Chandrasekhar Sankurathri

Dr. Chandrasekhar Sankurathri established the Manjari Sankurathri Memorial Foundation(MSMF) in Canada and Sankurathri Foundation (SF) in India in memory of his wife Manjari, son Srikiran and daughter Sarada, who died in the bombing of Air India Flight 182 off the coast of Ireland on 23 rd June, 1985.

Early life

Chandrasekhar Sankurathri was born to Appala Narasayya Naidu Sankurathri and Ramayamma Sankurathri on 20-11-1943 at Singarayakonda, Andhra Pradesh, India. He is the youngest of eight. He attended Municipal High School at Rajahmundry, East Godavari District, Andhra University, Waltair, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada and University of Alberta, Canada.

Chandrasekhar Sankurathri worked as a visiting scientist for the Ministry of Fisheries, in Canada and a scientific evaluator for Canada's Ministry of Health.

Personal life

Chandrasekhar Sankurathri married Manjari on 13-05-1975 at Kakinada, India. Together they had a son, Srikiran, and a daughter, Sarada. Manjari, Srikiran and Sarada were killed in the Air India Flight 182 bombing on 23 June 1985 off the coast of Ireland.

Establishment of Foundations

Following the bombing, he resigned his job in Canada and returned to India in 1988. He established the Manjari Sankurathri Memorial Foundation in 1989 in memory of his wife, which is a registered charity in Canada. He established the Sankurathri Foundation in India in memory of his family in 1989. The Foundations' goals are to improve the quality of life of needy people in the rural and remote areas of Andhra Pradesh. Established Sarada Vidyalayam in 1992 on his daughter’s name, which is a High school to provide free education for rural poor children. Sankurathri established Srikiran Institute of Ophthalmology in 1993, named after his son.

He was named as Paul Harris Fellow by the Rotary Foundation, USA for his humanitarian work.

Awards

• 1996- Rotary Club, Pitapuram, AP. India
• 1998- Lions Club, Kakinada, AP. India.
• 1998- Telugu Cultural Society, Houston, Texas, USA.
• 1998- Invited by the World Volunteer Conference, Edmonton, Canada.
• 2000- Certificate of Appreciation by TANA Foundation, USA.
• 2004- Received Service above self award from Rotary District 3020, Rotary International
• 2006- Outstanding Community Achievement Award, India Canada Association of the National Capital Region, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
• 2006 – Received “Sankalp Tara “Award for rendering service to the needy from Raksha International Foundation.
• 2006 – “Mother Teresa Excellence Award” for meritorious accomplishments by Integrated Council for Socio-economic Progress & Front For National Progress, New Delhi.
• 2007 – Award by the District Collector on the occasion of Republic Day for the dedicated community services provided in East Godavari District. *2008 – Awarded “Dedicated Community Service Award” by the District Collector on the eve of Republic Day of India on 26 January 2008.
• 2008 - Felicitated by Sri. Paripurnananda Swamy of Sri Peetham, Kakinada in recognition for the dedicated services rendered to the community. *2008 – Selected as CNN hero by CNN international. First Indian ever to receive this honor.
• 2008 – Featured in ETV 2 Margadarsi on 4 October 22, 2008.
• 2009 - Selected as “Top 10 Influential Telugu NRIs”.
• 2009 – Featured as one among six people making Canada proud by their work.

References

CNN's special video on Sankurathri

• The Better India's story of a true Hero
• “Out of tragedy, a sense of purpose” described in detail by Mr. John Stackhouse,The Globe and mail, Toronto-23 June 1998.
• “Life after Air-India tragedy” describes in detail about the transformation of the individual to serve the needy in India. By Nathan Vardi, The Ottawa Citizen, Canada, 24 August 1998.
• “Tragedy opened heart to poor” by Natalie Armstrong, The Edmonton Journal, Canada, 27 August 1998.
• “Out of the dark “by Jaideep Mukerji, The Guardian, England, 21st June 2005.
• “Where compassion overcomes all”, by Monika Joshi, India Abroad, New York, 7 October 2005.
• “Tragedy-hit scientist begins charitable work in India”, by Brahm Kanchibhotla, South Asian Insider, New York, 4 November 2005.
• Canadian Broadcasting Corporation produced an hour long documentary in 2005.The summary of which goes as this: Terry Milewski reports from Southern India on the astonishing story of a former Ottawa civil servant named Chandrasekhar Sankurathri, who lost his wife and children in the Air India bombing 20 years ago. Today, he has not only rebuilt his own life but he's rebuilt the lives of thousands of others among the teeming villages of Andhra Pradesh. Today, he is regarded as a kind of living saint as he’s builds a successful school and eye-clinic in a poor, agricultural state of 75 million people.

External links

• Sankurathri Foundation
• Manjari Sankurathri Memorial Foundation (MSMF)
• SriKiran Institute of Ophthalmology

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