The Backdrop

When fond memories combine with a love for music and a deep empathy towards mankind, there is bound to be philantropic activity of some sort.  Thus was born the Shanthi Arts Foundation and Endowments in 1996, the brain child of Sri P Ramabhadran, in the memory of his daughter Shanthi, snatched away by fate at the tender age of 22, herself a  great music lover and deeply concerned about the less fortunate. 

When fond memories combine with a love for music and a deep empathy towards mankind, there is bound to be philantropic activity of some sort.  Thus was born the Shanthi Arts Foundation and Endowments in 1996, the brain child of Sri P Ramabhadran, in the memory of his daughter Shanthi, snatched away by fate at the tender age of 22, herself a  great music lover and deeply concerned about the less fortunate. 

Shanthi: (November 7, 1956 to December 16, 1978) Shanthakumari (a.k.a. Shanthi), daughter of P Ramabhadran and Ponnammal Ramabadhran was actively involved with the cultural activities of her father when he started a sabha at Mumbai (Music Triangle).  

She was born with a congenital heart problem but survived until the age of twenty two.  All the medical help was futile as it involved very tedious heart surgery.  In those days surgery was very risky.  Even reputed doctors from the USA like Dr Denton Cooley,  Prof Debackey and Dr Christian Bernad had been consulted, but all efforts bore no fruit as all of them opined that performing a surgery on the frail body would prove catastrophic.

Hence despite being a brilliant student, she had to be removed from school. Sitting at home, she wanted to keep herself occupied by doing something. She got involved in her father's cultural activities. Reading became a habit. She created a library of her own and started distributing books to the younger generation near her residence. She was proficient in German and had started training in French with the help of her cousin brother, Sridhar. She also learned photography from her father and used to take pictures and work in the dark room, make prints, enlargements, etc. Most of the time, fatigue used to overtake her activities; but even with this handicap, she used to work very hard. She helped her mother in the kitchen and kept herself active. There were some hutments around the colony where she lived. She used to take classes for the poor from these hutments, thereby benefiting many school-going children. Even during festivities, she used to invite these children and distribute sweets, clothes, etc. and enjoy with them. 

SAFE: An ode to Shanthi: This charitable trust was started to continue the activities begun by her. A corpus fund was created by her parents and a trust was formed in her name in 1996. 

It may occur to ask where we get our funds from. The answer is simple. When the Trust was started, a corpus fund was established. Investment in fixed deposits yielded interest that was pumped into these activities. Unfortunately, the steep drop in interest rates over the past years has severely dented our coffers. Yet, doggedly we go on, driven by our motives to try and make the world a better place. In this, we have been grateful to receive donations from several well-wishers. SAFE is a non-profit organisation. Every drop of money that comes in goes out in the form of a school fee or a music class or a mid-day meal. In short, everything we get is used to brighten up a life.