The Sanmar Group made an entry into niche journalism when it recently took over the management of Sruti magazine, one of India’s leading monthlies devoted to music and dance, now expanding its scope to include other performing arts.
The reconstituted Sruti Foundation, the not for profit trust that has been running the magazine from its early days nearly a quarter century ago, has N Sankar, Chairman, The Sanmar Group, at the helm, as well as new entrants V Vaidyanathan and Sukanya Sankar, lending their weight to support existing trustees M Subramaniam and P S Narayanan, who had battled the odds to run a magazine of high quality all these years.
Sukanya Sankar and the editorial team at Sruti, including Editor-in-Chief K V Ramanathan, Executive Editor S Janaki and newly appointed editor V Ramnarayan, have succeeded in giving Sruti a new, colourful look, designed by Pradeep Warrier of Techmark Support Services. The new look Sruti was launched on 11 December in an elegant function at the Taj Coromandel, Nungambakkam High Road, Chennai, the event being co-promoted by the hotel.
An exhibition of rare photographs celebrating Carnatic music from the Sruti archives, to highlight the on-going Chennai December music season, and a wonderfully evocative audiovisual presentation on M S Subbulakshmi by music folklorist and raconteur V Sriram, who had the audience spellbound in a moving and sometimes entertaining tribute to the ‘queen of song’, who passed away on 12 December 2004.
In his address, Editor-in-Chief K V Ramanathan recalled the history of Sruti, launched by the late N Pattabhi Raman in October 1983, amidst widespread scepticism in the music and dance community as to its future. He paid tributes to Pattabhi Raman’s pioneering and indomitable spirit and the great commitment shown by the so-called Sruti parivar, especially after the founder’s death a few years ago, making special mention of S Janaki’s devoted service.
Chief guest N Murali, Managing Director of The Hindu,praised the Herculean efforts of Pattabhi Raman and his never-say-die spirit that kept the
magazine going, creating a buzz in the music and dance circles and winning the approval of institutions such as the Sangeet Natak Akademi. Murali informed the audience that he had a ringside view of what went on at Sruti, sometimes editorial debates going on late into the night, as he was its next door neighbour.
He complimented The Sanmar Group for taking up such a worthy cause, and expressed his confidence that the magazine was in very good hands. He also appreciated the steadfast efforts of publisher P S Narayanan over the decades to keep Sruti in good fettle. The programme ended with a vote of thanks by V Ramnarayan, coincidentally an assistant editor of Sruti when it was launched in 1983 and editor of Matrix for over a decade.
From l to r: Prabhat Verma, General Manager, Taj Coromandel, N Murali, Managing Director, The Hindu, Aruna Sairam, K V Ramanathan and V Ramnarayan at the launch of Sruti magazine.
The Sruti team with Aruna Sairam.
Sukanya Sankar (right) with Sudha Rani Raghupathy. Chandra Sankar looks on.
Eminent personalities in the field of music and dance attended the launch. Seen in the front row (L to R): Sudha Rani Raghupathy, R Vedavalli, V P Dhananjayan, Shanta Dhananjayan, Dr Padma Subramaniam.
New Delhi 24-26 October 2006
Constituents of Sanmar Engineering Corporation and Sanmar Speciality Chemicals Ltd made their presence felt a
xhibitions and trade shows held in India and abroad in the months of October and November 2006.
Sanmar Engineering participated in Power-
Gen 2006, an annual event held at the Pragati Maidan Exhibition Centre, New Delhi, in October 2006. The exhibition was focussed on the power sector.
Our Foundries representative attended the Valve World 2006, held at Maastricht, the Netherlands in November. Valve World 2006 was the largest ever exhibition for companies across the world to exhibit their products in the valves and related
businesses. A special forum on counterfeit valve production and copyright infringement was organised as part of the three day event with the clear goal to stop counterfeit valve products.
At the CPhI Worldwide 2006 (Convention on Pharmaceutical Ingredients and Intermediates) held at Paris-Nord, Villipente, France in October 2006, the team from Speciality Chemicals had an opportunity to network with leading industry practitioners (over 1750 manufacturers of APIs,
intermediates,excipients and other fi ne and speciality chemicals) from across the globe. The participation and interaction in these exhibitions and trade shows have enhanced business value to the group by way of establishing new customer contacts. It was a great opportunity to meet several manufacturers, service providers and traders under one roof.
Paris 3-5 October 2006
Maastricht 7-9 November 2006