Sankara Nethralaya USA, Atlanta Chapter raises $200K to
support 3000 indigent people in India
By Madhavi Indurti
Pics.by:Venkat Kuttua
The Sankara Nethralaya USA’s Atlanta Chapter hosted a spectacular
dance-drama in bharatanatyam “Drish TI”, by Atlanta’s popular Kalaivani Dance
Academy at the Infinite Energy Center,Atlanta, on September 8,2019. The
program was a fund-raiser for supporting two humanitarian causes-‘Adopt- a-
Village’ and ‘Mobile Eye Surgical Unit’.

An entertaining opening by emcee Jayakiran Pagadala whose proficiency of
several Indian languages set the right note by making all regional audiences
from India feel at home.The roll ups related several programs which Sankara
Nethralaya has on its radar along with Google CEO Sundar Pichai’s AI
revolution and how they have leveraged those in detecting diabetic
retinopathy were informative and thought provoking. It is noteworthy that
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
Natyam program and noted about Sankara Nethralaya fundraiser events in
different cities in USA and service activities in India.
The riveting dance-drama conceptualized and choreographed by Kalaivani Dance
Academy’s co-director Padmaja Kelam and scripted by co-director Siddarth
Kelam had an apt theme that closely related to the causes supported by
Sankara Nethralaya. The way Hasini loses her eye sight and the way she
invokes her passion for dance in spite of dearth 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 lifting. This apt
connection was remarkable. What a terrific performance by the artist
Kalaivani’s disciple Priyanka Kasula who played Hasini ! Kudos to Padmaja
Kelam, Siddartha Kelam, team of children who showcased their training and
talents,lyricist Dr Uma Eyyuni and composer Asha Ramesh and members of the
live orchestra.
One of the attendees shared that he couldn’t control his tears when he
watched the heart tugging performance of the girl who played Hasini.
Drishti signifies much more than its literal meaning. It’s about the
awakening of our inner humanity and care for others. The external beauty
that we see with our eyes is temporary and only brings short term joy.
Anthar drishti or the inner sight, on the other hand, induces the highest
pleasure or bliss in all of us.
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Bala Indurti bestows Award to Padmaja Kela. |
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Bala Indurti bestows Award to Neelima Gaddamanugu |
Fundraising team led by Bala Reddy Indurti, Moorthy Rekapalli, Srini Reddy
Vangimalla, Rajasekhar Reddy Aila, Meher Lanka, JayaKiran Pagadala, Padmaja
Kelam, Upendra Reddy Rachupally, Ramesh Chaparala, Rajeev Menon, Suresh
Vemulamada & Neelima Gaddamanugu raised $200,000 to support 3000 indigent
patients. Bala Indurti dedicated this success to Atlanta Chapter founder Dr.
Seshu Sarma who has moved to Washington DC to live with her grand children.
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 for this
event.
Thanks are due to MESU (Mobile Eye Surgical Unit) donors: Moorthy Rekapalli
& Madhavi and Aniil Jagralmudi & Mahalakshmi. The main goal of MESU is to
eradicate preventable blindness in India. Initially we are planning the MESU
for Telugu states and eventually we want to replicate the same model all
over the country.
Thanks are due to the following Adopt-A-Village donors: Murali Reddy & Bindu,
Dr. Sanjeeva Reddy & Sridevi, Suresh Vemulamada & Dr. Madhavi Rayapudi,
Srinivas Surapaneni & Priya, Srini Reddy Vangimalla & Deepa, Prasad Mallu &
Niveditha, Ravi Reddy Maraka & Praveena, and Balakrishna Nuli.
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.
Thanks are due to the following friends & community leaders for promoting
the event with their video appeal in Social Media: Dr. Seshu Sarma, Dr. Ravi
Sarma, Anupa Thakurta, Phani Dokka, Hema Shilpa, Madurai Muralitharan,
Jyothi Chintalapudi, & Neelima Gaddamanugu.
Video visuals which were created by Phani Dokka and Prameela Gopu were well
received by the audience. This video also features Sundar Pichchai Google
CEO, Amitab Bachchan, Saurav Ganguly and Madhav.
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Bala Indurti bestows Award to Dr.B.K.Mohan |
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Murli Reddy,President Charter Global,Inc. delivers remarks |
Sanakar Nethralaya 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 the 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 the
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, Kalaivani Academy & Atlanta community
to make this a memorable event in the history of the Trust in USA.
Photo Gallery:
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Sep-12-2019