An evening to remember!

It was the 65^th Anniversary of Adclub ,Madras, at Grand Chola,  which was to witness 12 Past Presidents being honoured, each  with a special memento. Only seven were present. I was one of  them. 84 yrs old K.A Srinivasan, oldest among the Past Presidents  came with his wife. He is staying at a senior citizen home in Vandalur. There was  Prof. A. Srivatsa , who came from Bangalore. Others who received the mementos  included S.K.Swamy,  Vijay Xavier, Jagannath Ramaswamy, U. Jayraj Rao. Others who were not present included R.Seshadri, , C.D.Harish, Mrs V.Saxena and Ranju Kumar  Mohan. V.Kalidas was honored posthumously.

Mr N.Murali , the director of the The Hindu group and a great friend and well wisher of the Adclub, Madras was the chief guest. It was good to meet old friends after a long time and going down memory lane.

 I was a member of the Adclub Madras from 1974, the year I moved to Chennai. I was actively involved  with the Club only from 1988 to 2006 . I was the President of the Club in 1993-95. During my year as the President of the Club  I established a Permanent  secretariat at Club`s Own premises in Carex Centre which I had helped the club acquire the previous year. I also started a PG Diploma  Course in  Advertising, the only  ad club to run such a course in the country. Though I was actively with  the course in the initial years, the credit for taking  on the responsibility as the Director of the course for the next 25 years goes to PP Jagannath Ramaswamy.  I understand that the Course which was suspended during the Pandemic is going to be revived with a new syllabus  in keeping with the changing  times.

In 2006, as the Chairman of the Golden Jubliee Committee, apart from organizing  some memorable events  including the Grand Finale night where 10 veteran advertising professionals from South India were honored with Distinguished Service Awards, I also took on the onerous task  of bringing out the Golden Jubilee Commemoration volume, a Coffee Table book  providing the history of the Club. It was a tough job in the absence of any old files and records. An old member S.Krishna came to my rescue not only running from pillar to post trying to get whatever information and old photos that he could get but also writing the main history of the club. I consider the GJ Coffee Table Book professionally designed and printed by Brand Portrait as one of my important achievements in life.

Though the Club missed celebrating the Diamond Jubilee I am happy that the current Executive Committee of the Club  with Paul Antony as the President decided to celebrate the 65^th Anniversary providing an opportunity for many Past Presidents like me to meet and share their experiences with the younger generation. It was certainly an evening to remember!