Life Time Achievement Award for Distinguished Journalism

I had the honour of reading the citation for the Life Time Achievement Award for Distinguished Journalism presented to  my good friend S.R.Madhu by the TAG group & Ramu Endowments on 10^th December  at the Tag Centre. It was a packed audience of over 200 which witnessed Madhu receiving the Award from the Chief Guest R.K.Raghavan  the former Director of CBI and Consul General of Cyprus.

A well deserved honour for a writer who in  a journalism career spanning more than 60 years, has made a mark in newspapers and magazines as well as specialist journals; in both mainstream mass media and development media; in print as well as audio-visuals. His writing is characterized by clarity and vigour, precision and elegance. As editor, he promotes the highest standards in content, composition and presentation, as well as in design and visual appeal.

 

With a Gold Medal in Journalism from Bombay, a certificate in photojournalism from Parson’s School, New York; and a certificate in communication from Cornell University, New York Madhu started his  life as a feature writer in 1964 with the Times of India Group. He later shifted to USIS Bombay as English Editor in 1970. Between 1974-79 he was the Deputy Editor of SPAN magazine published by the American Embassy in Delhi. As the principal staff writer of SPAN magazine, he wrote articles on Indo-US relations and covered visits of dignitaries from the USA. He got a certificate of appreciation from the White House for his wonderful coverage of President Carter’s visit.

 Shifting to Development Communication, he served for 15 years (1979-1994) as an International Information Officer with the FAO-United Nations in India and Africa. In the course of his work, he wrote and photographed UN projects in more than a dozen countries of Asia and Africa.  He founded the newsletter Bay of Bengal News, for the FAO’s Chennai-based regional programme, the Bay of Bengal Programme.  The FAO in Rome commended Bay of Bengal News as a model for all FAO projects worldwide.

Retiring from the UN in 1995, Madhu has for the past 28 years been a writer-editor consultant – mainly to UN agencies. He has been also very active with Rotary as a Programme director of Rotary Club of Madras South for the last 25 years besides being a popular anchor of the South India Heritage lectures, numbering over 350, organised by the Tag group in Chennai.

 

Madhu`s abiding interest in Cricket and Films is well known. His recent series of 22 well-researched articles on personalities in the Hindi and Tamil music world in Rotary News, a magazine of Rotary International has become so popular that a reader, a well-known journalist remarked, ` Madhu just doesn`t write but `composes` his articles with his pen`. He has also made eight presentations based on film music covering the period from the 1940s to the 1980s.

The award function was followed by an engaging video presentation by Madhu of selected  Songs from films of the yester year star Dev Anand ,  whose birth  centenary is being celebrated this year.

( Quote from Charis, Raghavan`s and madhu`s speeches)

My friendship with Madhu is six decades old. We both did our PG Diploma courses in Bharatriya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay in 1962-64. He did journalism and I did Advertising and PR. We both started our respective careers in Bombay , went to Delhi and finally landed in Chennai. It is a friendship that has stood the test of time.I was responsible for roping him into my  Rotary Club. I consider him as one of my mentors in my second innings as a writer/author post retirement.

Hearty Congratulations Madhu on a long overdue but a well deserved honour. Hope this is the beginning of many more Awards you will get in the future. I am proud   to have you as my friend.

 

 

Limping back to normal

The 48-hour ordeal is almost over. The water inside the home in my portion on the ground floor has been cleared. I have moved to my portion on the ground floor. The power came back around noon yesterday. But only two phases. Six inches of water is still surrounding our home and the passage to our home. Since water had entered my car filling the portion below the seats, both in the front and back, I am not sure if it has damaged any parts under the bonnet. Awaiting the help of the elusive representative from Cars India to help check the condition and start the car. Because of the dos and don`ts shared by Maruti & other insurance companies scared to take the risk of starting the car on my own. Mobility is therefore restricted.

Because my house is built at a lower level than the road I am used to water entering the ground floor of my home whenever there is a cyclone or very heavy rains. But flooding of the entire ground floor has taken place only six times in the last forty years. This time because of the intensity even the toilet in the bedroom overflowed. It was sickening. A few trees inside the compound had also fallen and blocked the passage.

Fortunately, I could move to my son`s portion on the first floor, where we were well-stocked with all the essentials required. However, due to the lack of power, we had to be careful with the use of water and the mobile. No bath for two days. I kept my mobile switched off and used it only to check messages from time to time. Managed it well until a friend of my son reached a Mobile Battery charger.

The positive side of the story is that I could spend two full days with my son`s family enjoying the personalized hospitality extended to me by both my daughter-in-law Tulse and son Balaji. Besides I could also spend more time with my resident grandchildren Thavam and Bakthi, which was a bonus. I was witness to the great effort that both Balaji & Tulse had to put in to keep them engaged due to lack of screen time. It is always tough to bring up small kids but today`s kids are far more demanding than the earlier generations. Need enormous patience to handle them, which both Tulse and Balaji displayed in abundance. Hats off to them.

One more year. One more rain-related ordeal is behind us. Thank God we have survived without any collateral damage. Om Sairam!

Adyar & Me

I had shared the news that my article titled `Adyarum Naanum (Adyar & Me)` in Tamil had appeared in the Kalaimagal magazine`s Diwali issue this year. For those who cannot read Tamil among my FB friends, I am reproducing below the English version of the article. The article describes my long association with Adyar, a popular residential area consisting of many colonies. I have been a resident of Sastri Nagar, one of the colonies forming a part of Adyar, for the last 49 years.

Adyar & Me

by R.V.Rajan

A few weeks ago a team from Federal Bank accompanied by executives from their advertising agency landed in my home. As a resident of Adyar for the last 49 years, they wanted to know what it meant to me and the highlights of my long association with Adyar. I was told that this was being done as a part of `I am Adyar. Adyar is Me` campaign that celebrates people and their culture in Adyar. This gave me an opportunity to go down memory lane.

It was on my first official visit to Chennai in 1967, I had to visit Sastri Nagar in Adyar, responding to a dinner invitation from the Branch Manager of my company. I remember that I had to cross a narrow one-way iron bridge over the Adyar river connecting Gandhi Nagar and the areas beyond, with the city. A traffic constable was stationed to allow vehicles from either side to go over the bridge alternately. My Branch Manager’s house was one of the dozen independent houses in the area, with plenty of open space all around. I was told that during the rainy season, the entire area would be flooded and Sastri Nagar would look like a lake dotted with houses! I never imagined that within seven years I would move to Chennai and settle down in Sastri Nagar, a beautiful little colony with lovely houses built by retired bureaucrats, upcoming businessmen, and a few professionals. By the time I moved to Sastri Nagar, the area had seen some development, with more independent houses.

 
Besant Nagar, lying between Sastri Nagar and the beautiful Elliots beach, was fast developing, with a complex of Housing Board flats serving different strata of society. For all our daily necessities we had to go to Besant Nagar or walk up to Lattice Bridge Road (LB Road). Laxmi Sagar, the Udupi Restaurant dishing out delicious South Indian snacks, was the only restaurant serving the entire area and it was located (and continues to exist) diagonally opposite Adyar Telephone Exchange. Today, Adyar, with several well-developed colonies, has a choice of multi-cuisine restaurants offering Indian, Chinese, Italian, Korean, Japanese, and Continental flavours. You can get everything- from `pin to elephant`- in Adyar today.

 
In the last two decades, greedy builders have managed to tempt the owners of the beautiful houses to go in for joint development of plots, with the result that Sastri Nagar has become a concrete jungle. This is true of many other colonies in Adyar. Many of the streets are witnessing the appearance of commercial ventures in a primarily residential area, transforming the profile of the locality. My home, which is one of the few independent homes in Sastri Nagar, was a peaceful place tucked inside a small lane facing the colony’s only Corporation playground. Today, we are surrounded by multi-storied apartments on three sides leading to a feeling of suffocation.

I will, however, not think of leaving Sastri Nagar because of its strategic location. Just a ten-minute walk from my home to the lovely Elliot’s Beach where I can watch the sun rise and breathe fresh air every morning. It is another matter that I go for a walk in my car! Though I have been walking on the beach road in Besant Nagar, popularly known as `Bessy` among the younger generation for the last 49 years, I had never bothered to befriend strangers crossing my path in the old days. It would at best be a courteous `Hi` and `Bye` to some acquaintances I bumped into! It was only after I had completely come out of my active professional life that I started cultivating new friends during my walks because I was not in a hurry to get back home.

The two groups of walking friends I am now associated with consist of people who are in their seventies or eighties. It is a mix of retired professionals from the private/public sector, bureaucrats, and even educators. Every morning the groups meet at a fixed time – exchanging the latest gossip in town or the political situation or a few jokes. Jokes at the expense of some members are not uncommon. You can judge from the boisterous laughter emanating from the groups from time to time that everyone is having fun. I make it a point to spend 60 minutes between these two groups every morning and indulge in some throaty laughter considered good for the mind and body. Laughter a day keeps the doctor or the `blues` away! A brisk walk followed by a dose of healthy laughter and a good cup of filter coffee sets the right tone for the rest of the day for me. I come back fully charged to spend an active day ahead; which also involves interacting with a whole set of new friends I have made in the literary world as a writer/author. One of them is Kizhambur Sankara Subramanian, the editor of Kalaimagal.

I first met Kizhambur when I went to hand over a short story in Tamil written by my late wife Prabha, twenty-five years ago. However, I got closer to him only after I started the Prabha Rajan Talent Foundation ( PRTF) in memory of my late wife Prabha, which has conducted a few literary contests in association with Kalaimagal. His association with Tamizh Puthaga Nanbargal of which I was one of the founders, cemented our friendship. I am grateful to him for inviting me to contribute this article for publication in this year`s Diwali issue of Kalaimagal.       

Is it Trust in God or Faith in God?

I am a god-fearing man who believes in total surrender to the Lord. Though I am no good at established rituals I do have some of my own. After finishing my morning ablutions I start playing devotional songs from Youtube. Songs like Venkateshwara Suprabhatham, Vishnu Sahasranamam etc. While these are going on in the background for about sixty minutes I get to work on my PC.

Every morning after a bath I go to the small puja room in my home, clean up the place by getting rid of the old flowers and replacing them with new flowers. I offer a couple of bananas and a small silver cup with fresh milk as Neivedyam and light up the two small silver lamps. After that, I recite a few slokas- some from memory and some I read from a booklet. The process takes me about 30 minutes. I find the whole experience blissful.

What do I call my belief in god- Trust in God or Faith in God? I referred to Google Knowledge to find out. This is what it says.

Trust- to believe that someone is good and honest and will not harm you, or that something is safe and reliable

 Faith means putting your trust in God and having confidence that he will not fail you.

They say that God constantly tests his ardent devotees more than he tests the non-believers to

 ensure that the devotee constantly remembers him. This has been very true in my life.

 The toughest test that the Lord gave me involved my son Balaji. He was just a year old and as per family traditions, we had to get his first Mundan at Tirupati on a chosen date.

 

Accompanied by my parents, when we were on our way to Tirupati, my son developed a fever

 and severe cold which got worse that night. The next morning, when I was ready to leave for

 Kalyanakatta (common hall) and the holy pond, my father, the cautious man that he always is, was furious with me. He insisted that we cancel the whole ritual or alternatively bring the barber to the lodge and give the child a bath in hot water at the Lodgings where we were staying. I stood my ground and told my father that my prayer involved getting the shaving ceremony done at the common hall followed by the child taking a holy dip in the pond. After a heated argument when my father realized that I was not going to give in, he let go but refused to join me.

 

With fear in my heart, but with total faith in the Lord, I went through the rituals as per my plan. After dipping the feverish baby in the pond three times, I came out and quickly wiped him off and dressed him up in warm clothes. When my wife placed her hand on the baby’s forehead to see if his fever had risen, she was surprised to find there was none! In spite of going through the ordeal, Balaji was smiling at us! I felt that the Lord was smiling at me and telling me, “You have passed yet another test, young man!” Not only was the fever gone, but Balaji’s cold disappeared as quickly!  What I did may be crazy but that is what implicit faith in the Lord makes you do sometimes!

 

(I have narrated a few more such experiences in Part Three titled `My tryst with God` in my autobiography titled `Courage My Companion`)

 

 

When Crocodile Craved for Chocolate & Chips

A fascinating book for kids written by my `storyteller` daughter Sowmya Srinivasan and beautifully illustrated by my younger brother Srinivasan & Pushpa`s daughter Shilpa and her nine-year-old daughter Janani. Though the book is meant for kids, I found the story interesting and the illustrations fascinating. Congratulations to the trio and hope they come up with more such joint ventures in the future. God Bless them

I am reproducing below the story of the Book's journey as communicated by Sowmya herself:

“ Way back in 2019, I wrote this story for a bunch of 1st and 2nd years, to inspire them to eat healthy. Somehow I knew the protagonist had to be a Crocodile! I then sent it across to my artist cousin Shilpa in the US, hoping she would illustrate it. Surprisingly her daughter Janani, on her own accord, quickly pencil sketched the entire story in one sitting! Janani was 9 years old at that time. Shilpa then painted each of the illustrations using watercolors and it was finally all done! Then of course with the help of Story Weaver (an online and free publishing platform from Pratham) we uploaded the images along with the text and voilà, our book was ready in 2023!
The journey has been long, but so worth it. I hope my readers like it as much as we enjoyed creating it”

Those interested in reading the book can download the book by clicking the link
https://storyweaver.org.in/stories/582091-when-crocodile-craved-chocolate-chips
For those who find it difficult to read online, a few printed copies are available with Sowmya and me. Connect with us by Whats App – Sowmya 9731570615 Rajan -9840392082

Any kind of help any time service

One of the biggest worries for any senior citizen is the fear of falling & getting injured.  However careful he or she is it can happen anytime. It happened to my walking friend, 92-year-old Sundaram, a few weeks ago. An NRI parent whose only daughter is settled in the USA, he stays with his wife in a flat in Besant Nagar.  Like most NRI parents he has to fend for himself for all his requirements.  However, during the lockdown in 2020, his daughter entered into an arrangement with an  Elder Care  Service provider to give any help the couple wanted any time of the day.

It was a Sunday. After his meal at the dining table when he went to the washbasin in the kitchen to wash his hands he slipped and fell. He couldn`t get up. His frail wife could not lift him up. As the neighbours were not available, with help from a nearby vendor he was lifted and seated in a chair. His wife remembered her daughter`s instruction to contact the service provider for any help.

A telephone call brought one of the co-founders and her partner from the service provider within twenty minutes. They  took charge of the situation, summoned an ambulance, and got Sundaram admitted to a nearby hospital. At the hospital, they discussed with the doctors and once the fracture was confirmed they admitted him and appointed a 24/7 caregiver. They  did not disturb Sundaram`s wife.  She was at home and they kept her and their daughter informed of the doctor’s view and surgery plan. Luckily for Sundaram, the next day the senior surgeon discovered only a hairline fracture, surgery was performed, and a steel plate was inserted. While friends kept in touch with his wife to give her moral support, it was the caregiver who was attached to Sundaram 24/7 until he returned home five days later when he was able to walk around with a walker.  They have continued with the same caregiver at home too and organized physio for a full recovery. Needless to say, Sundaram`s daughter from the USA was closely monitoring to ensure that her father was well taken care of despite her physical absence. As well as she would have taken care of him if she had been present.  A promise made by the service provider which they kept up.

Sundaram confirmed that in the last three years, the services provided by the service provider called Sakhi4life were exemplary. Both he and his daughter who takes care of the bills, are very happy. Registered as a company by three ladies with extensive corporate experience Sakhi4life offers support, care, and companionship for aging parents with the same kind of respect and effort that the absentee children of such parents would provide them. It could be as small as ordering a meal on Swiggy or a car on Uber or arranging a celebration with friends, and they are just one call away for every need. Sakhi Counsellors are trained to help seniors in managing their daily chores, payments, legal, medical, technical, financial, or government requirements; dealing with vendors and household staff on their behalf, and most importantly, companionship. In other words, they can provide any kind of help that the elders require at any time of the day.

 According to Sundaram`s daughter, the payment terms are reasonable. She told me that a few of her friends with NRI parents have used the service and are happy. Sakhi4life offers customized package deals based on the specific requirements of the elders needing their care. While I am aware of many `Anytime patient care`  service providers, this is the first time I came across an `Any time, any care` service provider in Sakhi4life which is modeled on similar elder care bodies like Aaji Care in Mumbai, Porosh in Kolkata and Kites in Bengaluru.

Anyone looking for such a service in Chennai can visit the website- sakhi4life.com for more details.

Jayendra Panchapakesan- A socially conscious filmmaker

Remember the famous ad film of yore with the jingle ` Chottu Neelam doi ….Ragual chottu Neelam doi` for Regaul liquid blue or `Home but not alone` TV spot for  BPL range of products or the `I love you Rasna` commercial for soft drink mixes. Those memorable brand-building ad films were made by Chennai-based JS Films founded by two schoolmates Jayendra Panchapakesan and P.C.Sriram, the award-winning Cinematographer. After producing over 600 films, winning several awards, and opening the Bombay ad film market for other ad film producers in Chennai,  Jayendra decided to join hands with another friend  Senthil Kumar by merging  JS films with Real Image, a leading provider of technology in the film, video and audio domains.

I have known Jayendra for nearly 35 years from the time he produced a TV commercial for  MRF Tractor Tyres which was a client of  Grant Kenyon Eckhardt where I was working then. His team had produced more than a dozen films for my agency Anugrah Madison over the years. A man of few words, soft-spoken & self-effacing Jayendra has a penchant for experimenting with new ideas in whatever he does. He is also a perfectionist who never compromises on the quality of the job he is doing. I remember when he was doing a commercial for Shriram Chits, he was not happy with the final output of a particular sequence in a film. He reshot the entire sequence at his own cost.

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Sixty-five years old Jayendra is a 100% Chennai boy. He comes from a well-respected, well-to-do family. He did his schooling at  Vidya Mandir where he won many art competitions at inter-school and national levels. He got his BSc degree in Chemistry from Vivekananda College. While in college he dabbled in staging plays with  Madu Balaji with scripts written by Madhu`s celebrity brother Crazy Mohan. He was the Secretary of the Fine Arts club during his final year in college. Obviously, the creative spark was in him right from his student days. No wonder the boy with a degree in Chemistry switched to advertising.  How did it happen?

Jayendra says, “ While seeing movies in theaters, I would keenly watch the ads and felt I could do a  better job than what I saw. One day my friend Chakravarthy (chax) and I walked into the Carborundum Universal office in Chennai because we thought we had an excellent slogan for Exide batteries. The manager who met us told us that, that was not the way it works and that all their advertising was handled by an advertising agency based out of Mumbai”. This motivated Jayendra to think of advertising as a career.

Armed with a PG Diploma in advertising from Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Jayendra started his advertising career as a trainee at Inter Publicity in Chennai. Realising that the real action was in Bombay he packed his bags and left for Mumbai. He joined Clarion McCann advertising, where his friend Chax was already employed. As budding copywriters, he and his friend Chax started working on all the national accounts of Clarion. They soon became the talk of the town. People spoke about two young writers from Chennai who were making a difference in Clarion’s creativity.

Jayendra is a restless creative guy. He says, “I was a writer for 8 years. I switched 14 jobs. If the environment was not congenial for good creative output I left. Once I joined a national ad agency as creative group head. It was my fourth day in office. Sitting in my cabin I was reading a book as I had not yet been assigned any work. An elderly man with a grey beard walked through the room. He saw me reading a book. I looked at him and went back to reading the book. After he left, a lady rushed into my room and blurted with urgency “ he is our chairman, even if you are not busy, pretend to be busy”. I stared at her, packed my bags, and left. I sent a crisp two-word resignation letter. “Previously yours” Jayendra”

This is the point when Jayendra, bored with just writing scripts for ads, decided to make ad films because he felt he could communicate better. On his return to Chennai, he had the unique distinction of consulting with three top agencies in Chennai at the same time – HTA, Mudra, and Sistas. As already mentioned he joined hands with his schoolmate PC to start  JS Films in Chennai in 1986 which got its first film from Mudra Communications to do a film for a national brand. Soon Mudra’s chairman Mr. A.G. Krishnamurthy, impressed with the good work done, decided to give all film jobs from the Ahmedabad, Mumbai, and Delhi offices of Mudra to JS Films.  For brands like Rasna, Vimal, Apollo tyres, and many more. Based on the success of the films for Mudra, Balki, the creative director from Lintas (Lowe) started giving film assignments for  Lever brands. Pretty soon the JS team was doing ads for many  Mumbai agencies. The tables had been turned. From Chennai agencies going to Mumbai for their films, Mumbai agencies started coming to Chennai for their films. There was no looking back for the JS team.

What made Jayendra merge a successful JS Films with Real Image?

Jayendra says, “When I started doing ads, Senthil who was in college at that time was doing graphics for me on a computer he had built. We were pushing technology to do impossible things at that time. When Avid Technology asked him to distribute their products in India he invited me to join him. In 1993 I  teamed up with Senthil to set up Real Image, introducing non-linear editing with Avid and digital cinema sound with DTS. I was a reluctant starter as I was more creative than a businessman. But soon we started enjoying introducing new technologies into the country like Avid,  which did to editing what word processing did to typewriting; DTS brought back audiences to movies with 6-track sound;  Digital cinema changed the economics of a movie release. Made very wide release possible bringing enormous collection right up front”.

Once Real Image (now called Qube Cinema) hired a CEO, Jayendra went back to making films. But not ad films. He made two feature films titled  180 in Tamil and Telugu and later a Telugu film titled Na Nuvve.  He made two experimental  Carnatic music films Margazhi Raagam and One.

Jayendra says,” For Margazhi Raagam I came up with the idea to shoot a concert with 13 red cameras synched with each other (for the first time in the world) and recorded the sound live and mixed it in 6-track surround sound. For the first time, people watching this in the theatres got a glimpse of how much was possible for the presentation of our concerts. Bombay Jayashri and TM Krishna partnered my friend Srikanth (Aghal films) and me in this initiative”

 For One Jayendra got TM Krishna to sing amidst nature without any accompaniments. This was not a concert but a musician exploring his music. Again Srikanth of Aghal Films produced this film as well.

 Recently Qube Cinema has set up a Virtual production stage in partnership with Annapurna Studios in Hyderabad. This will help films to be made in controlled conditions. Be it a location in the Alps or a busy stand in Koyambedu, the image is created on an LED wall, and when the camera moves the background moves in synch as if the actors are actually in the real location.  This avoids complex post-production and VFX which are time-consuming and expensive.

 Jayendra is also well-known in the industry for his deep involvement in social work. What inspired him to take social causes?

“I have always been interested in helping people. In a spur of the moment I started Bhoomika Trust in  2001 with my wife Sudha and some friends as our response to the Gujarat earthquake´”.

Over the years Bhoomika Trust has worked extensively with victims of disasters like the earthquake in Gujarat, the Tsunami in South India, the Uttarakhand floods, the Jammu & Kashmir floods, the Chennai floods of Dec 2015, Cyclone Vardah, the Odisha floods, Floods in Assam, Bihar, Kerala  and Cyclone Gaja, providing immediate relief ( ration kits, vessels), long term rehab- building houses, schools and helping people restart their livelihoods.

During the pandemic when the film industry came to a standstill, Qube had zero business for 2 years with about 1000 employees to support. At the same time film industry workers who live off daily wages faced the risk of starving with their families. With Mani Ratnam Jayendra conceived the anthology Navarasa for Netflix. Everyone in the industry came together to do the project pro bono. Rs17 crores raised through this initiative was given to the workers in the industry. Every worker was given a preloaded credit card and every month  Rs1500 was loaded in the card for 12000 workers which could be used only in grocery stores. Bhoomika handled the distribution

 

Besides providing help during disasters, Bhoomika also offers scholarships and assistance to deserving students. Has a “Let’s Learn”- Remote Learning Program for Government School Children and “I wanna Learn” a Math learning platform for students in partnership with Altius Foundation. Bhoomika also has a division called `True Gifts` which provides an alternative to gifts presented during weddings or any other occasion that the recipients may not need or use,  Instead you gift a `True gift` Certificate that says ` to celebrate your wedding we sponsored a girl child’s education or sponsored an eye surgery for a deserving villager`. The recipient is thrilled and a deserving cause is supported. 

 

 Jayendra is on the board of Altius Foundation ( running computer math lab in govt schools), Jeevan ( earlier blood bank and now a public stem cell bank much needed for treating blood cancer) Sankara Eye Foundation ( running 10 hospitals across the country) doing free eye surgeries for rural poor.

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 For Jayendra friends mean a lot. Jayendra’s very close friend and classmate Sriram, married and settled in Canada, died in a  car accident on a visit to India. It shook Jayendra and disturbed him very much. Unable to come to terms with seeing Sriram’s wife Sudha and 2-year-old son Ashwin go through this agony he decided to visit them in Canada and see how he could help. During the visit, he ended up proposing to Sudha, got married to her in February 1990, and brought them back to India. That was one of the best personal decisions Jayendra took in his life because not only are they happily married but Sudha has also  been a pillar of strength to him both in his professional and social activities. Sudha managed JS films, later moved on to head Human Resources at Qube Cinema. She is a co-founder of Bhoomika Trust. She is equally involved in all social initiatives of Jayendra.

 

 Another example relates to his dear friend Mahesh, a music director who had worked on many of his films. Mahesh died of cancer at a young age, leaving behind a Will in which he had expressed a desire to help Adyar Cancer Institute. Jayendra and his friends started Mahesh Memorial Trust in 2002 and conducted a mega fundraising event with A.R.Rehman offering his services free. With the money raised the Trust built the Paediatric Ward at the Cancer Institute which it continues to support and help running it successfully since it was started.

 I have always admired Jayendra for his constant endeavor to innovate and also for his limitless energy for serving society. God Bless him!