A friendship to cherish

I was happy to receive a special visitor at my home a few days ago. A friend and well-wisher for nearly forty years he was a pillar of strength to me in many of my projects connected with some voluntary bodies I was associated with. The reason for his visit was to wish me on my becoming an Octogenarian as he could not attend the official party I had hosted on my 80th Birthday. I was touched but not surprised. Because he always had a soft corner for me and attended all important events in my family. He not only extended a helping hand but was also actively involved in a few of the professional bodies I was associated with. I am referring to Mr. N. Murali, the Director of The HINDU group and President of the Music Academy.

My first interactions with him were as a Rotarian in the early eighties when as a Publicity Convenor of my Rotary club I would visit him seeking the support of the HINDU for the two-page supplements that were being brought out to celebrate some occasion or the other by the club or the Rotary District to which my club belonged. I got closer to him when I became active in the Advertising Club, Madras. He was a great supporter of The Ad club taking an active interest in many of the club's activities. When I was the President of the Advertising Club, Madras during 1993-95 he spontaneously offered Rs 2,00,00 from The Hindu for interior decoration of the permanent Secretariat at its own premises. Later when I took on the challenging responsibility as the Chairman of the Golden Jubilee Celebrations Committee he not only helped in many ways but also accepted the role of the Chairman of the second edition of the `Advertising`s Future Shock` Convention conducted by the club as a part of the Golden Jubilee celebrations. He also released the first copy of the Golden Jubilee Commemoration volume giving the history of the club which I had the privilege of compiling with the late Krishna.

Another connection that brought me even closer to Mr. Murali was my long stint with AMIC, an NGO devoted to mass communication in Asia Pacific Region headquartered in Singapore. First as a Country Representative and later as a member of the board of AMIC, Singapore. After I completed my six-year term, when I recommended Mr.

Murali`s name as my successor, it was accepted by the AMIC Board. Later to further boost the activities of AMIC India, we decided to form an AMIC India Trust, registered in Chennai with Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, the well-known agricultural scientist as the Chairman, and me as the Founder Secretary. Mr. Murali was roped in as one of the board members.

My long association with AMIC led to my involvement with IFRA, another non-profit organization based in Germany devoted to research in Newspaper development. I was instrumental in starting IFRA INDIA, as a private limited company with Mr.Murali and me as the founder directors. As Mr.Murali was already on the board of IFRA Germany, he managed to get the rights to hold an IFRA EXPO and INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE in India in 2007.

I consider IFRA Expo India in Chennai 2007 as the crowning glory of my 18-year association with IFRA. Every year when I visited IFRA Expo in Europe, I would dream that one day I would be actively involved in organizing a similar International Expo in India. Thanks to the favorable atmosphere offered by the booming Indian economy then and the consequent development of the Newspaper publishing industry, IFRA agreed to have IFRA Expo for the first time outside Europe in Chennai, in 2007, though on a modest scale.

With active support from the IFRA Expo team in Darmstadt in Germany and the dedicated efforts of the small IFRA India team consisting of Magdoom Mohamed and Antony and using a checklist I had drawn up over the years for organizing such events, we went about organizing IFRA Expo India with a missionary zeal. With over 100 exhibitors participating, nearly 3000 delegates visiting and over 600 delegates attending the parallel conference, IFRA Expo India held at the Chennai Trade Centre became a resounding success. The nearly 200 foreign exhibitors, speakers, and delegates went back awestruck at what IFRA India could achieve in terms of meticulous planning, quality of speakers, excellent time management, and the wonderful execution of the project to international standards. All this was possible with the active support of Mr.Murali and his team in The Hindu.

I always considered Mr.Murali a lucky mascot in my life. He has been a chief guest at many of the events that I had organized over the years. The most memorable was when as the chief guest at the two-in-one function organized by the Rural Marketing Association of India in 2009, attended by the who`s who of the advertising industry in Chennai, he not only presented the `RMAI Life Time Achievement Award` to me but also released the first copy of my autobiography `Courage My Companion`.

The last official function I attended was the 65th Anniversary celebration of the Advertising Club, Madras in October 2022 when the Club was honoring a few Past Presidents. I had the privilege of receiving a memento from N. Murali who was the chief guest at the event.

In response to my note thanking him for his visit to my home this was his reply, "I enjoyed my visit and your hospitality immensely. Those old happy memories ( that we shared) will always remain with us."

Yes, Mr.Murali, I will always cherish our friendship and the wonderful memories made possible by your unstinted support to many of my activities. Pray god to bestow good health on you so that you continue to inspire people associated with you to do their best.