My 12th book in 13 years released

At an event to coincide with my official 80^th birthday, my new book titled `Bright Stars in the Chennai sky` was released by the chief guest V.Sriram, the editor of Madras Musings. The book is a collection of my original articles on inspirational stories of Chennai-based personalities and institutions—all ‘Bright Stars in the Chennai Sky’, the edited versions of which had appeared in Madras Musings and other magazines. The book also contains condensed versions of the biographis of  nine inspiring personalities which appeared in Madras Musings. The book is dedicated to the memory of late Mr.S.Muthiah, a heritage champion and founder editor of madras Musings who discovered the writer in me and continued to mentor me in my evolution as a writer, post retirement.

 It was a packed audience ( estimated at 180) at the Tag Centre owned by my good friend R.T.Chari one of the bright stars featured in the book, who received the first copy from Sriram. He was followed by the other bright stars featured in the book who were present in the audience; Ravi Tamilvanan, C.S.Ananth, DR.J.Bhaskaran, Sheila Sriprakash, Kala Balasundaram, S.K.Swamy, Kizhambur Sankara Subramanian, Dr.S.(Babu) Krishnaswamy &  Nirmala Desikan wife of Late R.Desikan the well known Consumer activist whose story also appears in the book.

The meeting started with the invocation song on mother & motherhood, the lyrics for which was written by me and set to music and sung by Vidushi Shrithi Shankar Kumar. A welcome address on behalf of the family by Kavitha Srinivas, my elder daughter  was followed by the introduction of the book by S.R.Madhu, done in his inimitable style & official release of the book by Sriram.  The book release part of the function ended with a delightful & entertaining speech by Sriram recalling his long association with me.

 The birthday celebrations started with the presentation of a seven minute Video, a personal tribute to me by Rajeshwari Anand, a good friend and a long time associate of my agency Anugrah Madison. Next came Jawahar Nichani, the President of Rotary Club of Madras South, offering felicitation to me as a representative of the Round Tables, Rotary and 41 Clubs with which I have been closely associated. Before I gave my response, I presented cheques to my Rotary Club , Inner Wheel Club Madras South and Manimekalai Prasuram on behalf of the Prabha Rajan Talent Foundation, a Trust which  I founded in memory of my late wife Prabha.

In my response I thanked the large number of friends and well wishers present in the audience, seeking the blessings of elders in the audience and  conveying  my best wishes and blessings to all others. I ended my brief talk dedicating the event to my late wife Prabha.

The meeting was followed by fellowship and dinner enjoyed by all. Every one appreciated the fact that meeting started  and ended on time. I heaved a sigh of relief   that my  80^th birthday celebrations which started last year when I entered my eighties, had come to a satisfactory conclusion. Now I can legitimately claim to be an Octogenarian!

Those who interested in seeing the seven minute video by Rajeshwari, please click on the following link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_nk9Ycrk_0

 

This is what S.R.Madhu the veteran freelance writer who introduced the book says about the book:

This book is a gem! It glows not merely because of that beautifully appropriate heading -- Bright Stars in the Chennai Sky. It highlights some of the worthiest achievers of society – many of whom are not front-page names because they are not in politics!  Rajan is a “people person” and the writing shows. These fact-packed, highly readable, anecdote-laden profiles are a pleasure to read and preserve.   

 

The 252 page book printed and published by Creative Workshop and priced at Rs 400/- is available on Amazon and with me (contact- rvrajan42@gmail.com). The entire proceeds from  the sale of the book will go towards the activities of Prabha Rajan Talent foundation)