Akhil Chandra, Saketh Kommajosyula). Sai Deekshit Vangara (Camera & Lights), Sai Manohar Dubbaka (Recorded & mixed), Srikanth Pudari (Editing), Nagesh (Assistant), Krishna Priya Pothukuchi (Project Supervision), Keerthana Recording Studios (Sound), String Wings (Video Floor)

Thanks are due to Dr. Reddy Urimindi for promoting ‘nayanam pradhaanam’ program through Tori for 100 successful weekends. Thanks are due to Shyam Appali and Prameela Gopu for video editing and MESU video for TV channels. 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 Dr. Raj Modi and Dr. Bellamkonda Kishore for spreading the news in AAPI event and publishing the news in JAAPI magazine.

Thanks are due to Moorthy Rekapalli for MESU (Mobile Eye Surgical Unit) project and the following ADOPT-A-Village donors Dr. Sanjeeva Reddy (New Orleans LA), Leela Krishnamoorthy (Houston TX), Anand Dasari (Dallas TX), Srini Vangimalla (Atlanta GA), Rajasekhar Aila (Detroit MI), Srinivas Ganagoni (New Jersey NJ), Suresh Vemulamada (Atlanta GA).

Thanks are due to Jagannath Vedula, and Chennai staff Theagarajan, Suresh Kumar, Sunitha Doss, Kavitha, and Dheenadayalan.

Fundraising team members: Bala Reddy Indurti, SV Acharya, Moorthy Rekapalli, Leela Krishnamoorthy, Dr. Raj Modi, Srini Vangimalla, Upendra Rachupally, Shankar Setty, Shyam Appali, Prasad Rani, Meher Lanka, Narayan Indurthi, Ramesh Chaparala, Sowmi Narayan, Neelima Gaddamanugu, and Banu Ramkrishnan.

As you already know during our mid-year campaign, we conducted Flute Nagaraju Talluri program and received $150,000 donation from Dr. Govinda Visvesvara to name a floor in Chennai Hospital. This is not included in year-end campaign.

Thanks are due to media partners TVAsia (Srinivas Ganagoni) manaTV, TV5 (Sridhar Chillara, Ragini, and Harishi), Sakshi TV (Simhabaludu), GNN (Rammohan Reddy and Ravi Reddy Maraka) for promoting Sankara Nethralaya virtual streaming concert on Dec 19th 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-nethralaya-usa-virtual-concert-raised-520000-118013

To read the article on NRI Pulse.com, please click here:- https://www.nripulse.com/sankara-nethralaya-usa-virtual-concert-raises-520000-to-restore-vision-to-8000/

Dear longtime supporters and well-wishers of Sankara Nethralaya,

We are happy to inform you that Shasta Foods, San Jose, CA, manufacturers of Fresh Batters and suppliers of Authentic Indian Groceries and Food Products all over continental USA, has included “Sankara Nethralaya USA” as one of the Charitable Organizations which Customers/Buyers of Shasta Foods’ Batters and Products and Groceries can choose when buying “ On Line”. Shasta Foods will donate 3% of the total Purchase Price to SN USA (taxes and Service charges excluded). Please share this information with your friends and relatives.

Thank you for your continued support.
Sankara Nethralaya USA

Note: Please choose Sankara Nethralaya as your preferred charitable organizations at the time of payment to donate 3% of your purchase price to SN USA.

Website: https://www.shasthaonline.com

Sankara Nethralaya (SN) is a non-profit charity organization providing ophthalmic(eye) care to millions of patients throughout India for the last four decades. To support the Indian Mission of Sankara Nethralaya, Sankara Nethralaya USA was established back in 1988. The main goal of the Trust creation is to have the NRIs supporting and contributing to this Nobel cause. Sankara Nethralaya USA is one of the trusted and well-respected charity organizations in USA. The Trust also received Charity Navigator's highest rating of "Four Stars" 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. 1.11 crores ($150,000) donation from Dr. Govinda Visvesvara in memory of his parents. His generous donation will help to care for 2300 deserving blind patients in India. Dr. Govinda Visvesvara, is a great scholar, philanthropist, and excellent human being.

Dr. Govinda Visvesvara was born in Bangalore to Shri Govinda Sharma and Smt. Rajamma. He hails from a very well-respected traditional south Indian family. His parents were blessed with 11 children (5boys, six girls), 18 grandchildren, 25 great-grandchildren, 8 great, great-grandchildren.

His mother, Smt. Rajamma was the youngest child in the family born in 1909 in Bangalore city, erstwhile Mysore state. Smt. Rajamma was a kind-hearted, friendly, a devoted wife to Shri Govind Sharma, and the family was the center of her world. She was highly pious and always reciting slokas in Sanskrit, Kannada, and Telugu. Smt. Rajamma was kind, giving, and appreciated all people. She passed away peacefully at the age of 91.

His father, Sri Govinda Sharma, was born in 1900 in Akkihebbal, erstwhile Mysore state. He graduated with a Bachelor of Law from Maharaja's College, University of Mysore. Subsequently, joined the Judiciary system of the then Mysore State and served in various capacities. He retired as District and Sessions Judge of Bangalore District. He was a student of Dr. S. Radhakrishnan (Former President of India) at Maharaja's college. He was a great philosopher and studied in depth both Indian and Western Philosophies. Often, he participated in discussions with noted scholars on questions of comparative philosophy. He was known for high standards and quick wit. He had an exceptional ability to engage effectively with children and others from all walks of life. He was a devoted husband and father. He passed away peacefully in 1985.

Dr. Govinda Visvesvara (Vish) earned a Master's Degree in Science from the University of Nagpur and started his career as a Zoology lecturer in Dibrugarh City in Assam. He later joined as Research Assistant at Central Public Health Engineering Research Institute in Nagpur, India. In 1963 he joined the Defense Research Laboratories in Gwalior, India, as a Junior Scientific Officer. In 1967, he competed nationally and received a Fulbright award and a U.S Government Scholarship. He chose to work on his Ph.D. with William Balamuth at the University of California, Berkeley. While a graduate student at Berkeley, he also served as a teaching assistant and teaching associate. There he also met and married Marika, she passed away in 2001.

After obtaining a Ph.D. degree from the University of California, Vish Joined the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, GA as a Postdoctoral fellow 1972. His laboratory participated in the investigation of outbreaks of several different "unknown" diseases. He discovered a new amoeba that causes meningoencephalitis in humans and other animals and paid tribute to his former mentor by designating the name of a new genus and species of amoeba, Balamuthia mandrill Aris. His work has provided novel insights into the medical relevance of protists in human disease and had a big impact on public health. At CDC he mentored doctoral students, postdoctoral fellows, and guests who came from all corners of the globe. He has published over 350 articles, book chapters. He has won several awards.

Some of the significant awards are:

• Awarded Joseph E. McDade Citation for Lifetime Scientific Achievement: July 2012
• Awarded William C. Watson, Jr. Medal of Excellence for outstanding public health service and leadership in understanding the biology, diagnostics, and public health impact of free-living amebae and other protozoan pathogens 2011
• Golden Pen Award" for the PAM article Primary amoebic meningoencephalitis in Florida: A case report and epidemiological review of Florida cases Fl J Environ Hlth 2011; 207:15-21. from the Florida Environmental Health Associations -2011
• Awarded CDC's Excellence for research on Acanthamoeba keratitis outbreak, 2008
• Cited as "a leader in free-living amoeba biology" and a new species of ameba, Monomyelocytes Visvesvara was created - 2008

Both Sankara Nethralaya USA and the Sankara Nethralaya India teams, thanked Dr. Govinda Visvesvara for his generous donation and share the following appreciations.

Dr. Girish Rao, President of Sankara Nethralaya: "Dear Mr. Visvesvara ji, Greetings from Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai. On behalf of the staff of Sankara Nethralaya and Board of Management of Medical Research Foundation I wish to convey our sincere gratitude for your benevolence in loving memory of your parents. Your donation will help us provide free treatment for countless indigent patients."

Dr. T S Surendran, Vice Chairman & Director, Sankara Nethralaya: Sankara Nethralaya family and on behalf of patients, thank Dr Govinda Visvesvara from the bottom of our hearts a BIG THANK YOU for the munificent contribution coming forward to sponsor one of the floors of the temple for the eyes Sankara Nethralaya

Sankara Nethralaya USA Executive Committee & Board of Trustees appreciation:

S.V. Acharya, President Emeritus, Sankara Nethralaya USA: Expressed gratitude to Dr. Govinda Visvesvara on behalf of our Trust in US for the generous donation of $150,000 towards naming one floor at Sankara Nethralaya in Chennai, India. He also indicated that while smaller donations help us in providing free ophthalmic services to indigent patients, major donations like the one from Dr. Visvesvara help us in enhancing the infra structure and in the long-term growth of the institution.

Bala Reddy Indurti, President, Sankara Nethralaya USA: "Dear Sri Govinda Visvesvara garu, I am truly honored to be the receiver of your generosity $150,000 (one hundred fifty thousand US dollars) on behalf of Sankara Nethralaya to support 2300 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 parents would be delighted watching from above. Glad to know you during my tenure as Sankara Nethralaya USA president."

Moorthy Rekapalli, Vice President: “Dr. Visvesvara, Namaste . What a great way to pay tribute to your parents!! Your generous contribution to Sankara Nethralaya is so much appreciated by all of us and it can't be expressed in words. Also, these types of generous acts boost the morale of all the volunteers, who are working for this noble cause of restoring vision to indigent patients. May God bless you and your family for your selfless and generous acts."

Srinivas Ganagoni, Secretary: I'd like to thank Visvesvara ji for your generosity to support Sankara Nethralaya to provide eye care services to the people who are in need. Appreciate it very much.

Banu Ramakrishnan, Treasurer: Banu: Kindly Thank Dr. Govindarajan Visvesvara Garu for his kindness and his generosity. This will be inspiring for others to do the same. There is saying in Tamil - 'the more water you draw from the well, the more water will secrete'- the more you give, the more you will get. May Lord will bless him with wealth to do more great things!

Sowmi Narayan, Joint Secretary: Our humble pranams and namaskarams to Dr. Govinda Visvesvara and his family for supporting 2307 cataract surgeries. Thank you for your generosity, kind and timely help. God bless.

Raja Krishnamurthy, Joint Treasurer: God works in so many ways to serve the needy. Thanks to Bala Garu, Dr. Govindarajan Visvesvara Garu and Sankara Nethralaya on this Aadi Vellikizhamai, Aadi Month Friday very auspicious for Lalitha, embodiment of Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswathi.

Leela Krishnamurthy, Past President: Dear Dr Govinda Visvesvara Words cannot express our sincere gratitude to you for your very generous donation of $150,000 to Sankara Nethralaya as a tribute to your parents , a truly magnanimous decision Your contribution will give so many the ultimate gift the Gift of sight. Gods’ blessings to you and family

Srini Vangimalla: Dear Visvesvara garu, I would like to express our sincere gratitude for your generous contribution to Sankara Nethralaya. Great way to pay tributes to your parents by creating a means for serving the under-privileged patients in India. I am sure your donations will be best utilized in restoring the vision for many.

Krishnaraj Bhat: Namaste Shri Govinda Visverara Ji, my heartfelt pranams for your generous donation towards Sankara Nethralaya in order to eradicate blindness from India and all over the world. Your incredible contribution has the power to fund over 2,300 cataract surgeries and inspire countless others to give back to the community. Once again, thank you so much for your generosity!

Partha Chakravarthy: It was very nice of Sri Visvesvara to have donated generously to Sankara Nethralaya. May he and his family be blessed.

Dr. Reddy Urimindi: There is no greater gift to mankind than the gift of sight, and what a delight it is to learn about your kindness to Sankara Nethralaya. We are thankful for your generosity which will bring the lost light and smile back on the face of countless indigent individuals with visual impairments

Shankar Shetty: Sri. Govinda Visvesvara garu’s big heart to help needy ones!! God bless him and our Sankara Nethralaya!!

Prasad Rani: I am pleased to learn about the grand donation made by Dr Govinda Visvesvara to Sankara Nethralaya USA. These funds will definitely cause life changing effects on thousands of people in India who will now be gifted with a better vision.

Shyam Appali: We are truly blessed to have selfless-minded individuals like Dr. Govinda Visvesvara, who believe in the services offered by Sankara Nethralaya. We appreciate his generosity in donating to this great cause and thank him from the bottom of our hearts. His generosity and story are very inspiring to everyone at Sankara Nethralaya. May God bless him and his family with health, happiness, and wealth.

Upendra Rachupally: Sri Visvesvara Garu - Thank you for your generous donation to SNUSA. We are very grateful for your contribution. Your care and commitment for SNUSA are above and beyond. Your giving spirit makes a difference as we help hundreds of patients. Take a bow..........

Ramesh Chaparala: Dear Dr. Visvesvara garu, we would like to express our sincere gratitude for your generous contribution to Sankara Nethralaya. We sincerely appreciate your generosity and commitment for Sankara Nethralaya! Thank you!

Neelima Gaddamanugu: Thank you for your generous donation to SNUSA. We are very grateful for your contribution and support. Your commitment for SNUSA is greatly appreciated! Thank you so much!

Dr. Bellamkonda Kishore: Love and Compassion are the Divine attributes that have real power to solve the problems of the world. It is really gratifying to see those in Dr. Govinda Visvesvara garu, who made a very generous gift to SN OM Trust. May God bless him and his family

Jagannath Vedula: Thank you Bala ji for sharing the inspiring news about Sri Govinda Visvesvra garu. It is great to see his faith in Sankara Nethralaya. This will be an inspiration for all others. Please thank him on behalf of the board. May Lord bless him with abundance and a big heart.

Meher Lanka: Dear Visvesvara garu, Namaskarams to your benevolent contribution to Sankara Nethralaya. I'd like to thank you very much for your care by proving a means to serve the needy and visually challenged patients in India. We are very honored to serve with you.

Rajasekahr Aila: Dear Govinda Visvevsvara garu, we needed you and you were there. We are so grateful for your donation towards SNOM charitable trust. Thank you for your generosity and your confidence in our work. Sincerely

Ravi Maraka: Sri Govinda Visvesvara garu, Thank you very much for your extremely generous donation to Sankara Nethralaya. It is greatly appreciated, and I can't thank you enough. Your $150k donation would help so many underprivileged people in India, it also inspires many people to come forward and donate towards true causes.

Anand Dasari: Can't explain the greatness and kind heart of the donor Dr. Govinda Visvesvara garu, in words. It's a motivation to do bigger and better stuff. I will pray for him for his well-being and success. Thank you Bala Anna for your effort to make this happen.

To read the article on Great Andhra.com, please click here:- https://www.greatandhra.com/articles/special-articles/dr-govinda-visvesvaras-150000-donation-to-sankara-n-115334

Watch the tribute video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UXO5FTSbLU

Sankara Nethralaya (SN) is a non-profit charity organization providing ophthalmic (eye) care throughout India. For the last four decades, SN has treated millions of patients.

Sankara Nethralaya USA (SN USA) was formed in the USA thirty years ago so NRIs could contribute to help the mission of SN. SN USA, based in the USA, has received the highest rating of four stars by Charity Navigator for maintaining financial accountability and fiscal transparency for funds donated by donors and how they are utilized towards the stated cause.

Every year, Sankara Nethralaya USA organizes Indian classical dance and music programs in various cities to raise awareness and raise funds. Because of the pandemic, all programs have been conducted virtually.

As part of our mid-year campaign, Kalaratna Vidwan Flute Nagaraju Talluri gave a devotional flute music concert on July 25th, 2021. He performed the following songs:

• Maha Ganapateem - Lord Ganesh
• Adivo Alladivo - Annamayya
• Janani Janani - Tamil song by Ilayaraja
• Shyam Teri Bansi- Hindi- Lata Mangeshkar
• Bhagyada Laxmi Baaramma- Kannada
• Tandanaanaa Hare - Annamayya
• Payoji Maine Raam Ratan Dhan Payo - Hindi - Meera bhajan
• Harivaraasanam - Malayalam
• Shankara Nada Sharirapara - SPB - Sankarabharanam
• Sathyam Shivam Sundaram - Hindi - Lata Mangeshkar

Sankara Nethralaya executive committee members - President Emeritus S V Acharya, President Bala Reddy Indurti, Vice President Moorthy Rekapalli, Secretary Srinivas Ganagoni, Treasurer Banumati Ramkrishnan, Joint Secretary Sowmiya Narayanan, Joint Treasurer Raja Krishnamurti, and Past President Leela Krishnamurthy appealed the audience through TV channels to support the cause and help indigent blind patients in India.

Virtual music concert was broadcasted in the following major channels:

ManaTV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g52jaxiPe1I

TV Asia Telugu: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVEzgUI8nmk

Saakshi TV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWKhCEjTOV0

TV5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtHjP2nthGQ

GNN: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxXoGUQzCVk

To read the article on Great Andhra.com, please click here:- https://www.greatandhra.com/articles/special-articles/sankara-nethralaya-fundraiser-a-grand-success-114863

Viewers thoroughly enjoyed the concert and Sankara Nethralaya midyear campaign raised significant amount to restore the vision to many indigent blind patients in India. Kudos to the fundraising team, philanthropists, and the community for their unconditional support.

President Bala Reddy Indurti and President Emeritus S V Acharya thanked all the Trustees and Volunteers who are working selflessly to restore vision for indigent patients. Vice President Moorthy Rekapalli thanked the efforts of Sankara Nethralaya USA and the service of NRIs. President of Sankara Nethralaya India, Dr. Girish Rao elaborated various services provided by Nethralaya to the needy people during pandemic.

Special thanks to Shyam Appali, Prameela Gopu, Suresh Kumar, Theagarajan, and Sunita Doss for their assistance in organizing this program and taking care of technical aspects to present the content in different channels.

Thanks are due to K.G. Venkatraman, Krishnaraj Bhat, Dr. Raj Modi, Dr. Reddy Urimindi, Srini Vangimalla, Shankar Setty, Jagannath Vedula, Narayan Indurthi, Upendra Rachupally, Rajasekhar Aila, Ravi Maraka, and Prasad Rani for promoting the event in social media, and TV channels.

Thanks, are also due to media partners ManaTV, TVAsia Telugu, SakshiTV, TV5, GNN, US1, and Tori for promoting Sankara Nethralaya activities.

We thank Leela Krishnamurthy and Narayan Reddy Indurthi for coordinating musical concerts and the walkathon event in Houston TX.

If you have any questions, feel free to reach our committee members at the following link: https://www.sankaranethralayausa.org/committee-members.html

If you like to donate using PayPal please click the following link:
https://www.paypal.com/us/fundraiser/charity/1769240

The Founder of Sankara Nethralaya USA, Mr. S. V. Acharya and his wife Mrs. Nirmala Acharya were interviewed by Mana TV and the interview was broadcasted by ManaTV on July 23rd, 2021. Mr. & Mrs. Acharya spoke about their meeting with SN Founder Living Legend, Padma Bhushan Dr. S. S. Badrinath, their involvement with SN and the growth of Sankara Nethralaya USA during past 33 years.

If you like to donate using PayPal please click the following link:
https://www.paypal.com/us/fundraiser/charity/1769240

The Sri A Jagannathan Memorial Concert series organized by Sankara Nethralaya USA’s Joint Secretary & Trustee Mr. Sowmiyanarayan in memory of his father, Sri A Jagannathan completes 300 concerts. Over the one-year period, Sri Sowmiyanarayan organized 300 concerts and gave opportunities for more than 450 artists from the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK.

The fundraising concert series was created by Sri Sowmiyanarayan to honor his father’s memory. His son, Sanjith Narayanan, and his violin teacher, Sri Kamalkiran Vinjamuri helped arrange the concerts. Initially scheduled only for ten days, the virtual concert series proved to be so popular it was extended multiple times and became an ongoing music concert series.

The extremely talented great-granddaughters of the unforgettable Bharat Ratna Smt. M. S. Subbulakshmi and Sangeetha Ratnakara Dr. Radha Vishwanathan:- S. Aishwarya and S. Saundarya, performed for our grand landmark of reaching 150 concerts. Young and talented artists from Australia, Canada, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, UAE, UK, USA, Singapore, and Sweden have come forward to perform for this good cause and showcase their unique talents.

Your enthusiastic support and contributions have enabled Sankara Nethralaya to perform eye surgeries for over 2000 poor indigent patients over the past year. We thank you all for the tremendous support that you have given to Sankara Nethralaya and this festival.

Sri Sowmiyanarayan thanks Sri Vibhu Rao (Mani Krishnaswami Academy), Sri Ramesh Sooryanarayanan ( Sai Rocks Studio), Chi. Sai Bharath (Sai Rocks Studio) and respected gurus.

Sankara Nethralaya OM Trust and Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai bids farewell to our long time trustee from Chicago - Mr. Sudhakar Mattu who resigned as Secretary, as well as member of Board of Trustees, SNOM Trust, USA (SN USA) due to personal reasons. The nominating committee has accepted his resignation.

Mr. Mattu founded and established the Chicago chapter of SN USA several years ago and has fostered the chapter to what it is today. He organized concerts, walkathon, and other fundraising events during his term as trustee and EC member with the support of eager and hardworking volunteers. He has graciously agreed to provide all his support in promoting and organizing our fundraising events for SN USA, even after stepping down.

The nominating committee has approved the appointment of our trustee, Mr. Srinivas Ganagoni, New Jersey, as Secretary in place of Mr. Mattu until completion of current secretary term at the end of December 2022.

Mr. Ganagoni’s list of achievements is stellar. As the CEO of TVAsia Telugu channel, he has helped spread the word of Sankara Nethralaya’s humanitarian activities around the world. He was responsible for launching Sankara Nethralaya USA in New Jersey and making it a household name. He raised over $ 55 k at an event he organized in New Jersey with the help of volunteers and NewYork trustee Dr. Raj Modi.

Other credentials of Mr. Ganagoni include:
-President of Lead India USA Foundation (Dr. APJ Kalam was the mentor of this organization),
-Joint Secretary & IVP of NATA (North American Telugu Association),
-Secretary of TTA (Telangana American Telugu Association), and
-On Board of Trustees, Sri Guruvaayoorappan Temple for 8 years.
-Coordinated health fairs in NewJersey to support uninsured and visiting parents.

We welcome Mr. Ganagoni as our new Secretary with immediate effect and hope his tenure as one our supporters and mentors is a long and fruitful one.

Satadina Svaraarchana is a unique program of 100 days of Classical and semi-classical music concerts presented on social media through YouTube, Facebook and WhatsApp, to raise awareness and funds for Sankara Nethralaya USA. This program was coordinated by Prasad Rani, Trustee of Sankara Nethralaya LA Chapter.

Commencing on Vijaya Dasami, one of the most auspicious festivals in India, Satadina Svaraarchana presented one concert each day and culminated in the 100th day on Friday, 16th April 2021. 108 artists from countries around the world including USA, India, UK, and Australia showcased their artistic talents to raise funds for indigent patients. The age of the performers ranged from 7 years to 70 years with 70% of the participants being women and girls. Around 50% were children and young adults – a great sign that the next generation is also equally engaged in learning classical art forms like music.

Over 20,000 viewers viewed, offered encouragement for the concerts on social media, and donated to bring light to a poor patient’s life. 100 percent of the comments on YouTube were positive in nature.

Last but not the least, two of the performers are worthy of special mention:

Ms. Pervela, born with a serious medical condition that confines her to bed, has not allowed her health to prevent her from following her passion for music. She performed her concert for this event, all the songs, from the confines of her bed.

Ms Yellapragada, with a rare skin condition that prevented her from stepping out of her home, and could not even attend the regular school, learned music at home through a teacher and was happy to perform the concert for Sankara Nethralaya

Since 2020, when the pandemic shook the world, Sankara Nethralaya USA team have taken up their fundraising activities on social media to increase awareness of the organization among kindhearted people around the world and to raise funds for supporting its cause.

Prasad Rani, coordinator of the event expressed sincere thanks to all the participants who made this program successful. He also thanked Sri Bala Reddy Indurti, President, Sankara Nethralaya USA, for the, the encouragement and support for the logistics and completion of the program.

Bala Indurti thanked the volunteers Prameela Gopu and Rama Shyam Appali for developing beautiful video to showcase all the singers, brand ambassadors and volunteers in Satadinaswararchana 100th day video for streaming to major TV channels TVAsia Telugu, manaTV, manaTV International, SakshiTV, TV5 and US1. Thanks are due to Prasad Rani for dedicating time for this mega project to raise funds to Indigent blind patients in India.

Bala Indurti congratulated and thanked Dr. Girish Rao, President Sankara Nethralaya and the following Sankara Nethralaya USA EC and Board of Trustees for giving video messages and encouraging Prasad Rani and Satadinaswararchana team. Sri S.V. Acharya, President Emeritus Sankara Nethralaya USA, Sri Moorthy Rekapalli, Vice Presdent; Sri Sudhakar Mattu, Secretary; Sri Sowmia Narayan, Joint Secretary; Sri Raja Krishnamurti, Joint Treasurer; Smt Leela Krishnamurthy, Past President; Sri KG Venkata Raman, Past President; Sri Krishnaraj Bhat, BOT; Dr. Raj Modi, BOT; Dr. Bellamkonda Kishore; Dr. Reddy Urimindi, BOT; Sri Srini Vangimalla, BOT; Sri Partha Chakravarthy, BOT; Sri Rajasekhar Aila, BOT; Sri Shankar Setty, BOT; Sri Varad Rajan, BOT; and Nataraja Natyanjali dance director Neelima Gaddamanugu.

Bala Indurti also thanked the following TV channels and the management for providing live streaming and unconditional support.

Srinivasa Ganagoni, CEO TV Asia Telugu: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sqOhX9lM0E

Sridhar Chillara, CEO manaTV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5GKAKBgVKQ

Sridhar Chillara, CEO manaTV International: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oy9YMqmHFDk

Harish, TV5 North America correspondent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyZOELnXBWM

Simha, SakshiTV, North America correspondent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkle2d6S1IU

Thanks are due to the following Chennai team members Malathi Krishna, Sunita Doss, Theagarajan, Suresh Kumar for all the support to make this program successful.

Thanks are due to Srinivas Rani for sharing the daily updates in Facebook and Whatsapp.

Nataraja Naatyanjali dance academy guru Smt. Neelima Gaddamanugu celebrated the 100 days of Kuchipudi dance performance on February 10, 2021. Sankara Nethralaya Atlanta team requested Neelima garu to present 100 days online streaming program to promote the cause during the pandemic. 90 students performed from academy performed for 100 days marathon event. We are deeply grateful to Neelima for dedicating herself to the noble cause.

How this event started? Bala Reddy Indurti asked Neelima Gaddamanugu, is it possible to perform 100 days online video performance with her Nataraja Natyanjali Atlanta students during the pandemic to promote the Sankara Nethralaya cause. Neelima accepted the challenge and made this possible with her 90 students. Atlanta team led by Bala Indurti, Moorthy Rekapalli are in touch with academy to make sure daily streaming events are performed seamlessly.

The students of Nataraja Natyanjali Dance Academy have enthusiastically taken part in this record-breaking fundraising effort for needy patients. Smt. Neelima Gaddamanugu has been teaching Kuchipudi from 2003 and her academy has been officially registered since 2008 in Atlanta, GA, USA.

Smt. Neelima Gaddamangu teaches the Vempati School of Kuchipudi classical dance form. Dr. Vempati Chinna Satyam was an exponent and guru of the Kuchipudi dance form. He systemized Kuchipudi, giving it a more classical basis, and popularising the Kuchipudi dance form all over the world. The encouragement of the parents, relatives, friends, volunteers of those who participated was invaluable in making this charitable fundraiser a great success. Neelima’s guru Narayana Murthy Dandibhotla is a student of Padma Bhushan late Vempati Chinna Satyam.

Sankara Nethralaya President Dr. Girish Rao, and Sankara Nethralaya USA EC members President Emeritus S. V. Acharya, President Bala Reddy Indurti, Vice President Moorthy Rekapalli, Treasurer Banumathi Ramakrishnan, Jt Secretary Sowmi Narayan, Past President Leela Krishnamurthy and trustees Dr. Reddy Urimindi, Srini Reddy Vangimalla, Prasad Rani, Meher Lanka, Upendra Rachupally, Ramesh Chaparala and others - Neelima’s Guru Smt Mythili Prabhakar, Telugu Film Director V.N. Aditya, Kalavani Dance Academy Guru Padmaja Kelam and Maitri Atlanta founder Viju Chiluveru extended their appreciations to Nataraja Natyanjali guru Smt Neelima Gaddamanugu for completing successful 100 days dance program.

Sankara Nethralaya volunteer from New Jersey Prameela Gopu worked to compile all the messages and videos to present to the TV channels. She has also worked closely with Padma Shri Dr. Shobha Raju classical music concert in the past on the technical side. The live telecast of the finale of the 100 Days of Naatyanjali included a special video on Mobile Eye Surgical Unit and video clippings of Padma Bhushan Dr. S. S. Badrinath, Nani Phalkiwala (Jurist), Sri Amitabh Bachchan (Actor), Sri Saurav Ganguly (Cricketer), and Sri Madhavan (Actor).

Sankara Nethralaya team extended special thanks to TVAsia Telugu channel CEO and member of our Board of Trustees Srinivas Ganagoni, TV5 USA and manaTV CEO Sridhar Chillara, and SakshiTV North America correspondent Simha Hanumantu. 100 days event youtube links from major TV channels are below:

TV Asia Telugu: https://youtu.be/Nsm9sB_gSbY

ManaTV: https://youtu.be/OGCpXPSlx9o

TV5: https://youtu.be/olbxj2G1oV8

Event is also live telecasted in social media Facebook, YouTube and www.sankaranethralayausa.org website.
Thanks to Chennai team Theagarajan, Suresh Kumar and Sunita Doss for their continued support.

During the pandemic, Sankara Nethralaya OM (Ophthalmic Mission) Trust USA, organised Indian classical dance and music programs online to raise awareness and funds for indigent patients.

Reputed devotional singer, Padmasri Dr. Shobha Raju along with her music team sang virtually on December 20th, 2020 and raised $200K to restore the vision to 3000 indigent blind patients in India.

The year-end Charity concert was broadcasted by major channels:

TV Asia Telugu: https://youtu.be/gjqZsVLRYgs

ManaTV: https://youtu.be/NPJDJSvc3nE

TV5: https://youtu.be/8e0Ch1620A4

SN family thanks the fundraising team, Philanthropists, and community for their unconditional support during these difficult times.

To read the article on Great Andhra.com, please click here:- https://www.greatandhra.com/articles/special-articles/sankara-nethralaya-raised-200k-to-restore-the-vision-109936

Sankara Nethralaya’s year-end campaign was crown by the fundraising program by Padma Shri Dr. Shobha Raju garu on Sunday Dec 20th, 2020. Dr. Shobha Raju, one of the foremost Indian classical musicians, is famed for her repertoire of devotional songs, and is an eminent writer and composer. She is known for her performances of the sankeerthanas of Annamacharya, the 15th-century saint-composer.

The program was telecast live in all major TV channels. Padma Shri Dr. Shobha Raju garu performed soul stirring sankeerthanas in all languages including Hindi and Sanskrit. She also translated the lyrics in English to engage audiences around the globe. Her devotional music concert has raised a lot to help indigent and needy patients. Her concert is still garnering views and raising awareness for poor and indigent patients.

We thank TV Asia Telugu, Mana TV, Sakshi TV, and TV5 for telecasting the live performance and supporting our cause.

View Dr. Shobha Raju’s devotional music concert from various TV channels below:

TV Asia Telugu: https://youtu.be/gjqZsVLRYgs

manaTV: https://youtu.be/NPJDJSvc3nE

TV5: https://youtu.be/8e0Ch1620A4

Personally 2020 has been a humbling experience. Even though a global pandemic and the uncertainty it brought for all of us in many ways, we accomplished a lot. Kudos to the Sankara Nethralaya trustees and volunteers across the globe for raising funds to restore the vision to indigent patients in India.

Please use the information below to donate generously:

PayPal link: https://www.paypal.com/us/fundraiser/charity/1769240 (no service fee)

Network for Good: https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/1416458 (3% service fee)

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/1087426483/posts/10217936504939387/?d=n

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

Sankara Nethralaya OM Trust USA organized a live stream event by Sangita Kalanidhi Padmasri Vidushi Kanyakumari -Violin on Sunday, 11th October 2020 at 5:30 PM (EST)| Monday, 12th October, 2020 at 3: AM (IST). Sangita Kalanidhi Kanyakumari was accompanied by Vidhwan Dr. Patri Satish Kumar on the Mridangam, Vidhwan Anirudh Athreya on the Khanjira, and Vidhwan Sayee Rakshith on Violin support.

Patrons immersed themselves in Vidushi Kanyakumari’s concert from comfort of their homes. SN OM Trust USA was forced to cancel in person-events in Atlanta GA, Dallas TX, Washington DC, Houston TX, Los Angeles CA, and Pittsburgh PA due to present COVID 19 pandemic conditions and SN OM trust trustees organized online charity concerts to raise funds for bringing sight to poor indigent patients.

SN OM Trust Inc. USA., is Sankara Nethralaya’s only fund-raising arm in the USA. We invite you to visit https://www.sankaranethralayausa.org/ to learn more about donating from the USA.

We sincerely thank our supporters Mana TV, TV Asia, Sakshi TV, TV5, TV9, US 1 Television, and Radio TORi for their tireless efforts in telecasting this Classical concert.

Watch Sangita Kalanidhi Padmasri Vidushi Kanyakumari’s performance here at https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=3333933226832359

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.

In 2017, a 12 year old boy in Suburban Washington DC in the USA, happened to see a video about Sankara Nethralaya in one of the local fundraising events. The plight of blind people in India and the activities of Nethralaya inspired him so much, he decided to do whatever he could to raise funds. His parents, Amuthan and Vidya, encouraged him to host a fundraiser at the basement of their house in the form of a youth talent show. His friends and family supported his cause and the event raised upwards of $2000.

Encouraged by the success of the previous event, Jay and family hosted another fundraiser in May of 2019. This time the event moved to a local school auditorium as more number of people came forward to support the cause. They raised about $3,000 for Sankara Nethralaya, which funded 46 cataract surgeries for the economically underprivileged in our society.

This year’s Charity Night, held on 8th August 2020, is the Kannan Family’s fourth annual fundraiser. Due to the Covid19 scare the entire event was virtual. Jay put together a 1 hour 30 minutes show where all participants performed from their respective homes. Whole show was beautifully planned and organized by Kannan family using the Zoom video platform. Over 20 performers of varied age groups from all across the United States showcased their talent. This year’s virtual event has raised over $4000 for Sankara Nethralaya’s mission to bring vision to indigent blind people. Krishna Raj Bhat, trustee & joint treasurer, SN OM Trust introduced Sankara Nethralaya’s mission for vision and thanked the Kannan family – Amudhan, Vidhya, Hari and Jay, for organizing the Virtual Charity Night.

It is heart-warming to see Indian American youth showcasing their talents for the cause of bringing sight to the poor visually challenged people in our Society. Sankara Nethralaya thanks the Kannan family for their generosity in raising money to fight blindness among the poor in society.

The efforts of these young Indians in America to help the visually challenged Indians during the pandemic is truly awe-inspiring. Just $65 goes towards helping a poor Indian receive free cataract surgery and follow-up care. By contributing towards Sankara Nethralaya’s mission to bring vision to the poor, you enable one poor blind person to regain their place in society.

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.

It came as a global quality certification for an institution with such credentials as 'First ISO certified eye hospital in Asia', accredited by NABH, the highest quality certification for health care providers in the country, rated consecutively as 'Best Eye Hospital' by several prestigious national surveys, when 'Newsweek' the international weekly declared it as one among the 'Best 4 Ophthalmic institutions in the World for year-2020'. The survey was conducted between SeptemberNovember 2019. The evaluation included a survey of discharged patients, recommendations by thousands of experts including leading doctors, hospital managers and other health care professionals, some of the key parameters taken into consideration were patient experience, both in relation to a specific treatment undergone and overall feel and Medical KPI (Key performance Indicators) on critical areas like quality of treatment and hygiene levels. The jury consisted of a team of highly distinguished health care professionals from the world's leading research, academics and clinical care centers from a diverse background consisting of experts in IT usage in health care, outstanding clinicians, researchers, health reform champions, thought leaders, patient safety and engagement experts, pioneers in health care innovation and experts in operating non-profits. This gave the evaluation a holistic approach, taking all the above parameters into consideration.

The global acknowledgment making Sankara Nethralaya the only ophthalmic institution in India to be featured in the world's best league, comes as a matter of great pride to every member of the SN family and a befitting tribute to Dr SS.Badrinath, the visionary and pioneer who founded the institution 4 decades ago, on the 4 pillars of world class clinical care, focused research, quality teaching and training initiatives and community care and above all as a transparent, ethical institution run on the principles of love and service.

We take great pleasure and pride in sharing that Mrs Leela Krishnamurthy, Past President - SN OM Trust, Member UNICEF and Houston Habitat for Humanity and her husband Mr Nat Krishnamurthy, well known philanthropist and CEO of Sunitech were honored as 'Power Couple' and '20 Leading Impact Makers' for their significant giving back to society endeavors through their charity, combined effort and initiatives in serving humanity through alleviation of pain and bringing relief and joy to the suffering.

The Sankara Nethralaya family and the SN OM Trust where she serves as a member, convey their hearty congratulations to the noble couple and wish them many more years of good health, happiness and God's grace to do what they enjoy doing most 'Serving Humanity'

A great performance “DrishTi” unraveled with a burst of energy at the ‘Infinite Energy Center’ Atlanta, USA on Sunday September 8th. An entertaining opening by MC Jayakiran Pagadala whose grip over several Indian languages made all regional audiences from India feel settled, set the right note to the grand event. The roll ups related to several programs Sankara Nethralaya has in its radar along with Google CEO Sundar Pichai’s AI revolution and how it is leveraged in detecting diabetic retinopathy were thought provoking. Google is partnering with Sankara Nethralaya hospitals.

Atlanta Trustee Srini Reddy Vangimalla, Vice President Moorthy Rekapalli & President Bala Reddy Indurti addressed the audience before the Bharata Naatyam program and highlighted about Sankara Nethralaya fundraiser events in different cities in USA and service activities in India.

When the dance drama unfolded on the stage, the audience wondered how the very talented guru Padmaja Kelam garu and her team were going to relate it to the cause of Sankara Nethralaya. The way Hasini character loses eye sight and the way she retains her passion towards dance in spite of her loss of vision and the message towards the end, that inner senses have no boundaries and inability to see hardly matters, when you pursue your passion, were heart warming. This connection establishment was awesome and what a terrific performance by the artist who played Hasini. Our heartfelt congratulations to Padmaja Kelam, Siddartha Kelam and team of children who worked so hard to make this happen. The lyrics were penned by Dr Uma Eyyuni and music was by Asha Ramesh.

Thanks are due to Atlanta team members Krishnadas Pisharodi, Srikrupa Easwaran, Phani Dokka, Uma Narayan, Raghava Tadavarthi, Kamal Satuluru, Namrata Satuluru, Rajesh Tadikamalla, Ramesh Valluri, Venkat Chundi, Ravi Kandimalla, Subba Rao Maddali, Ram Mallappa, Swadesh Katoch, Viju Chiluveru, Niranjan Prodduturi & ByteGraph for their continuous support and hard work to this event.

Thanks are due to MESU (Mobile Eye Surgical Unit) donors: Moorthy Rekapalli & Madhavi and Aniil Jagralmudi & Mahalakshmi. Main purpose of MESU is to eradicate preventable blindness in India. Initially we are planning the MESU for Telugu speaking states and eventually we want to replicate the same model all over the country.

Thanks are due to Atlanta local associations TAMA, GATA, GATeS, GAMA, GATS, IFA, Maitri & Atlanta Telugu Samskriti for spreading the word in weekly broadcast news.

SN team also recognized community leaders and philanthropists Dr. BK Mohan & Rajyalaxmi, Pramod Sajja & Pratima, TR Reddy & Niranjini, Dr. G.S. Visvesvara, Veena Bhat for their support since inception of Atlanta chapter.

Mr. S V Acharya, President Emeritus and founder of Sankara Nethralaya OM Trust expressed regret for his inability to attend the event. He conveyed his message to Atlanta audience over phone thanking for their long term support and making Atlanta chapter one of the most active chapters in US. He also thanked the Trust President Mr. Bala Reddy Indurti for spearheading this event with support from Vice President Moorthy Rekapalli, trustees Srini Reddy Vangimalla, Rajasekhar Reddy Aila, Meher Lanka, JayaKiran Pagadala, volunteers, Kalavani Academy & Atlanta community to make this as a memorable event in the history of the Trust in USA.

“Music for Vision: Give the gift of vision to the indigent” was the theme of the evening for the audience gathered at Irving Arts Center, Irving TX as a part of the "Music for Vision live concert by Padma Vibhushan Dr. KJ Yesudas” hosted by SN OM Trust Inc, USA, established in June 1988 in Rockville, Maryland, USA as a 501 (C) (3) non-profit organization with a sole objective to support Sankara Nethralaya (SN), Chennai, India, a comprehensive eye care center for providing free eye care of international standard to indigent patients in the Indian sub-continent.

Highlights of the “Music for Vision” live concert by Dr. KJ Yesudas

1. This event generated funds to support over 800 cataract operations: 'The Wall of Vision' unveiled

It was a sold-out event and generated funds to support about 800 cataract operations for the indigent individuals with vision impairments. About 150 sponsors contributed to 85% of the net proceeds and the response from the community was overwhelming. 'The Wall of Vision' which showcased all the sponsors became a center of attraction in the lobby and served as a backdrop for many Kodak moments. “This Wall of Vision will inspire many donors for a noble cause and it is my privilege to unveil this foundational building block” quoted Dr. Reddy Urimindi, member of the SN OM Trust from Dallas during his opening remarks.

2. The power of the legend's voice

The power of the legendary voice of Dr. KJ Yesudas unified the people of all religions, regions, languages and brought them under a single umbrella. There was a pin drop silence during the entire three- and half-hour mesmerizing program. Everyone in attendance walked away with a great sense of satisfaction. Dr. Yesudas performed to the tune of public pulse irrespective of the background or language of the individuals.

3. Enhanced Brand Recognition, Education and Awareness of the Sankara Nethralaya Mission and Programs

The much-needed clarity about brand, education about the mission and operations of Sankara Nethralaya were delivered to the community. A variety of marketing channels were established for the first time to inspire and promote the event. Structured marketing tools, such as, animated banner ads on web portals, content-centric radio clips, video marketing, social media and commercial television channels were leveraged to reach the critical mass. Both traditional and non-traditional means of 'connecting' community groups contributed to this unprecedented success.

4. Engaged and Empowered Youth take active part in the event: Connect with the next generation

Over a dozen middle school and high school students from the local community were involved in the eventday operations. The Irving Arts Center trained these individuals to serve as ushers and other roles to welcome and direct attendees at the entrance and lobby. Thanks to Shanthi Gunna of Flower Mound Irving Indian Centennial Lions Club (aka FMIIC Lions Club)who coordinated the youth team exclusively to serve as ushers for the evening. Other youth served at the registration and lobby areas.

5. Dedicated Volunteer Teams fortified to serve at the current and future events

Several groups of dedicated volunteers were identified in advance and were given specific tasks at the backstage, registration, ticket processing, audio, lobby areas and contributed to the flawless execution of the event and received commendation from the audience.

6. Organization 'Connected' with public and witnessed overwhelming support of the event

Donors who contributed via online for this event received the beneficiary information well in advance of the event. “We have never seen this level of transparency when we donated money to other charitable organizations. Here we can see who got the benefit immediately” quoted many individuals who contributed to this event. Thanks to the Four-Star rating of SN OM Trust, the highest rating ever possible by the Charity Navigator, major charity assessment organization that evaluates charitable organizations in the United States.

7. A memorable evening to remember for a long time: Enthralled audience and mesmerized crowd is the outcome

Spectacular display of colorful decorations of the lobby and stage by Lucky Charms gave a warm welcome to the music lovers. Within minutes the lobby filled with crowd provided an ideal ambience for social interactions and photo opportunities. The festive mood prevailed throughout the evening as the attendees slowly started trickling in.

8. Sankara Nethralaya USA gave a grand welcome to the legend

Dr. Yesudas was given a grand traditional welcome with 'Poorna Kumbha and Vedic chants' after the audience were seated. Rajeswari Udayagiri served as the master of ceremonies for the evening and extended a warm welcome to the attendees. In his opening remarks, Dr. Reddy Urimindi shared his experience of bringing the sponsors, volunteers and the attendees together under one roof for the noble cause and appreciated the opportunity to serve one of the best organizations.

9. The new Mobile Surgical Unit project for Telugu speaking States got a boost,thanks to Andy Asava

Andy Asava, Dallas-based successful high-tech entrepreneur is one of the key pillars of this event and served as a Lonestar sponsor to support the new Mobile Eye Surgical Unit (MESU). This effort is in the initial stages of planning to procure a new MESU to serve remote areas of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and surrounding areas. “We are lucky to have so many opportunities in life to gain wealth and success, and it is time to give back to our community in India, especially those indigent individuals requiring basic needs” quoted Andy Asava.

10. Introduced a new Adopt-A-Village sponsor, thanks to Anand Dasari and Chinta Murali of Sankalp

Anand Dasari, Dallas-based Founder and COO of Colaberry and Chinta Murali, both patrons of Sankalp Foundation of Anathapur (AP) came forward to support the Adopt-A-Village program and volunteered to serve Gotluru village in Dharmavaram, Ananthapur district of Andhra Pradesh. “I am thankful to many individuals who contributed to my success and helped me to reach this stage and it is time for me to give back to my own people and adopt-A-Village is a great start” expressed Anand Dasari.

11. Felicitation of the Artists

In addition to the legend Dr. KJ Yesudas, Rajeev Mukundan on Violin, TS. Nandakumar on Mridangam, our own Board of Trustee Sowmiya Narayanan on Ghatam, Rasikapriya Krishna and Rathipriya Krishna on the Tambura provided a comprehensive and divine musical experience to the gathering. All of the artists were felicitated by the sponsors in traditional Indian style with a bouquet of flowers and shawl.

12. So many people to thank for this unprecedented success

Thanks to all the sponsors for their generosity, dedicated volunteers for their commitment, music lovers who attended the program, media partners for their excellent coverage and promotion, restaurant owners who offered space and food, and the staff at the Irving Arts Center.

S.V. Acharya, President Emeritus is a constant source of inspiration, and Bala Reddy Indurti, President is a guiding force offering the right checks and balances to ensure everything is on track, Dallas-based Trustees Suresh Dalapathy, Nani Iswara for event-day assistance and Chennai team for promotional help.

It came as a feather in the cap for an institution in the forefront of embracing medical and non medical technology and constantly improvising and innovating its ophthalmic and non ophthalmic processes to find solutions to emerging ophthalmic challenges and enhance quality, reach, speed and convenience in dispensing eye care, when Google the global technology and communication giant engaged in the pursuit of solutions to social and humanitarian issues chose the institution as its preferred partner in developing an Algorithm to detect diabetic retinopathy a major ophthalmic issue threatening to deprive the vision of millions around the world and macular oedema caused due to myriad contributory factors, a condition which could lead to permanent vision loss if not detected and treated early. The collaboration involved conducting real time validation of the deep learning algorithms and implementation of the same.

Senior Ophthalmologists from the institution provided the vital ophthalmic/biological inputs in terms of markers/indicators to the Google team who leveraged artificial intelligence, exhaustive neural networks and complex mathematical systems to develop a deep learning algorithm which can detect diabetic retinopathy and diabetic macular oedema with amazing accuracy, speed and perfection. The algorithm was put to real time test at the Sankara Nethralaya’s main campus at Chennai and at Thailand and its findings were evaluated by a team of senior ophthalmologists. It was a moment of great jubilation for the Google-SN team involved in the exercise when the specialists adjudicated the accuracy of the findings as being on par or even superior to findings by a qualified ophthalmologist. The institution credited with landmark technical innovations like developing and implementing one of the earliest Electronic Medical Records (EMR) systems, the DNA macro chip in ophthalmology, internet aided tele-ophthalmology camps and the one of its kind in Asia Mobile Eye Surgical Unit (MESU) will now be leveraging this most advanced screening algorithm combining exhaustive neural networks and complex mathematical systems to detect diabetic retinopathy.

Encouraged by the success of the DR detecting algorithm the Google-Sankara Nethralaya team is now working on developing a similar algorithm to detect the progression of diabetic retinopathy and macular oedema.

Youtube Video Link click here

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

The Carnatic concert fundraiser by singing legend Unnikrishnan at the Hindu Temple of Atlanta, Riverdale, GA on 12th August, 2018 was a classic demonstration of the adage, noble deeds continue to live long after the mortal self is no more. The event was organized by the 'Carnatic Music Association of Georgia', (CAMAGA) India's arts and culture ambassador and the SN OM Trust, as a tribute to the spirit of giving and compassion. Dr Uma Kumar, an eminent Nephrologist and a great friend and generous supporter of Sankara Nethralaya's cost free community services who had played a major role in organizing the event had left on her last journey and a highly moved SN OM Trust and Sankara Nethralaya were holding the concert as a tribute and token of gratitude to her.

Maestro Unnikrishnan and his highly talented troupe consisting of Kamalakiran Vinjamuri- violin, Vignesh Venkatamanmridangam amd Sowmiya Narayanan- ghatam surpassed the expectations of the large number of fans assembled, taking them on a journey of mellifluous melody with classical, semi classical and devotional kritis in praise of the Almighty and on the eye, drawn from many languages. The veteran musicians demonstrated their supreme felicity by fulfilling the numerous 'on the spot' song requests of the audience and not confining to the ones planned and rehearsed.

Dr. Krishna Mohan a prominent member of the local Indian community and the American Medical Association (AMA) paid glowing tributes to Dr Uma Kumar, the humanitarian doctor to whom the concert was held as a tribute, he recalled her compassion, generosity and spirit of giving back to society. Founder & President of CAMAGA, Kala Seva Mani Dr Ram Sriram proposed the Vote of Thanks. The event helped in spreading awareness on the services provided by Sankara Nethralaya and raising significant funds towards the same.

Veteran vocalist Unnikrishnan joined hands with maestros Kamalakiran Vinjamuri - Violin, Vignesh Venkatraman - Mridangam and Sowmiya Narayanan - Ghatam for an extraordinary Carnatic music fund raiser at Maryland on 11th August 2018, the concert titled 'Wind Whispers' was performed as a fusion music or 'Jugalbandhi', enthralled a large audience and captivated them to support the noble cause of blindness eradication in the Indian sub-continent.

It was a good example of music becoming a universal voice raised or a noble cause, the artists including senior musician Unnikrishnan consenting to perform cost free brought down the cost of conducting the program and helped in raising significant funds from a relatively new audience.

It is noteworthy that this makes the concert long time friend and supporter of Sankara Nethralaya Shri Unnikrishnan’s 3rd cost free performance (2018) for the cause of dispensing cost free eye care to the poor visually impaired in India!

Prominent local citizen, member of the Board, UNICEF & Houston Habitat for Humanity, and President - Sankara Nethralaya SN OM Trust Inc, USA are some proud credentials that could describe the persona of Mrs Leela Krishnamurthy. It was a proud moment to the local Indian community and the service bodies that she serves when the long time champion of social causes and compassionate and caring individual was honored as 'Mother of the Year' by the Tamil Nadu Foundation, (TNF) Houston Chapter. The honor was bestowed at a well attended function held at the Meenakshi Temple, Pearland, Texas on 6th May 2018.

The Sankara Nethralaya family joins the members of the SN OM Trust in expressing its pride and joy at the President of its US arm being conferred with a warm and highly touching accolade.

It was a classic example of music assuming a divine quality, songs invoking and appeasing the Almighty being rendered with devotion in a divine place of worship, but what made the event supremely divine was the fact that it was being rendered as a homage to HH Jayendra Saraswati Swamigal, the God who lived among us and to support 'Maanave Seva' propounded by him, by the institution which came into being on his divine Will. The event was organized by the Bharati Kalai Mandram the well known, social and cultural body at the request of SN OM Trust President and friend, Mrs Leela Krishnamurthy, at the Meenakshi Temple, Pearland, Texas on the 15th of April, 2018.

Sikkil Gurucharan among the foremost in today's young talent in Carnatic music and his accomplished accompanists Sanjeev Kumar-Violin and R.Shankarayanan-Mridangam enthralled both seasoned connoisseurs and budding fans with a well chosen selection of songs including Mahakavi Bharathiar's Veeenaiyadi Nee Enakku, Yaaro Ivar yaaro, a song with the eye as the central theme. The memorable feast for the ears was followed by a sumptuous complimentary feast by Shri Rajan Radhakrishnan of the 'Madras Pavillion' the most preferred cuisine destination for Indians in Texas.The musical evening was graced by Shri Arumugam, Past President, Shri Mani Vaitheeswaran, President, Mrs Priya Chandru,Vice President, Vidhya Venkatesan, member, Bharati Kalai Manram., Shri Rajan Radhakrishnan-Propreitor'Madras Pavillion', Mrs Leela Krishnamurthy, President, and Dr KSVasan,Trustee, SN OM Trust Inc, USA. The event helped in creating awareness and raising significant funds for the cause of cost free community eye care by Sankara Nethralaya.

We take great pleasure in sharing that the US Federal government which had declared the SN OM Trust as a Tax Exempt Charity under IRS 501 (C) (3) has now approved its participation in the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) of its employees/retirees. The US office of Personnel Management has listed the Trust as an ‘International Independent Agency’ bearing CFC NO- 68803. This acknowledgement places the SN OM Trust with a select group of charities enjoying such accreditation. This will come into effect from year 2019 and open the doors of the Trust to a large number of employees/retirees of the federal government.

We request our esteemed readers serving in the various departments of the US Federal Government to choose the SN OM Trust as their preferred CFC charity and mark CFC number 68803 in their contributions, we also request readers to share this news with friends and relatives serving in the US Federal Government.

The 23rd of April 2018 was a ‘Red Letter Day’ for an institution that came into existence with one simple objective ‘Serving mankind and alleviating suffering of the masses through quality eye care’ it was the day the institution made an auspicious and blessed step towards fulfilling a long time dream, a most cherished dream and also a very ambitious dream. The institution started on the principle of serving eye care totally cost free and with a personal touch to poor patients, had over the 4 decades of its service reached a position of pride wherein it treated 50% of its out patients and performed 35% of its surgeries totally cost free, its cost free eye care initiatives had also recorded magnificent outreach, with quality eye care being dispensed to poor patients in inaccessible, remote regions like the deep interiors of the Sunderbans in West Bengal, Vellimalai Hills in Tamil Nadu and more recently in the tribal regions of Singhbum in the State of Jharkand. Building and operating a large, well equipped and easily accessible community hospital, dedicated exclusively to cost free treatment to indigent patients remained a collective dream of the institution. The idea was to have a State of the Art facility which would cater to a large number of walk-in patients, serve as a referral base hospital to patients screened at the outdoor camps, where they could be brought provided boarding, lodging and free treatment, a place where the institution’s community outreach vehicle including the MESU (MOBILE EYE SURGICAL UNIT) could be parked between their trips.

The biggest and first challenge in starting such a large facility, the availability of a large tract of land, in an accessible part of the city was solved when in a most generous and thoughtful gesture Mrs Kausalya Appukutty, Volunteer- Sankara Nethralaya Auxiliary Services (SWAN) made available the same totally cost free at the Dr VG. Appukutty Campus, named in honour of her late husband and generous supporter of Sankara Nethralaya, from where the CU Shah Sankara Nethralaya and the Elite School of Optometry function. The Bhumi puja for the facility was held with traditional piety with the chanting of mantras, vedic hymns and Homam at the proposed site, in the presence of a large number of friends, well wishers and employees. Srimathi Anuradha Narayan, lecturer at the ESO extended a warm welcome to the attendees and expressed the institution’s deep gratitude to Ms Voltas, Ms Infosys, Ms Trent Ltd, the Rahm Sitaraman family, USA and long time friend and supporter Shri Iravatham Mahadevan for their generous donation which would serve as the critical ‘Seed’ capital for the new initiative. Speaking on the occasion Col Raghavan, Director-Projects and chief architect of the initiative observed that the institution was able to embark on a ‘not for profit’ facility with such a high capital outlay only because corporate houses and individual donors open their purses generously when Dr SS.Badrinath the institution’s founder makes an appeal for support.

In a moment that captured the spirit of the day, special guest of the event Shri Iravatham Mahadevan expressed that if only he had been 10 years younger he would have visited every home in the locality to mobilize funds for the noble endeavour, the fact that the octogenarian had already made an appeal to the families in his apartment complex became apparent when a co-resident from the complex expressed that every family in the complex would donate towards this noble cause. This was followed by presenting of donation cheques by Srimathi Surekha Mehta, on behalf of SWAN and by Mr Sanjay who operates the staff canteen at the VG Appukutty campus.

Greeting the gathering on the occasion well known Litterateur and Editor of popular Tamil magazine ‘Amudhasurabhi’ Shri Thirupur Krishnan, a friend and well wisher recalled the glorious days when he served under Shri Iravatham Mahadevan, a highly principled civil servant, he observed that as a hospital which would be serving the masses it would only be appropriate that it is funded by donations from the common man, he drew a parallel of the same by narrating how Swami Vivekaanda wanted his trip to the World Congress of Religions in Chicago, to be funded by small donations from the common man and not by a few wealthy donors, as he was representing the entire nation.

Speakng on the occasion Dr SS.Badrinath, Chairman Emeritus and Founder, Sankara Nethralaya expressed his thanks to all who had assembled and the team working on the project, he had a special word of thanks to Srimathi Kausalya Appukutty, member SWAN for making available the land, without which the project could not have been envisaged. He welcomed and expressed his thanks to special guests Shri Iravatham Mahadevan and Brigadier VS.Joon, Station Commander and President Cantonment Board, for his critical role in obtaining the necessary sanctions and permits for the proposed building, from the Army authorities.

The setting for the celebration of a significant milestone of a service meant to serve patients in the deep interiors of the country was most appropriate. The valedictory function of the 50th surgical camp by the Mobile Eye Surgical Unit (MESU) was not being held in an auditorium/ hotel in the city but at a simple highway motel on the tiny hamlet of Sappanipatti, on the Krishnagiri – Salem highway in the State of Tamil Nadu. The highway and tiny hamlets after all had become their home away from home for the MESU team and crossing milestones on the road everyday on the way to setting new ‘Milestones’ in vision revival and blindness prevention in remote regions of the country had become their noble quest for the past 6 years. ‘Swami’s Cafe’ the venue of the event, provided pro bono by Shri KM.Swaminathan, friend and well wisher of Sankara Nethralaya and a prominent personality of the locality, was milling with jubilant, happy beneficiaries who had got back their vision, right from the morning, they had assembled in large numbers to see and thank the noble souls who had brought the light of vision back into their lives.

Among the earliest to arrive at the venue Dr SS.Badrinath, Chairman Emeritus, Sankara Nethralaya got the event started on an impromptu note even before it began formally. He engaged in a friendly interaction with the villagers assembled, explaining to them in simple terms the ‘why’, ‘what’ and ‘how’ of MESU, he thanked them for their faith in Sankara Nethralaya which made them turn up in good numbers and for the opportunity to serve them. A man to whom quality was everything, he enquired with concern to the beneficiaries if they were happy with everything about the camp or if there was scope for improvement.

The relevance of MESU in combating rural blindness could be gauged by the fact that none other than the Governor of the State, His Excellency Shri Banwarilal Purohit, was presiding over the function as the chief guest and the district collector, senior bureaucrats from the health ministry, a senior official from the District Blindness Prevention Program (DBCP), a Dean and Head of the Department, from the IIT-Madras and Head Human Resource and Corporate Social Responsibility - L&T Technology services, were in attendance, at a function being held not in Chennai but in a village 5 hours away by road from the city.

The program started with an introduction of the illustrious Chief Guest of the day with a highlight of his credentials and roles by Dr PS. Rajesh, Senior Consultant, serving at the MESU and proud recipient of the ‘Mayan Award’ for service to society, from the Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry, for his role in taking eye care to poor patients in remote villages. This was followed by Dr KS.Vasan, Managing Director, declaring that it was a ‘Red letter Day’ for Sankara Nethralaya, he expressed his sincere thanks and extended a most warm welcome to the Chief Guest, the Governor of Tamil Nadu, Shri C.Kathiravan, IAS, Collector, Krishnagiri District, Dr K.Ashok Kumar, Joint Director, Medical and Rural Health Services, Dr.P. Priya Raj, Deputy Director, Health Services, Dr S.Manoharan, Project Officer, District Blindness Prevention Society, Dr Jagdish Kumar, Professor &Dean, Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT-Madras, Sankara Nethralaya’s technical partner in developing the MESU, Shri Paneesh Rao, Chief Human Resource Officer and Head of Corporate Social Responsibility, L&T Technology Services whic was sponsoring the camp and Shri KM.Swaminathan, educationist, philanthropist and a great friend and supporter of Sankara Nethralaya and proprietor of Swami’s Cafe, the venue of the function. Dr Vasan had a special word of praise for Shri KM.Swaminathan for his deep commitment to the camp from day one and for extending support and involving himself with dedication and offering his hotel totally cost free for the function and referred to him as the ‘Host’ of the function. The senior Sankara Nethralaya official followed this with a quick recap of his institution’s inception, growth and achievements, he highlighted its philosophy as laid down by the founder and Chairman Emeritus Dr SS.Badrinath, which governs it to this day and finished his welcome address with sincere thanks to the beneficiaries of the 50th MESU camp who had given Sankara Nethralaya an opportunity to serve them.

Starting the Chief Guest’s address on a highly emotional note that his joy knew no bounds on seeing quality eye care being made available in a remote part of the State, Honourable Governor of the State Shri Banwarilal Purohit went on to highlight how the MESU travelled vast distances, offering uncompromising eye care to landless labourers and other needy people who did not have the financial affordability or access to quality eye care, which he termed as ‘Paropakaram Punyam’ which translates as ‘Helping others is the most meritorious act’ in keeping with the highest Indian tradition. He closed his talk with a high word of praise for Dr SS.Badrinath, the senior state and corporate officials assembled, Sankara Nethralaya and L&T technology services the camp sponsor and expressed his sincere desire to preside over the 100th MESU camp which he hoped would take place soon.

Shri C.Kathiravan, IAS, District collector, Krishnagiri District expressed his gratitude to Sankara Nethralaya and L&T for the invaluable healthcare services to his district following which Dr V.Jagdish Kumar, Dean & HOD, Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT-Madras gave an interesting account of how the MESU was the fruit of labour, of specialists from diverse fields motivated at every stage by Dr SS.Badrimath, the driving force behind the project, he expressed that IIT-Madras was proud to be engaged in offering their technical co-operation and an innovative solution bringing quality eye care to the villages of Tamil Nadu and India.

Dr SS.Badrinath the man whose brainchild and passion the MESU is, spoke with natural felicity and great authority and passion on every aspect of the medico-engineering marvel he had envisioned and made a reality, he touched upon its need, relevance, its impact thus far, its functioning, technical details etc. He had a high word of praise for the MESU team, for maintaining a ‘0’ infection rate, which was a great achievement, considering that the MESU operated in the vast outdoors and for the impeccable record of not having a single case of post operative complication in all its 6 years of operation.

A highlight of the event was the spirited expression of their deep gratitude to Sankara Nethralaya, its founder and the MESU team by the beneficiaries of the MESU camp at Krishnagiri which had brought vision and joy to their doorsteps.

The momentous event ended with a Vote of Thanks by Dr. Gajendra Kumar Varma, Consultant serving at the MESU who had been honoured with the ‘Mayan award’ for ‘Service to Society’ by the Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry for his long and sincere service to patients living in remote regions of the country.

There could not be a more momentous occasion to an institution and its Founder ingrained with the quality of gratitude and reciprocity than acknowledging the deeds and honouring the great men and women who have empathized with its cause and made it what it is today. The Sankara Ratna and Dr MS.Subbulakshmi awarding ceremony being held at the stately Rajendra hall at the ITC Grand Chola on the 27th of Janary 2018 reflected this in no small measure. The high profile of the awardees and the Chief Guest conferring the awards had quite naturally raised a lot of expectation and made it a most keenly awaited event within and outside the institution. If the smooth flow of the proceedings were a testimony to the excellent planning that had gone behind the event, the spirited observations and spontaneity of the awardees and the Chief guest made it exceed all expectations, keeping the filled to capacity hall absorbed, informed and entertained.

The close to 3 hour program turned out to be an epic of sorts, little wonder that it did so, given thefact that the achievements, name and fame of the man and woman being honoured had assumed epic proportions and the award was being conferred by a legend. Srimathi Akila Ganesan, Director, Administration, Sankara Nethralaya set the tone for the evening with a succinct note on the awards, as the gesture of gratitude and honouring by an institution created for the people and by the people, to the great men and women who had empathised with its cause and supported it in its journey of providing quality eye care to those who could pay and those who could not!

Dr KS.Vasan, Managing Director continued the Sankara Nethralaya saga where Srimathi Akila Ganesan had left, with a most interesting account of how the institution had grown from its humble beginnings to a world class, tertiary ophthalmic centre encompassing clinical care, research,teaching and training and community eye care within its fold. He traced the inception of facilities in the city and other parts of the country, the steady growth of an institution committed to reaching out its services without diluting its quality, principles and philosophy. The senior Sankara Nethralaya official touched a chord in every heart with his emphatic account of how the Founder and Chief steward of the institution Dr SS.Badrinath was seized by a single idea, dream and mission and how it controlled his life,brain,muscles as advocated by Swami Vivekananda and how it became a reality in the form of Sankara Nethralaya. Dr.Vasan closed his talk with a strong emphasis on the social and economic impact of the innovations and service rendered by the institution and a strong appeal to join its mission.

The awarding ceremony was a spell binder with interesting, inspiring and amazing glimpses of the day’s awardees and the celebrities assembled to honour them flowing as a steady stream. Less known, inspiring, moving facts like Shri AM.Naik the hero of corporate Indian folklore bequeathing 75% of his wealth to charity and how the Naik and Nirali trusts founded by him were revolutionizing the countryside with their trailblazing health and education initiatives. The deep commitment of Shri Deepak Parekh, the voice of corporate India,to the values of humility, accessibility, accountability and transparency and his simple logic and conviction that ‘corporate giving’ was a natural concomitant to ‘corporate earning’. The memorable day when legal legend Nani Palkhivala summoned Shri Deepak Parekh to his home and in a gesture of boundless generosity and faith requested him to divest his life savings in the form of shares and other holdings and transfer the same to Sankara Nethralaya, after just one visit to the ‘Temple of the eye’. The Sankara Ratna awardee’s invaluable role in bringing illustrious members from the nation’s business capital to empathize and support Sankara Nethrlaya, of whom was Dr BR Barwale, the father of India’s seed industry, whose company contributedto the setting up of the clinical care block at the SN main campus named after it as Mahyco block (Maharashtra hybrid seeds company). A touching account of how this key player in India’s green revolution donated the entire prize money he received with the ‘World Food Prize’ to research in agriculture. Srimathi Vani Jairam’s warm note on her experiences with MS Amma after whom the award she was receiving is named, the rich compliments she received for her manner of singing from the immortal, legend. Touching accounts of how the ‘Meera of Modern India’ had toured large parts of rural Maharashtra, propagating social values and causes through her golden voice, travelling all the way to Iowa to render the invocation at the function honouring Dr.Barwale with the ‘World Food prize’ known popularly as Norman Borlaug award.

The evening marked a giant leap in leveraging technology for better dispensing of eye care by the two times winner of the prestigious NASSCOM-KPMG awards for ‘Best IT adoption on the healthcare sector’ and ‘Best Electronic Medical Record (EMR) solution’ with the dedication of the Dr BR Barwale centre for ophthalmic technology and innovation, which would focus on developing and implementing technologies to enhance reach and quality of eye care to the masses. Speaking on the occasion Chief Technology Officer Shri Chandramouli explained on how the new centre will endeavour to make the enormous data available with the institution actionable for practitioners and stakeholders.

Speaking with a strong sense of nostalgia a visibly overwhelmed Dr SS.Badrinath recalled that he came to India with just four dollars and times have been indeed been very good and eventful and he considered himself very blessed to have been able to give shape to his dream of starting a world class eye care institution, he expressed that the past has been very good and the present is also very promising and hoped that the future will be good too. He thanked his colleagues for the hospital being rated as the best in its kind and went on to highlight a few major Sankara Nethralaya landmarks like the success of the MESU which reported absolutely no complications, being the only eye care institution providing technology support to 9 eye care institutions, the impact of Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) process aided by artificial intelligence developed by the institution. He recounted with gratitude Sankara Ratna awardee Shri Deepak Parekh’s rare gesture of sanctioning a huge loan from the HDFC to Sankara Nethralaya by instructing his officials from the USA, when it was negotiating for the acquisition of the erstwhile lady Willingdon Hospital.

While it was natural that the evening resonated with the greatness of the great personalities whom the ‘Temple of the eye’ had chosen to honour on this momentous occasion, the inspiring and laudatory references on the host institution, the detailed account of its services and achievements and the need to support it, made by the awardees and the chief guest and the guest of honour made one wonder if even the representatives of Sankara Nethralaya could have made such a strong case about themselves, as its friends and well wishers gathered on the occasion had done. The spirited references to the institution in their acceptance speeches by the awardees and the chief guest’s address made one wonder if SankaraNethralaya was felicitating its friends and supporters or was being felicitated by them on this memorable day! A glorious example of the Bard’s immortal lines ‘The quality of mercy is twice blessed; it blesseth him that gives and him that takes’.

As an institution committed to the disseminating of knowledge and skills for the common good, Sankara Nethralaya engages itself in a very interesting endeavour over and above its conventional teaching and training initiatives at its centres. The institution provides real time learning and exposure to overseas students at different levels in their academic career through its volunteering programs.

Sankara Nethralaya is a preferred destination for observership, internship and volunteering to Indian students pursuing various life science courses in the USA on account of the following factors

1. It is manned by a highly proactive and sympathetic medical and non-medical personnel who value the time and cost incurred by the student and impart the maximum knowledge and learning to them. Personnel who do not consider volunteering as a routine exercise but a critical part of the student’s learning curve.
2. A large number of out-patients and in-patients with a wide array of eye ailments being examined and treated under one roof provides a deep insight into diverse diagnostic and treatment modalities and acts as a great learning experience
3. The presence of a state of the art research facility, learning and training facility, clinical care and diagnostic laboratory under a single roof is a boon to the students who get a great exposure to all these facets during their training
4. Exposure to treating a large number of indigent patients both at the community hospital and at the outdoor camps not only gives the interns a peep into the world of community care but also inculcates a spirit of service with a personal touch, the hallmark of Sankara Nethralaya. A trait that every man /woman of medicine should possess in addition to their core competence levels.
5. Last but not the least the students can club their volunteering during their trip back home during vacation, which saves significant cost.

We take great pleasure in sharing the names of students from the USA who did their volunteering at Sankara Nethralaya recently and their impressions.

Voluntership Stats 2017

OM Trust-USA, the Maryland-based fund-raising arm of Sankara Nethralaya hospital in Chennai, India, organized a fund-raiser on Sunday, September 17, at Lassiter High School, in Marietta, Georgia. The event included a classical music concert by the renowned musician, Padma Vibushan K. J. Yesudas and the 1,000-seat capacity auditorium filled up hours before the start of the program.

After a welcome speech by Bala Indurti, S. V. Acharya, President of OM Trust, USA spoke about the objectives of the OM Trust and how it had been instrumental in supporting the charitable work of Sankara Nethralaya. He was followed by the event that the audience was eagerly waiting for, the concert by Yesudas and an introduction of the artists.

Yesudas, who is 77, began the concert with a Navaragamalika varnam. After requests from the audience, Yesudas sang many of the kritis that he has popularized over the years. Before singing the very well-known Vathapi Ganapathim in Hamsadwani, invoking Lord Ganesha, Yesudas jokingly remarked that Vathapi is not the only song on Ganesha that he knows and that he would be happy to sing another composition on Lord Ganesha. The audience, however, insisted that he sing Vathapi and he obliged. Yesudas was accompanied by Srikanth on the violin, T. S. Nandakumar on the Mridangam, Santosh Chandru on the Ghatam, and Varshney on the Thampura.

After the concert, Dr. Ram Sriram, President of the Carnatic Music Association, said that it “was a scintillating two and a half hours of music.” Sriram related how each composition that Yesudas sang during the concert inspired an emotional and spiritual feeling in the minds of the listeners. He remarked that “only when an artist feels the emotions in his own heart, can he, in turn, inspire such feelings in the hearts of the audience.”

The Dallas Chapter of the Sankara Nethralaya Ophthalmic Mission Trust (SN OM Trust) joined hands for the 2nd time with the ‘Indian Fine Arts Academy’ (IFAA) the well-known champion of Indian music and culture in the DFW area to organize a Grand Musical Ensemble titled “ Wind Whispers from India” featuring Mr Rajhesh Vaidhya on Saraswati Veena, Mr Ronu Majumdar on Bansuri, Mr Vinod Venkatraman (Artistic Director of the Event) on Mridangam, Mr Srinivasan on Morsing, Mr Harshad Kanetkar on Tabla and SN OM Trustee Mr Sowmya Narayanan on the Ghatam , at the Unity Church of Dallas, Texas on the 9th of September 2016.

While the photo exhibition booth set up by the SN OM Trust volunteers from the DFW Metroplex helped to showcase the activities of the SN OM Trust in the USA and Sankara Nethralaya’s cost free services to the poor in India, the sale of MS Subbulakshmi music CDs, SN OM Trust T-shirts at the stall helped to raise funds for the same cause. Mr Vinod Venkataraman provided a grand introduction of the esteemed artists to the DFW community and mentioned about the artists warm support to the activities performed by Sankara Nethralaya and the SN OM Trust, USA Dallas Chapter in raising funds through this event towards supporting free surgeries.

Delivering the Vote of Thanks Dr Arvind Neelakanthan an alumni of Sankara Nethralaya presently with the Glaucoma Center of Texas gave a passionate account of his Alma Mater's contribution towards eliminating blindness through its research, knowledge dissemination and cost free community eye care services and its yeoman service to society. Dr Arvind Neelakanthan made a fervent appeal to the audience to donate generously towards supporting the large number of cost free surgeries to indigent patients in India that Sankara Nethralaya plans to perform from the proceeds of this event. He closed his talk with a warm note of thanks to the artists, the Board of Trustees of the IFAA and their volunteers for their kind and warm support extended in organizing the program.

Allis-Gleanor Corporation (AGCO) the Duluth, Georgia, USA based Tractors and Farm equipments manufacturer is among the world’s most well known and largest organizations in its field of activity, with some of the premium brands in its stable. The company is also the overseas collaborator of Tractors and Farm Equipments (TAFE), India’s highly respected and leading tractor and farming equipment manufacturer. Mid- July marked the visit of senior officials from the US based conglomerate to its collaborator’s office in Chennai. TAFE the host company decided to bring about a touch of warmth to the high power meet of the two companies by organizing a visit of the dignitaries to the Sri A.Sivasailam block, Sankara Nethralaya’s State of the art eye care facility, a proud creation of its Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative (CSR), as part of the visitor’s agenda. A simple function showcasing and celebrating the TAFE- Sankara Nethralaya collaboration was organized at the Srimathi Jayashree Venkatraman Auditorium at the Sri A.Sivasailam block, named after its founder. The function was graced by Ms Mallika Srinivasan, CEO and Chairperson and senior management members from TAFE and distinguished dignitaries from the Allis-Gleanor Corporation (AGCO). Sankara Nethralaya the beneficiary of TAFE’s massive CSR initiative was represented by Dr. T.S. Surendran, Director Pediatric Ophthalmology department and Vice-Chairman and Dr. Prema Padmanabhan, Senior Consultant and Director, Cataract &IOL department.

The latter took the opportunity to express her institution’s deep gratitude for the great support and encouragement extended by the nation’s premier farm equipment company, she gave an absorbing presentation on the large scale community services rendered by Sankara Nethralaya, its high level ophthalmic research, carried out for the common good, academic endavours to prepare a large army of dedicated professionals to fight the battle against blindness. Dr. Prema Padmanabhan recalled the long association between two of the city’s well known institutions, dating back to the days of Shri A.Sivasailam, Founder TAFE and a great friend of the institution, who had supported it during its days of inception to TAFE’s present day support by way of its massive ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’(CSR) endeavour under the dynamic leadership of its CEO and Chairperson Ms. Mallika Srinivasan, which blossomed as the Sri A.Sivasailam block, the State of the Art eye care facility named in memory and honour of her father. The presentation was extremely well received by the distinguished audience, her note on Sankara Nethralaya’s ‘One of its kind in Asia’ ‘Operation theatre on wheels’, the institution’s revolutionary initiative of performing vision revival surgeries for ‘Cataract’ the single largest cause for blindness in the country, right at the door steps of poor patients living in the most inaccessible and remote regions of the country, drew special attention and praise.

In an interesting turn of events the function organized to highlight TAFE’s role in alleviating the suffering of the visually impaired to the visiting team assumed the role of a fundraiser for its beneficiary. In a gesture reflecting its high appreciation to the noble initiative of Ms Mallika Srinivasan who serves as a director in their board and a ‘joining hands’ effort, the Allis-Gleanor Corporation (AGCO) made a generous, on the spot grant towards Sankara Nethralaya’s cost free community services to the thunderous applause of the gathering. While the donation from the renowned technology leader in the field of farming equipment came as a great support in the institution’s ongoing battle against blindness, especially among the weaker sections of society, the citation ‘We commend your commitment to improve the lives of those most in need’ signed on behalf of the global leader in its field, by Mr. Martin H. Richenhagen, Chairman, President and CEO, came as a proud compliment and feather in the cap to the non-profit’s tireless work among the poor and needy visually impaired, living in the most remote/inaccessible regions of the country.

The role of the benign hand guiding and accomplishing Sankara Nethralaya's noble endeavours was very apparent in the Dr. MS Amma birth centenary celebration too!

The Sudha Ragunathan Concert at the UN on the morning of 2nd October observed as 'World Non-violence Day' could not be attended by a large number of MS Amma rasigas as the auditorium was filled to capacity. It was an earnest effort by the SN OM Trustees of the region to organize a similar concert on the same day at a different venue in the city to give the rasigas another opportunity to enjoy her music that resulted in a concert at the Maha Vallabha Ganapathi Devastnanam auditorium, Flushing, New York. The concert was not part of the original agenda and it was the blessings of this divine hand that made it a reality within short time frames. The SN OM Trustees did a remarkable job of identifying an alternative venue and persuading the authorities of the temple to make the same available and organizing the concert in short notice to avoid the disappointment to a large number of audience who could not be accommodated at the UN and it goes to the credit of Srimathi Sudha Ragunathan and her musicians that they rose to the occasion and agreed to play most gracefully at a venue which was not part of their original itinerary. The concert was among the finest in the series and regaled the large gathering of audience assembled.

Srimathi Shanthi Murali, Trustee, Indian Fine Arts Academy, Dallas, who had contributed significantly for the successful organizing of the program, extended a warm welcome to the distinguished musicians and introduced each of them, to the excited applause of the rasigas.

A highlight of the event was the presentation of prizes to a group of highly talented young singers who had made their mark in the 'MSS Amma Online Music Competition' a novel online voice evaluation exercise for budding amateurs, by seasoned Carnatic singers, conducted by Shri Prabhu Sivaraman, SN OM Trustee from the region. It was an occasion to rejoice and remember for the young winners as Dr Sudha Ragunathan, among the leading exponents of the art form congratulated them warmly, encouraged them and presented the awards.

Delivering the Vote of Thanks Dr Arvind Neelakanthan an alumni of Sankara Nethralaya presently with the Glaucoma Center of Texas gave a passionate account of his Alma Mater's contribution towards eliminating blindness through its research, knowledge dissemination and cost free community eye care services and how its yeoman service to society brought back the dignity and joy into the lives of the indigent visually impaired, by bringing back their lost vision and making them independent, self supporting individuals. He made a fervent appeal to the audience to donate generously towards supporting the large number of cost free surgeries to indigent patients in India that Sankara Nethralaya planned to perform in memory and as a tribute to MS Amma on her birth centennial.

Shri Prabhu Sivaraman, Trustee, SN OM Trust extended a warm thanks to the artists, audience, the IFAA, Dr Arvind Neelakanthan and Srimathi Sudha Ragunathan for presenting the awards and encouraging the young winners.

The Sama Rathi Auditorium at the Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago at Lemont wore a festive look on the 10th of September 2016, the occasion was the celebration of the Dr MS birth centennial with a concert by Carnatic music exponent Ms Sudha Ragunathan and her group. Rasigas from across Chicago began gathering at the venue for an evening of mellifluous music. An exhibition of rare photographs at the venue capturing the golden moments in the life of the great singer struck an emotional chord and the sale of 'MS blue sarees' which had become an identity of the singer came as a pleasant surprise and great memento to the audience. Well known personalities from the local India Diaspora shared the dais with Dr.Raj Rajaram and Shri Sudhakar Mattu, SN OM Trustees from the area to extend a warm welcome to the large audience, give them a background of Sankara Nethralaya and the SN OM Trust and make a fervent appeal to donate generously towards the good number of cost free cataract surgeries planned as a birth centennial tribute to the Singer who had made her voice a vehicle for relief and joy.

A highlight of the Chicago celebrations was the proclamation of Saturday the 16th of September 2016 as M.S.Subbulakshmi Day by Mr Bruce Rauner, Governor of the State of Illinois.

The Atlanta chapter of the Sankara Nethralaya Ophthalmic Mission Trust presented an extraordinary, 3 day centennial homage to Bharat Ratna Dr.M.S.Subbulakshmi. The curtains went up on the well prepared and organized event on the 3rd of September 2016 with a brief talk on Sankara Nethralaya and its achievements in research, education and cost free community eye care to indigent patients, by Dr. Seshu Sarma, Vice-President, Sankara Nethralaya, Ophthalmic Mission Trust, Inc, the fund raising arm of Sankara Nethralaya in the USA. Dr. Sarma also gave an interesting account about the ‘Mobile Eye Surgical Unit’ (MESU) which performs sight reviving cataract surgeries, totally cost free, right at the doorsteps of patients living in the most remote regions of India, with no access to quality eye care.

This was followed by a warm greeting and welcome to the Rasikas assembled in large numbers and dignitaries by Dr. Rao, President of the Hindu Temple of Atlanta. Speaking on the occasion Chief Guest of the day, Mr. R.Srinivasan, Consul, Indian Consulate, Atlanta, lauded Smt. M. S. for making India and Indians proud by her music. The most touching and inspiring speech of the afternoon however, was the one given by eleven-year old, Raveena Allie, who was born with no eyes. Her life story of being brought up by loving foster parents in the US and working her way up by overcoming her disability to become a honor student in middle school and excelling in innumerable extracurricular activities filled the listeners with a sense of confidence that if one is determined, nothing in life is insurmountable. The audience gave her a standing ovation for her rousing message and indomitable spirit.

This was followed by the main event of the day, an enthralling concert for three hours and more with a generous inclusion of MS Amma favorites by Padmabhushan Sudha Ragunathan and party; the resounding applause and requests for more songs captured the spirit of the day. Dr. Ram Sriram, President of the Carnatic Music Association of Georgia (CAMAGA), made the concluding remarks and a brief review of the concert. Mrs. Anu Nathan, chair of the essay competition being held to highlight the contributions of Smt. M. S. Subbalakshmi, as part of the Centenary celebrations announced the winners for different age groups

The winners of the essay competition were:

Elementary
1st Place: Neel Krishnan
2nd Place: Anand Krishnan
3rd Place: Maitri Sridhar

Middle School
1st Place: Nikitha Sridhar
2nd Place: Priyanka Yagneswaran
3rd Place: Shobana Santhanam

High School
1st Place: Nitheyaa Shree
2nd Place: Shashank Ganesan
3rd Place: Shruthi Santhanam

Another recognition being bestowed as part of the Centenary celebration the ‘Bharat Ratna M. S. Subbulakshmi award’ for years of contribution to Indian classical music was awarded to Smt. Subhashini Krishnamurthy – musician, composer, Vocalist, teacher, and Veena player. Ms. Subhashini was presented with a plaque and a blue silk saree, similar to the one that was popularized by Smt. M. S. Subbulakshmi. The awards were given to the winners by Smt. Sudha Raghunathan who spoke admiringly of the winners and their accomplishments.

The second day of the three-day event showcased Atlanta’s local talent. The performers were young children and young adults trained in different schools of Carnatic music by eminent teachers in Atlanta. It was most inspiring to listen to children as young as 6 years of age, rendering compositions made popular by Smt. M. S. Subbulakshmi with devotion and dedication.

The last and final day of the three-day event was highlighted by a one-hour video presentation on the life and accomplishments of Smt. M. S. Subbulakshmi, put together by the renowned dramatist and director, Sri Syam Yellamraju. The video presentation was followed by group singing of the compositions of the great composer, Sri Annamacharya, popularized by Smt. M. S. Subbulakshmi. The performers were local music teachers and musicians. It was a most befitting tribute to the memory of Smt. M. S. Subbulakshmi.

At the conclusion of the program,Dr.Sarma thanked her co-trustees of SN OM Trust,Moorthy Rekapalli and Bala Indurti and the President of CAMAGA,Dr.Ram Sriram and all the others who contributed to the 3 day event. She expressed her deep gratitude to all the donors who contributed generously to the Sahasra Nayanam project and the Chitoor Gift of Sight project. She further expressed her sincere appreciation to journalist Sri Mahadev Desai for his excellent coverage of the three-day event and Mr. Ravi Penumarthy for taking superb pictures of the event.

The double Oscar awardee was in his elements and A.R Rehman LIVE 2016 his musical homage combined the superlative melody of his orchestra and a magnificent 3D spectacle making it a musical extravaganza never seen before, it kept a close to 1000 strong distinguished ,multinational, multiracial audience spell bound and transfixed broken only by thunderous claps. The blend of Sanskrit, Tamil reverential songs in Carnatic music and Hindustani, quawwali and Islamic songs captured the 'Universality of the Spirit' and 'oneness of God' values so close to the person in whose honour the event was being held. The high point of the show was a performance by the 'Sunshine Orchestra' a troupe consisting of underprivileged kids from Chennai, whom Sri AR Rahman complimented as 'specially privileged performers'.

The event was well covered by the local Media; we take pleasure in sharing a sample of the response it evoked from the distinguished audience.